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The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:36

Picture

ISBN

0-316-56688-8

Author

Maria Rosa Menocal

Date Added

05/07/2010

Publisher

Back Bay Books (April, 2003)

Language

English

Synopsis:
A rich and thriving culture where literature, science and religious tolerance flourished for 700 years is the subject of this enthralling history of medieval Spain. Living side by side in the Andalusian kingdoms, the 'peoples of the book' produced statesmen, poets and philosophers who influenced the rest of Europe in dramatic ways, giving it the first translations of Plato and Aristotle, love songs and secular poetry plus remarkable feats of architecture and technology. This evocative account explores the lost history whose legacy and lessons have a powerful resonance in today's world.

About the Author:
Mar?a Rosa Menocal is R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. She lives in New York City.

Product Description:
Undoing the familiar notion of the Middle Ages as a period of religious persecution and intellectual stagnation, Mar?a Menocal now brings us a portrait of a medieval culture where literature, science, and tolerance flourished for 500 years.
The story begins as a young prince in exile--the last heir to an Islamic dynasty--founds a new kingdom on the Iberian peninsula: al-Andalus. Combining the best of what Muslim, Jewish, and Christian cultures had to offer, al-Andalus and its successors influenced the rest of Europe in dramatic ways, from the death of liturgical Latin and the spread of secular poetry, to remarkable feats in architecture, science, and technology. The glory of the Andalusian kingdoms endured until the Renaissance, when Christian monarchs forcibly converted, executed, or expelled non-Catholics from Spain. In this wonderful book, we can finally explore the lost history whose legacy is still with us in countless ways.

Reviews

A review of the fifth 50 pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:36
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:22 pm Post subject: A review of the fifth 50 pages

A review of the second 50 pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:37
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

The author starts this section of the book back with the rule of Abd Al-Rahman, who through ingenuous ruling, brought peace and prosperity to Al-Andalus while keeping the enemies at bay. He built the magnificent mosque of Cordoba merging the Ummayad Syrian architecture with the local Christian "doubled-up" red-and-white arches. Towards the end of his life, he wrote a famous little "ode to a palm tree" that speaks of his separation from his birthplace further East. The poem, in itself simple, is of very important meaning to the power of the Arabic language.

A review of the third 50 pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:38
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

With Al-Andalusia broken down into a group of self-governing taifas, a new political atmosphere, with new coalitions and new enemies, was created. New Kings, new Princes, new Viziers came into power. Granada, a Muslim taifa, was led to several victories over other taifas, such as Seville, by Samuel The Nagid (or Ibn Nagrila) - the Nagid being a title confirming Samuel as the head of the Granadan Jewish community. Samuel's contribution to his community, however, also came into a different form: he wrote poetry in Hebrew.

A review of the first 50 pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:39
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

The foreword of the book is written by Harold Bloom, prolific contemporary writer, lterary and religious critic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bloom). While he reserves such words as 'wise', 'poignant', 'authentic', 'a love song' and a 'heartening gesture of the spirit' for Menocal's work, he also reflects many critics of the book: Menocal's attempt is more at describing an 'idealization, healthy and useful' but which may not be 'wholly convincing' in itself.

A review of the fourth 50 pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:40
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

In 1106, Petrus Alfonsi converted from Judaism to Christianity and left his native Islamic Spain and immigrated to London. There, he probably served as a Physician to Henry I in Norman England and quickly became a "celebrity sage". He became a "widely read author on high-tech subjetcs that were just beginning to be apprehended and coveted outside the Arabic-reading world: astronomical tables, astrology, calendrical calculations, astrolabes". He also introduced imaginative fiction, a genre in which later England would excel, with his book 'The Priestly Tales' to England.

A review of the concluding pages

Submitted by abid19 on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 21:43
Book: 
The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain

The author concludes the book with two beautiful chapters. In the 'Alhambra' chapter, we are told of the fall of the last Muslim bastion in the Iberian peninsula. The event was tragic and theatrical at the same time. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, dressed in Muslim garbs, climbed the stairs of the Alhambra in Granada and claimed the place to be their new 'casa real', their new Royal residence. Earlier, they had agreed to the Agreements of Capitulation by Muhammad XI (Boabdil).