Syllabus (updated 3/1/10)
Spring 2010 - Graduate Seminar |
HIS 720 - Interfaith Spain |
Prof. Jarbel Rodriguez |
Ph: 415-338-1560 |
Office: SCI 267A |
e-mail: jarbel@sfsu.edu |
M: 4:10 - 6:55 |
Office Hours: MW 2:00 - 3:30 |
For a printable copy of the syllabus, click here.
This course offers an exploration on the history of medieval and early modern Spain through the lens of the relationship between its three religious communities as Muslims, Jews, and Christians were all active participants in the shaping of Spanish identity. This course will focus on the period between the 11 th and 16 th centuries as the kingdoms of Christian Spain began their “reconquest” of the Muslim south and brought large numbers of Muslims and Jews under their control. The land of three religions that this conquest forged was a study in contradictions. On the one hand, some modern scholars have termed the atmosphere that developed here as “convivencia” (a happy coexistence), while on the other, there are too many episodes of expulsions, pogroms, and forced conversions to keep alive the notion that medieval Spain was an ideal multi-confessional society. By the end of this course, we will have a clearer idea which characterization comes closer to the truth.
This is a graduate seminar. Students MUST HAVE graduate standing in history and HIST 700 or permission of the instructor to enroll.
Learning Outcomes
1. Students will learn and be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of interfaith relations in Spain and its impact of our understanding of the Middle Ages as well as Spanish history.
2. Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to analyze and interpret historical evidence, both primary and secondary, by their participation in class discussions and the research paper.
3. Students will have to demonstrate an ability to do extensive research in primary and secondary sources on a topic of their choice pertaining to interfaith relations on medieval Spain. They will also have to effectively communicate the results of this research in a 20-25 page research paper due at the end of term.
Books
Debra Blumenthal, Enemies and Familiars: Slavery and Mastery in Fifteenth Century Valencia (Cornell, 2009)
Olivia R. Constable, Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: the Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500 (Cambridge, 1996)
Jean Dangler, Making Difference in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2005)
Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision (Yale, 1999)
David Nirenberg, Communities of Violence (Princeton, 1996)
Mark Meyerson, A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World) (Princeton, 2004)
Mary Elizabeth Perry, The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Spain (Princeton, 2007)
Bernard Reilly, The Medieval Spains (Cambridge, 1993)
Grades
Class Participation: 15% (Missing classes will impact this part of the grade. I expect every student to participate in every class)
Book Review 1: 15%, 1000-1250 words. (Select a book of your choice that you plan to use for your research paper—DUE MARCH 22nd.)
Book Review 2: 15%, 1000-1250 words (Select one of the books that we are reading for class and review it—DUE THE DAY WE READ THE BOOK)
Research Paper Abstract: 5% (DUE MARCH 15th)
Research Paper First Draft: 10% (Optional—DUE APRIL 19th)
Final Research Paper: 20-25 Pages 40% (50% is you choose not to turn in a draft—DUE MAY 17th)
Disability Statement Policy
Students with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process. The DPRC is located in the Student Service Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/TTY 415-338-2472) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu).
Readings and Discussion Topics
Week 1 (Jan 25): Introduction
Reilly, The Medieval Spains
Week 2 (Feb 1): Crusade and Convivencia
Carl Erdmann, “Introduction” in The Origin of the Idea of Crusade (Princeton, 1977) 3-34 [e-reserve]
Thomas Glick, “Convivencia: An Introductory Note” in Thomas Glick et al. Convivencia: Jews, Muslims and Christians in Medieval Spain (New York, 1992) 1-9 [e-reserve]
Roger Highfield, “Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Same Society: The Fall of Convivencia in Medieval Spain,” Studies in Church History 15 (1978) 121-146 [e-reserve]
Elena Lourie, “A Society Organized for War: Medieval Spain,” Past and Present 35 (1966), 54-76 [JSTOR]
Joseph O’Callaghan, “Reconquest, Holy War and Crusade” in Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (Philadelphia, 2004) 1-22 [e-reserve]
Jonathan Ray, “Beyond Tolerance and Persecution: Reassessing our Approach to Medieval ‘Convivencia’,” Jewish Social Studies (New Series) 11 (Winter, 2005) 1-18 [JSTOR]
Week 3 (Feb 8): Boundaries, Frontiers and Exchanges
Robert I. Burns, “Immigrants to Islam: Crusaders’ Use of Muslims as Settlers in the Thirteenth Century Spain,” American Historical Review 80 (1975), 21-42 [JSTOR]
Brian Catlos, “Christians and Muslims: Contact and Conquest” in The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300 (Cambridge, 2004) 71-120 [e-reserve]
Thomas Glick, “’My Master the Jew’: Observations on Interfaith Scholarly Interaction in the Middle Ages,” in Medieval Spain: A Triangular Love Affair,” in Jews, Muslims and Christians In and Around the Crown of Aragon: Essays in Honor of Professor Elena Lourie (Leiden, 2004) 157-182 [e-reserve]
David Nirenberg, “Love Between Muslim and Jew in Medieval Spain: A Triangular Love Affair,” in Jews, Muslims and Christians In and Around the Crown of Aragon: Essays in Honor of Professor Elena Lourie (Leiden, 2004) 127-155 [e-reserve]
James Powers, “Frontier Municipal Baths and Social Interaction in Thirteenth Century Spain,” American Historical Review 84 (1979), 649-667 [JSTOR]
Week 4 (Feb 15): Commerce
Constable, Trade and Traders
Week 5 (Feb 22): NO CLASS – University Wide Furlough Day
Week 6 (Mar 1): Slavery
Blumenthal, Enemies and Familiars
Week 7 (Mar 8): Captivity
James Brodman, “Municipal Ransoming Law on the Medieval Spanish Frontier,” Speculum 60 (1985) 318-330 [JSTOR]
James Brodman, “The Rhetoric of Ransoming: A Contribution to the Debate over Crusading in Medieval Iberia” in Tolerance and Intolerance: Social Conflict in the Age of the Crusades, ed. by Michale Gervers and James Powell (Syracuse, 2001) 41-52 [e-reserve]
Mark Meyerson, “Slavery and Solidarity: Mudejars and Foreign Muslim Captives in the Kingdom of Valencia,” Medieval Encounters 2 (1996), 286-343 [e-reserve]
Alan Forey, “The Military Orders and the Ransoming of Captives from Islam,” Studia Monastica 33 (1991), 259-79 [e-reserve]
Koningsveld, P.S. van, “Muslim Slaves and Captives in Western Europe during the Late Middle Ages,” Islam and Christian Muslim Relations 6 (1995), 5-23 [e-reserve]
Jarbel Rodriguez, “Life in Captivity” in Captives and their Saviors in the Medieval Crown of Aragon (Washington, 2007) 37-66 [e-reserve]
Week 8 (Mar 15): Conversion
Simon Barton, “Traitors of Faith? Christian Mercenaries in al-Andalus and the Magreb, c. 1100-1300,” in Medieval Spain. Culture, Conflict and Coexistence ed. R. Collins and A. Goodman (New York, 2002) 23-45 [e-reserve]
Robert I. Burns, “Christian Islamic Confrontation in the West: The Thirteenth Century Dream of Conversion,” American Historical Review 76 (1971), 1386-1434 [JSTOR]
Robert I. Burns, “Renegades, Adventurers and Sharp Businessmen: The Thirteenth Century Spaniard in the Cause of Islam,” Catholic Historical Review 58 (1972), 341-66 [JSTOR]
Mark Johnston, "Ramon Llull and the Compulsory Evangelization of Jews and Muslims" in Iberia and the Mediterranean World of the Middle Ages, Vol. 1, ed. Larry Simon (Leiden, 1995) 3-37 [e-reserve]
David Nirenberg, “Conversion, Sex and Segregation: Jews and Christians in Medieval Spain,” American Historical Review (2002), 1065-1093 [JSTOR]
Jill Webster, “Conversion and Co-existence: The Franciscan Mission in the Crown of Aragon,” in Iberia and the Mediterranean World in the Middle Ages, ed. P.E. Chevedden, D.J. Kagay, and P.G. Padilla (Leiden, 1996) 163-77 [e-reserve]
ABSTRACTS DUE
Week 9 (Mar 22): NO CLASS
INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS
Book Reviews Due at time of your meeting
Week 10 (Mar 29): NO CLASS
Spring Break
Week 11 (Apr 5): NO CLASS – Personal Furlough Day
Week 12 (Apr 12): Violence and Minorities
Nirenberg, Communities of Violence
Week 13 (Apr 19): Jews in the Crown of Aragon
Meyerson, A Jewish Renaissance
First Drafts Due
Week 14 (Apr 26):
Dangler, Making Difference
Week 15 (May 3): The Last Moriscos
Perry, The Handless Maiden
Week 16 (May 10): Inquisition
Kamen , The Spanish Inquisition
Week 17 (May 17): Final Things
Research Papers Due in my office by 4:00pm