Reading Guide 1
- Did reading The Ornament of the World in any way change
your view of the Middle Ages? How? Why do you think the
perception of the Middle Ages as a dark and benighted era
has persisted over the centuries?
- What features does the Quran have in common with the scriptural
texts of the other two "Peoples of the Book"? In what
ways do the three scriptures differ? Discuss the role that pre-Islamic
poetry played in the creation of a certain poetic ethos
in Arabic culture.
- What are the origins of the dhimma statutes in Islam and
why were they so crucial during the years of the expansion
of Islam? Are there comparable regulations regarding other
faiths in either Judaism or Christianity?
- Discuss the reactions of the Christian and Jewish communities
to the arrival of Islam in the Iberian peninsula. Why did
these two communities react so differently to what was, in
effect, the same level of protection afforded them as dhimmi
communities? What might explain the very high rate of conversion
among Christians?
- The years of relative political chaos that followed the dissolution
of the caliphate were years of increasing cultural
riches. Discuss the seeming paradox of the positive effects of
the disintegration of the caliphate. Can you think of other
historical moments characterized by political instability that
produced comparable cultural flowering?
- How and why did the translation movement, especially the
stage during which the sciences and philosophy were the
principal texts being translated, change the landscape of
northern Christian Europe? What problems did the arrival
of the Greek philosophical tradition pose for the three
monotheistic traditions, and why? How have these same
problems —the opposition between faith and reason, as
many would see it —continued to shape Western civilization
since the twelfth century?
- Discuss the shifting attitudes on the part of the ruling
Christians from the beginning of the thirteenth century on.
What role did the Almohads play in this period?
- Consider the construction of so-called mudejar (i.e., "in the
Arab style") palaces and other monuments in the fourteenth
century. Does it seem plausible that someone like Peter the
Cruel would have been interested in making explicit reference
to the "culture of tolerance" that preceded him? Or had
the style at that point become merely "Spanish" style, devoid
of any attachment to religion?
- Discuss the ways in which the events of 1492 are not —
as some would argue —the predictable outcome of the medieval
history of Spain but instead, for many of those living
through it, something unimaginable.
- 10. What can a work of literature convey about a historical moment
that a work of history cannot? How is our vision of
medieval Spain enriched by reading the works of writers
who mined their exquisite imaginations as well as their understanding
of history? If you were going to take some
"episode" from the history of medieval Spain and turn it into
a short story or a novel (or a play or a poem . . .), which historical
episode would you choose and why?
