Routledge Library Editions: Muslim Spain – serie

This three-volume set of previously out-of-print titles closely examines three key aspects of Muslim Spain: the Muslim conquest and settlement, together with its political and economic administration; spirituality in the region; and El Cid and the Spanish reconquest. Together they form an important overview of the period and the region.

This study of El Cid, first published in English in 1934, is by the leading authority on the medieval history and literature of Spain. The Cid occupies a unique position among national heroes. Others such as King Arthur and Roland are but shadowy figures in the historical record, but El Cid is very much better documented. This book also paints a striking picture of eleventh-century Spain, bringing out the importance of the country as a link between Christian and Muslim civilization.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Muslim Arabs conquered large areas of North Africa and then, with the help of their former adversaries in North Africa, the Berbers, gained a decisive victory over the Visigoths in Spain. This book, first published in 1989 and based on Arabic and other sources, describes the process of conquest and settlement, first depicting the lack of unity in North Africa and the corruption and insolvency in Spain that made the advance possible. It provides an invaluable classification of the Arab and Berber settlers in Spain by tribal origin, area of settlement and time of entry. The book emphasises throughout the importance of the economic and administrative relationship between North Africa and Spain. It charts the growing resentment of the early settlers in Spain with the restrictions on their autonomy imposed by the Governor-General of North Africa and the caliphate. It describes the rising tensions between old and new settlers and between the different tribal groups, finally leading to the Berber revolt and Abdulrahman’s consolidation of power towards the end of the Umayyad caliphate.

‘The Zohar’ was compiled and composed in Spain in the thirteenth century, and exerted a powerful influence on Jewish life in medieval ghettoes. In this book, first published in 1932, Dr Bension was the first scholar to deal with the influence on Jewish mysticism of certain characteristics which underlie so much of the literature produced in Spain both by Christians and Muslims.

This study of El Cid, first published in English in 1934, is by the leading authority on the medieval history and literature of Spain. The Cid occupies a unique position among national heroes. Others such as King Arthur and Roland are but shadowy figures in the historical record, but El Cid is very much better documented. This book also paints a striking picture of eleventh-century Spain, bringing out the importance of the country as a link between Christian and Muslim civilization.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Muslim Arabs conquered large areas of North Africa and then, with the help of their former adversaries in North Africa, the Berbers, gained a decisive victory over the Visigoths in Spain. This book, first published in 1989 and based on Arabic and other sources, describes the process of conquest and settlement, first depicting the lack of unity in North Africa and the corruption and insolvency in Spain that made the advance possible. It provides an invaluable classification of the Arab and Berber settlers in Spain by tribal origin, area of settlement and time of entry. The book emphasises throughout the importance of the economic and administrative relationship between North Africa and Spain. It charts the growing resentment of the early settlers in Spain with the restrictions on their autonomy imposed by the Governor-General of North Africa and the caliphate. It describes the rising tensions between old and new settlers and between the different tribal groups, finally leading to the Berber revolt and Abdulrahman’s consolidation of power towards the end of the Umayyad caliphate.