• The course seeks to introduce Spanish history as a history of a space and time in which three monotheistic religions have coexisted for centuries; a unique case in the history of the Western world, in which both tolerance and religious conflict has determined history until today.

• Spanish history and its political, economic, social, cultural and religious aspects will be considered through an interdisciplinary approach, in order to understand the different religious identities as well as to grasp the images constructed by themselves and each other

• The course will try to highlight relevance not only for our knowledge of an European country, but for contemporary problems and conflicts. The course thus will deal with issues of identity which necessarily require the consideration of such research agendas as cultural studies and cultural history.

Course dynamics

This course will use a combination of lectures and students presentations with field visits. Classroom sessions will be used for discussions and other for lectures either by the teacher or by some relevant guest speakers. Attendance to the class and visits is mandatory.

Field visits

• Lleida: A Medieval Muslim Capital
• Girona: A Medieval Jewish Call
• Barcelona: the New Muslim Barcelona Immigrants (Barrios and Sites)

Course requirements

• This course will have a term research paper (including a class presentation of this paper); besides there will be a mid term exam and a final comprehensive exam. The topic of the term paper will be discussed with the instructor in due time. Students will choose the topic of the paper from a set of suggestions offered by the teacher or any other topic that might better fit their interests.

• The final grade will consist:
Class participation and oral presentations : 25%
Mid Term Exam: 25%
Final Exam: 25%
Term Paper: 25%

The Course

Introduction
Spain: a Polemic Case
Americo Castro versus Claudio Sánchez Albornóz

I. The sons and daughters of Abraham
An Introduction to Judaism, Christianity and Islam

A. Judaism
1. The Chosen People: Origins of Judaism
2. Jews, Greeks and Romans
3. The Diaspora
B. Christianity
1. The followers of Jesus of Nazareth: Origins of Christianity
2. Conversion of the Romans: Origins of the Christian Church. The Christianization of the West.
3. The Foundation of the Papal Church
C. Islam
1. Mohammed and the Origins of Islam
2. The Conquests of Islam
3. The Early Empires: From the Abbasids to the Umayyads

II. Tolerance
Spain in the Middle Ages

A. The Islamic Presence
1. Hispania, the Islamic Conquest and the Emirate (711-929)
2. The Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031)
3. The Rise of Christian Kingdoms
4. The Taifa Kingdoms (1031-1130)
5. The Holy War
Idea of the Holy War. Christian Rigor. Islamic Rigor: Almoravids and Beyond.
6. The Triumph of the Cross
The Christian Conquests. The Crusaders. The Fall of Granada (1492)
B. Christians, Jews and Muslims as Minorities
1. Christians in a Muslim Society
The Mozarabs.
2. Jews in a Muslim Society
3. Muslims in a Christian Society
The Moriscos. Muslim Communities. Muslims and the King. Muslim Slaves.
4. Jews in a Christian Society
The Jewish Aljamas. Jews and Economic life. Jews and the King.
C. The Patterns of Coexistence
1. Exchanges
Early Contacts. Moslem and Jewish Thought. The Aristotelian Challenge.
2. A Christian Civilization
Christian Reception. New Sciences. Literature. The Arts.
3. Prohibitions
Eating. Healing. Sexual intercourse.

III. Conflict. Christians, Jews and Muslims in Modern and Contemporary Spain

A. A Persecuting Society
1. Persecution
Defamation. The First Pogroms. The End of Tolerance
2. Conversion and Expulsion
Forced Conversion. Expulsion of the Jews. Expulsion of the Moriscos. Conversos. The Spanish Inquisition
B. The Long Struggle
1. Christians and Turks. From War to Commerce
2. A Peaceful Interludium (1767-1791)
3. Colonialism
The Wars of Africa. Africa: an Image of Death.
4. The Construction of a New Tolerance
C. From religion to race
Images of the other
1. The Moor
2. The Jew
3. Christian identity
4. New Images of the Other

Readings

A. CASTRO, The Spaniards. An Introduction to their History, Berkeley 1971
M. R. COHEN, Under Crescent and Cross. The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton 1994
C. ERDMANN, The Origin of the Idea of Crusade, Princeton 1977
R. A. FLETCHER, Moorish Spain, New York 1992
R. A. FLETCHER, The Cross and the Crescent. Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation, New York 2004
D. GOFFMAN, The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe, Cambridge 2002
H. A. F. KAMEN, The Spanish Inquisition. An Historical Revision, London 1997
E. MARTÍN CORRALES, La imagen del magrebí en España. Una perspectiva histórica, siglos XVI-XX, Barcelona 2002
J. MORERAS PALENZUELA, Musulmanes en Barcelona espacios y dinámicas comunitarias, Barcelona 1999
D. NIRENBERG, Communities of Violence. Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages, Princeton 1996
Spain and the Jews. The Sephardi Experience 1492 and After, ed. E. KEDOURIE, London 1992
D. WASSERSTEIN, The Caliphate in the West. An Islamic Political Institution in the Iberian Peninsula, Oxford 1993
The World of Islam. Faith, People, Culture, ed. B. LEWIS, London 1992