Medieval Iberia
Seminar Questions
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To what extent were political and military loyalties in medieval Iberia determined by religious identity?
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How useful is the concept of the 'Reconquista' for understanding medieval Iberia?
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Did frontiers in medieval Iberia function more as points of contact, or as barriers between communities?
Primary Sources
In the seminar our main focus will be on Part V: The Revenge of the Lords of Carri贸n, but I would advise you to read the whole poem to get a better understanding of the background.
Essential Reading
Catlos, Brian, 'Sketching a pre-modern colonial elite Muslim communities and their rulers in Medieval Arag贸n', M茅langes de l'Ecole fran莽aise de Rome. Moyen 芒ge, 124:2 (2012)
Peter Linehan, 'At the Spanish frontier', The Medieval World, Peter Linehan, Janet L. Nelson, Marios Costambeys eds (London: Routledge, 2018)
Further Reading
Simon Barton and R.A. Fletcher (eds), The world of El Cid: chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest (2011)
Nora Berend, El Cid: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary (New York: Pegasus Books, 2025)
Thomas Bisson, The Medieval Crown of Aragon (1986)
Brian A. Catlos, Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c.1050鈥�1614 (2014)
Brian A. Catlos, Kingdoms of Faith: a New History of Islamic Spain (London: Hurst and Company, 2018).
Roger Collins, Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 796鈥�1031, (2012)
Olivia Remie Constable & Damian Zurro (eds) Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (2nd ed., 2011)
Heath Dillard, Daughters of the reconquest: women in Castilian town society, 1100-1300 (1984)
Camilo G贸mez-Rivas, Law and the Islamization of Morocco under the Almoravids (2014)
Hugh Kennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal: a political history of al-Andalus (Longman, 1996)
Patrick J. O鈥橞anion, 鈥榃hat Has Iberia To Do With Jerusalem? Crusade and the Spanish Route to the Holy Land in the Twelfth Century鈥�, Journal of Medieval History 34 (2008): 383鈥�95
Joseph F. O鈥機allaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (1975)
Joseph F. O鈥機allaghan, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (2003)
Ana Rodr铆guez (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Medieval Iberia (2015)