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The Ornament of the World was the Caliphate of Cordoba, the most civilized
place on earth in its own time, and the source of much cultural and social well-being even hundreds of years after its demise.
Founded by the survivor of the mid-8th century massacre of the Umayyads of Damascus (the Caliphs of the vast Islamic empire
at that point), al-Andalus, as it was called in Arabic, flourished and declined, and existed in very different guises over
the nearly seven centuries during which Islam was a central part of European culture.
For everyone who believes that the Middle Ages of Europe were a dark and
unenlightened moment in our history, as well as a monochromatically Latin and Christian culture, there are many revelations
here. This course will study this long and mostly ill-understood period in systematic chronological order, and focusing on
the legacy of medieval Spain's vibrant heterogeneous culture, both inside and out of the peninsula. Students will receive
a wide-ranging introduction to the medieval Europe they were probably never taught much aboutthe universe in which the three
monotheistic religions created a common culture, often the avant-garde in such central areas such as poetry and philosophy,
and frequently transforming much of the rest of Europe in its wake.
This course will also appeal to all those who believe
that cultural history should help shape our visions of what might be possible in our times, and that both the promises and
dangers revealed by the past need to serve us in the present. The present moment in our own history is an excellent moment
in which to consider the exceptional historical moment during which Islam set the tone for a culture of tolerance that was
eventually shared by both of the protected Peoples of the Book: the Jews, who flourished to such an extent that this periodwith
its revolutionary poets and its extraordinary philosopherswas eventually dubbed the Golden Age by the awed German Jews of
the 19th century; and the Christians, who became the great patrons of translations from Arabic and for several centuries absorbed
one of the primary lesson of the culture of tolerance, namely that it was the source of economic and cultural well-being for
all.
Among the course readings are:
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Menocal, María Rosa (the course's author). The Ornament
of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. Little, Brown and Company,
2002. |
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Franzen, Cola, trans. Poems of Arab Andalusia. City
Light Books, 1990. |
Course outline:
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Introduction |
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Week 2: |
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The Mediterranean after the Fall of Rome and the Coming
of Islam |
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Week 3: |
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Abd al-Rahman's Creation: The Emirate and the Caliphate
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Week 4: |
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After the Fall: The Vigor of the City States |
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Week 5: |
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Andalusian Culture beyond the Peninsula |
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Week 6: |
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The Long Last Years |
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Week 7: |
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Epilogues
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