Mosque to church conversions in the Spanish reconquest

Medieval Encounters

Volumn 3, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 158-172

  Harris, Julie A ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 34248538690     PISSN: 13807854     EISSN: 15700674     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157006797X00116     Document Type: Review

References (93)

1. J. Fernández Valverde, ed. , Roderici Ximenii de Rada, Historia de Rebus Hispanie sive Historia Gothica (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis vol. LXXII) (Turnholt, 1987), book 6, chapter 24, 206.
2. "Cumque rex ad partes Leionis iuisset, ipse electus, regina Constancia adhortante, de nocte ascitis militibus Christianis maiorem mezquitam ingressus est Toletanam, et eliminata spurcicia Machometi erexit altaria fidei christiane et in maiore turri campana ad convocationem fidelium collocavit. " See also, Primera Crónica General, ed. R. Menéndez Pidal (2 vols. , Madrid, 1955), vol. II, chapter 871, 540-42. After the first complete citation primary sources will be cited by the author's name or by title if anonymous. Subdivisions of the text will be cited in the following order: book, chapter, page.
3. For two opposing opinions, see P. Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain (Oxford, 1993), 216
4. and B. Reilly, The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Alfonso VI (Princeton, 1988), 181-2.
5. The Muslim source is al-Maqqari, History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, Book 7, chapter 5, ed. , P. de Gayangos (2 vols. , reprinted New York 1964), vol. II, 264.
6. al-Maqqari puts the conversion of the mosque in 1102. For the document of consecration, dated to December 18, 1086, see J. A. García Luján, Privilegios Reales de la Catedral de Toledo (2 vols. , Granada, 1982), vol. II, 15-20.
7. e: Musulmans, chretiens et juives: le savoir et la tolerance (Paris, 1991), 75-91.
8. For the church of Santa María de Alficén, see J. Porres Martin-Cleto, "La Iglesia mozarabe de Santa María de Alficén," Historia Mozarabe, Primero congreso internacional de estudios mozarabes (Toledo, 1978), 29-44
9. and B. Pavon Maldonado, "Arte Islámico y Mudéjar en Toledo. Hacía unas fronteras arqueológicas," Al-Qantara 3 (1982), 434-37.
10. Mundavit locos, ubi daemonis alma colebant, Et Christo grates reddidit ipse pias. Missis, dante Deo, remeat custodibus aedes Ad proprias victor rex populusque suus. E. Faral, ed. , Ermold le Noir, Poeme sur Louis le Pieux et epitres au roi Pepin (Paris, 1932) lines 568-572, 46-7.
11. J. Pérez de Urbel and A. González Ruiz-Zorrilla, eds. , Historia Silense (Madrid, 1959), 136 and 191 for Alfonso and Ferdinand respectively.
12. The Chronicle of James I, King of Aragon, trans. J. Forster, (2 vols. , London, 1883), vol II, 571.
13. James converted the major mosques of Mallorca (1229), Valencia (1238), and Murcia (1266). Ferdinand III converted the major mosques of Baeza (1226), Córdoba (1236), Seville (1248), and Jaén (1246). Mosque conversions are mentioned in historical surveys of Spain but receive more extensive discussion in J. O'Callaghan, "The Mudejars of Castile and Portugal in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries," in J. Powell, ed. , Muslims under Latin Rule, 1100-1300 (Princeton, 1990), 11-56
14. and in J. Orlandis, "Un problema eclesiástica de la Reconquista española: la conversion de mezquitas en iglesias cristiana," in Mélanges offerts à Jean Dauvillier (Toulouse, 1979), 595-604.
15. Alfonso VII ordered the destruction of Coria's mosques. A. Maya ed. "Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris," in E. Falque, J. Gil, and A. Maya, Chronica Hispana Saeculi XII, pars I (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis LXXI) (Turnholt, 1990) book 2, chapter 66, page 225. "Postquam autem reddita est civitas imperatori, mundata est ab inmunditia barbarice gentis et a contaminatione Mahometis et, destructa omni spurcitia paganorum civitatis illius et templi sui. . . " Likewise, Alfonso's first Andalusian campaign, which involved the regions of Seville, Córdoba, and Carmona, witnessed a wholesale destruction of Islamic religious property. "Sed et omnes synagoge eorum, quas inveniebant, destructe sunt; sacerdotes vero et legis sue doctores, quoscumque inveniebant, gladio trucidabant, sed et libri legis sue in synagogis igne combusti sunt," Maya, book 1, chapter 36, 167.
16. J. González, Repartimiento de Sevilla (2 vols. , Madrid, 1951), vol. I, 525-541.
17. In 1274, a Sevillian canon don Gonzalo Martinez de Torrelobaton held the office of "mayordomo de las mezquitas. " See R. Cómez Ramos, Arquitectura alfonsi (Seville, 1974), 28.
18. For the Córdoba conversion, see Jiménez de Rada, book 9, chapter 16-17, 298-300 and Primera crónica general, vol. II, chapter 1047, 733-4.
19. For that in Jaén, see Primera crónica general, vol. II, chapter 1071, 746-7.
20. For the mosque in Huesca, A. Ubieto, Colección diplomatica de Pedro I de Aragón y Navarra (Zaragoza, 1951), 251-3, document dated to April 5, 1097.
21. For the development of the mosque, see O. Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art (New Haven, 1973), 104-38.
22. For Toledo, see Jiménez de Rada, book 6, chapter 24, 206-7
23. for Córdoba, see Jiménez de Rada, book 9, chapter 16-17, 297-300
24. and Primera crónica general, vol. II, chapter 1047, 733-4
25. for Murcia, see The Chronicle of James I, vol. II, 257-8.
26. J. Dodds, Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain (University, Park 1990), especially 58-64; 102-104.
27. E. Levi-Provençal, Histoire de l'Espagne Musulmane, 2nd ed. , (3 vols. , Paris, 1950) vol. III, 394. The author cites Almanzor's bibliographies but does not give specific references.
28. Historia Silense, 87. "Lameccenses quoque Mauri, partim gladiis obtruncati, partim vero ob diversa ecclesiarum opera ansis ferreis sunt constricti. "
29. Cómez Ramos, Arquitectura alfonsi, 29. The order appears in a letter dated to 1263.
30. K. B. Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain (Cambridge, 1988), 86.
31. N. Daniel, Islam and the West: the Making of an Image (Oxford, 1993), 338 and 341.
32. Partidas 7. 25 is cited by J. O'Callaghan, The Learned King: the Reign of Alfonso X of Castile (Philadelphia, 1993), 109.
33. García Luján, Privilegios Reales, vol. II, 15-20.
34. See P. Cole, "'O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance' (Ps. 78): The Theme of Religious Pollution in Crusade Documents, 1095-1188," in M. Shatzmiller, ed. Crusaders and Muslims in 12th c. Syria (Leiden, 1993), 102.
35. "eliminata spurcicia Machometi," Jiménez de Rada, book 6, chapter 24, 206 for Toledo and book 9, chapter 17, 299 for Córdoba.
36. "Ecclesiesque eius vendicent; quatenus eliminata ab eisdem omni spurcitia Satane, et sequaces ipsius Mahometh, Iesus Christus Dominus noster in eis adoretur . . . " Alfonso I the Battler's Donation to the Church of Santa María de Tarazona regarding mosques to be converted in the diocese, V. de la Fuente, ed. , España Sagrada (58 vols. , Madrid, 1747-1918), vol. IL, 333.
37. For the destruction of Coria's mosque Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris, vol. II, chapter 66, 225
38. Primera crónica general, vol. I, chapter 559, 313
39. Translated by C. Smith, Christians and Moors (3 vols. , Warminster, 1988), vol. I, 21.
40. N. Daniel, Islam and the West, 133.
41. Lucas of Tuy also used the same formula, "Tenian los moros los mejores lugares, ganados por cuchillo vengante, y en las yglesias que se loava el nombre de Ihesu Christo, el nonbre non santo de Mahomad con voz publica llamavan," J. Puyol, ed. , Crónica de España por Lucas, Obispo de Tuy (Madrid, 1926), 271.
42. F. Galtier Marti, Ribagorza, Condado independiente desde los orígenes hasta 1025 (Zaragoza, 1981), 247-8, note 108.
43. A. Ubieto, Colección diplomática, 251-3.
44. J. Harris, "Muslim Ivories in Christian Hands: the Leire Casket in context," Art History 18 (1995), 213-221.
45. De diversis Quaestionibus, (Corpus Christianorum, series Latina, vol. XXXXIVa) (Turnholt, 1975), Question 53, 85-91.
46. See also Questionum in heptateuchum Liber Secundus, (Patrologia Cursus Completus, series Latina vol. XXXIV), col. 598.
47. Saint Augustine, Christian Instruction, The Fathers of the Church, Writings of Augustine (Washington, D. C. 1947), vol. II, 112-114.
48. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 30, ed. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969), 107.
49. The conversion of synagogues into churches must not have been uncommon. The tenth-century Romano-Germanic Pontifical contains a mass for the dedication of a church that had formerly been a synagogue. Cyrille Vogel, Le Pontifical Romano-Germanique du Dixième Siècle (Vatican City, 1963), vol. I, 178.
50. P. Linehan, The Spanish Church and the Papacy in the Thirteenth Century (Cambridge, 1971), 106-116.
51. See also T. Ruiz, Crisis and Continuity: Land and Town in Late Medieval Castile (Philadelphia, 1994), chapter 10, for the economic consequences of the conquest of Seville.
52. R. I. Burns, "The Significance of the Frontier in the Middle Ages," in Medieval Frontier Societies, ed. , R. Bartlett and A. MacKay (Oxford, 1989), 326.
53. M. Gómez-Moreno, "La Mezquita Mayor de Tudela," Principe de Viana 6 (1945), 9-27, especially 12.
54. See also C. Delgado Valero, Toledo islámico: ciudad, arte e historia (Toledo, 1987), chapter 6, for the converted mosques of Toledo.
55. For El Cristo de la Luz (Bab al-Mardum) see J. Dodds, "The Mudéjar Tradition in Architecture," The Legacy of Muslim Spain, ed. S. Khadra Jayyusi (2 vols. , Leiden, 1994), vol. II, 592-8.
56. For Zaragoza, J. Peña Gonzalvo, "La Seo de Salvador de Zaragoza," Turiaso 7 (1987), 81-104
57. for Badajoz, see L. Torres Balbas, "La mezquita de la Alcazaba de Badajoz," Al-Andalus 8 (1943), 466-70.
58. As happened when the Mezquita Mayor of Mertola became Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion, L. Torres Balbás, "El Mihrab Almohade de Mertola," Al-Andalus 20 (1955), 188-195.
59. See also the later modifications to the mosques of Almería and Granada, M. Torres Fernandez and M. Nicolas Martinez, "Una aportacion a la arqueologia medieval almeriense: la mezquita mayor y la primitiva catedral de Almería," in E. Cabrera, ed. Andalucia entre Oriente y Occidente (1236-1492) (Cordoba, 1988), 773-82
60. and L. Torres Balbás, "La mezquita mayor de Granada," Al-Andalus 10 (1945), 411.
61. J. Edwards, Christian Cordoba (Cambridge, 1982), 180. The piece is attributed to "Jeronimo. " The shifting relationship between Christians and the Mosque of Córdoba is too complex a matter for complete treatment in this article. I hope to return to this topic elsewhere.
62. L. Torres Balbás, Arquitectura Gótica, in Ars Hispaniae, (22 vols. , Madrid, 1952), vol. VII, 281-2. The mosque which became the church of San Salvador, however, was retained until 1671.
63. R. Cómez Ramos, Arquitectura alfonsi, 20.
64. Such are the conclusions of Peña Gonzalvo, "La Seo de Salvador de Zaragoza. " Later work on the Mosque of Zaragoza seems deliberately to have conserved its unusual mihrab.
65. R. I. Burns, "The Parish as a Frontier Institution," Speculum 37 (1962), 250, note 35. Today, all that is left of Huesca's mosque is an arch embedded in a wall near the ruined cloisters.
66. See R. I. Burns, The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia (Cambridge, MA, 1967), 19-20
67. and Torres Balbás, Arquitectura Gótica, 94-97.
68. J. Dodds, "The Mudejar Tradition," 592-8.
69. Delgado Valero, Toledo islámico, 266.
70. See note 3. This view was recently accepted by Linehan, History and the Historians, 216-224.
71. F. Cozar, Noticias y documentos para la historia de Baeza (Jaén, 1884), 177-86.
72. For Córdoba, see M. Ocaña Jimenez, "La basilica de San Vicente y la Gran Mezquita de Córdoba," Al-Andalus 7 (1942), 347-66.
73. For Zaragoza, see Peña Gonzalvo, "La Seo de Salvador de Zaragoza," 85.
74. Ubieto Arteta, Colección diplomática, doc. 96, 346.
75. For Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, see J. A. Sánchez Pérez, El Culto Mariano en España (Madrid, 1943), 48.
76. A similar story surrounds the image of Nuestra Señora del Coral, also in Seville. See Sánchez Pérez, 139. According to legend, the muezzin's tower of Seville's first communal mosque was built out of material from the earlier church of St. Isidore. This reuse of church material made it impossible for a muezzin to sound the call to worship, L. Torres Balbas, "La primitiva Mezquita Mayor de Sevilla," Al-Andalus 2 (1946), 425-39.
77. See the observations of A. Muñoz Fernandez, "Cultos, devociones y advocaciones religiosas en los origenes de la organizacion eclesiastica cordobesa (siglos xiii-xiv)," in E. Cabrera, ed. Andalucía entre Oriente y Occidente (1236-1492) (Córdoba, 1988), 135-143.
78. Sánchez Pérez, El Culto Mariano, 31-35.
79. A. Ferreiro, "The siege of Barbastro 1064-65: a reassessment," Journal of Medieval History 9 (1983), 129-144
80. and R. A. Fletcher, "Reconquest and Crusade in Spain c. 1050-1150," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society ser. 5, 37 (1987), 31-48, esp. 42.
81. Fletcher, "Reconquest and Crusade," gives a good summary of the issues. See also, R. Barkai, Cristianos y musulmanes en la España medieval (Madrid, 1984).
82. C. Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of the Crusade (Princeton, 1977), 289. Earlier, Alexander II had announced an indulgence for those troops participating in the Barbastro campaign. Erdmann points out that this is the first extant crusading indulgance, 137-8.
83. Erdmann, The Origin of the Idea of the Crusade, 317.
84. For what follows, I am indebted to Linehan, The Spanish Church and the Papacy, especially 6-10
85. See also, E. Siberry, Criticism of Crusading 1095-1274 (Oxford, 1985), 112-118.
86. Siberry, Criticism of Crusading, 118.
87. Cited with additional bibliography by Linehan, History and the Historians of Medieval Spain, 103.
88. Fulcher of Chartres: A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem 1095-1127, ed. H. Fink (Knoxville, 1969), 58.
89. For the Maccabees in an earlier period, see J. Dunbabin, "The Maccabees as Exemplars in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries," in K. Walsh and D. Wood, The Bible in the Medieval World: Essays in Memory of Beryl Smalley (Oxford, 1985), 31-41.
90. Y. Katzir, "The Conquests of Jerusalem 1099 and 1187: Historical Memory and Religious Typology," The Meeting of Two Worlds, ed. , V. Goss, Studies in Medieval Culture 21 (1986), 103.
91. See also P. Cole, "The Theme of Religious Pollution," 86-108
92. and B. Hamilton, "Rebuilding Zion: the holy places of Jerusalem in the twelfth century," in D. Baker, ed. , Renaissance and Renewal in Christian History, Studies in Church History 14 (Oxford, 1977), 105-116.
93. Barkai, Cristianos y musulmanes, 133.