Manuela Marin - Böcker

These two volumes present a conspectus of current research on the history and culture of early medieval Spain and Portugal, from the time of the Arab conquest in 711 up to the fall of the caliphate. They trace the impact of Islamisation on the pre-existing Roman and Visigothic political and social structures, the continuing interaction between Christian and Muslim, and describe the particular development and characteristics of Muslim Spain- al-Andalus. Together, they comprise 38 articles, of which 32 have been translated into English specially for this publication. The first volume focuses on political and social history, and looks in detail at settlement patterns and urbanisation; the second examines questions of language and covers the brilliant cultural and intellectual history of the period.

Based on original sources, this book questions the conventional wisdom that Mediterranean Muslim women are passive people subjected to the tyranny and misogyny of religion, society and male relatives. Encompassing everything from medieval love poetry to popular literary sources these studies bear witness to the fact that individual women of all social classes play pivotal roles in both the private domains of sociey and in the public realm.