Customer Reviews

Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (Middle Ages Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the most thorough and up-to-date collection of primary sources relating to the history of medieval Spain yet available. It brings together a vast ocean of important and illustrative Jewish, Christian and Muslim sources, many of which have never before been translated. Readers, especially historians, will find much of value in this carefully-selected and thoughtfully arranged anthology. Few other collections give such a sense of the richness and diversity of medieval Iberian society.

This collection of primary sources concerning the history of Medieval Iberia is quite good for undergraduate study of Muslim Spain, with useful introductions to each source. The predominance of Christian sources may be explained by the fact that many Muslim sources are no longer extant(or did not exist in the first place), particularly concerning the Mozarabic population(Christians under Arab-Berber dominion).

This book actually focuses largely (almost entirely) on Christian sources for medieval Spain (hardly "Iberia," since with one exception Portugal, for instance, is not mentioned). Muslim sources are few and the obvious ones, and the rare and altogether inadequate Jewish sources are thrown in as an afterthought. Still, a useful undergraduate textbook, perhaps.