Start Date
4-9-2021 9:00 AM
End Date
4-9-2021 10:15 AM
Disciplines
History
Subjects
Jews -- Spain -- History -- Expulsion (1492), Muslims -- Spain -- History -- 15th century, Christianity and other religions -- Islam -- History, Islam -- Relations -- Christianity -- History
Description
The period preceding the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Iberia in the late 15th and early 16th centuries was marred by conflict. The extent and degree of the discord has long been fiercely debated amongst scholars in two camps. Many late 20th century scholars have accepted the concept of Convivencia or “coexistence,” which argues that Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in relative harmony with one another, peacefully blending their different cultures together. Others argue that there was no amicable cohabitation between the rival cultures and that Convivencia is a modern creation of later historians. This study focuses on Christian and Muslim primary source documents centering on 15th century Castile to gain insight of this debate. By analyzing personal accounts of daily life as well as legal documents including capitulations, land distributions, a Sunni Muslim breviary detailing social laws, a glimpse of the attitudes and feelings of individuals living within the supposed Convivencia can be seen. This research demonstrates that while Convivencia might not have been attained, there were genuine and earnest efforts by both the Christian ruling class and their Muslim subjects to live together without violence or severe oppression.
PART OF SESSION 1A. CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS:
Comment: Jeanette Fregulia, Carroll College
Chair: Ellen Kittell, University of Idaho
Francesca M. Duncan, University of Portland, undergraduate student
“A Collaborative Crusade: Economic Incentives for Religious Tolerance in Sicily, 1061–1189”
John Franzwa, Western Oregon University, undergraduate student
“The Space Between Love and Hate: Coexistence During Convivencia”
James M. Masnov, Portland State University, graduate student
“Religious Freedom Matters, At Home and Abroad: Thomas Jefferson in Paris in the 1780s”
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35256
Included in
The Space Between Love and Hate: Coexistence During Convivencia
The period preceding the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Iberia in the late 15th and early 16th centuries was marred by conflict. The extent and degree of the discord has long been fiercely debated amongst scholars in two camps. Many late 20th century scholars have accepted the concept of Convivencia or “coexistence,” which argues that Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in relative harmony with one another, peacefully blending their different cultures together. Others argue that there was no amicable cohabitation between the rival cultures and that Convivencia is a modern creation of later historians. This study focuses on Christian and Muslim primary source documents centering on 15th century Castile to gain insight of this debate. By analyzing personal accounts of daily life as well as legal documents including capitulations, land distributions, a Sunni Muslim breviary detailing social laws, a glimpse of the attitudes and feelings of individuals living within the supposed Convivencia can be seen. This research demonstrates that while Convivencia might not have been attained, there were genuine and earnest efforts by both the Christian ruling class and their Muslim subjects to live together without violence or severe oppression.
PART OF SESSION 1A. CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS:
Comment: Jeanette Fregulia, Carroll College
Chair: Ellen Kittell, University of Idaho
Francesca M. Duncan, University of Portland, undergraduate student
“A Collaborative Crusade: Economic Incentives for Religious Tolerance in Sicily, 1061–1189”
John Franzwa, Western Oregon University, undergraduate student
“The Space Between Love and Hate: Coexistence During Convivencia”
James M. Masnov, Portland State University, graduate student
“Religious Freedom Matters, At Home and Abroad: Thomas Jefferson in Paris in the 1780s”