The Victors and the Vanquished Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300

This revisionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule during the Spanish "reconquest" delves into the subtleties of identity under the thirteenth-century Crown rule of Aragon. Brian Catlos uncovers a social dynamic in which sectarian differences comprise only one of the many factors in the causal complex of political, economic and cultural reactions. Beginning with the final stage of independent Muslim rule in the Ebro valley region, he traces the subtle and often surprising transformation of Islamic society into mudé jar society under Christian domination.

This is a revisionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule during the Spanish 'reconquest'. It looks beyond the obvious religious distinctions and delves into the subtleties of identity in the thirteenth-century Crown of Aragon, uncovering a social dynamic in which sectarian differences comprise only one of the many factors in the causal complex of political, economic and cultural reactions. Beginning with the final stage of independent Muslim rule in the Ebro valley region, the book traces the transformation of Islamic society into mudéjar society under Christian domination. This was a case of social evolution in which Muslims, far from being passive victims of foreign colonisation, took an active part in shaping their institutions and experiences as subjects of the Infidel. Using a diverse range of methodological approaches, this book challenges widely held assumptions concerning Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle Ages, and minority-majority relations in general.

List of figures; List of maps; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Note on the citation of sources, dates, places and names; Glossary; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. Muslim Domination of the Ebro and its Demise, 700–1200: Introduction; 1. Thaghr and taifa; 2. Christians and Muslims: contact and conquest; Part II. Muslims under Christian Rule: Introduction; 3. The financial and judicial administration of Mudéjar society; 4. Muslims in the economy of the Christian Ebro; 5. Mudéjar ethnicity and Christian society; 6. Muslims and Christian society; Mudéjarismo as a social system; Part III. Individual and Community in the Christian Ebro: Introduction; Case study 1: fiscal and confessional identity: the Galips, templar vassals in Zaragoza (1179–1390); Case study 2: Franquitas and factionalism in Daroca: the Lucera family vs. the Aljama (1267–1302); Case study 3: litigation and competition within the Muslim community: the Abdellas of Daroca (1280–1310); Case study 4: administrative corruption and royal complicity: Abrahim Abengentor, Caualquem of Huesca (1260–1304); Case study 5: overlapping agendas: the career of Mahomet, Alaminus of Borja (1276–1302); Case study 6: the good, the bad and the indifferent: Christian officials in the Ebro region; Personal histories: the individual, within the community and beyond; Conclusions: Mudéjar ethnogenesis; Appendix 1: currency of the thirteenth-century Ebro region; Appendix 2: toponymical variants in archival documents; Appendix 3: rulers of the 'Crown of Aragon', 1050–1300; Select bibliography; Index.

This lively study of Muslims living under Christian rule in medieval Spain confronts questions of community relations, politics, trade and government, through a study of the common people of the era. It focuses on the evolution of an independent Islamic society into one living under Christian political domination.

Brian Catlos is an Associate Professor in the Religious Studies faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder, with cross appointments in Humanities, History and Jewish Studies. Previously an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, he completed his PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto in 2000, followed by three years of postdoctoral work at the Concejo de Investigaciones Superiores in Barcelona and the Institute for Medieval History at Boston University. He has served as President of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain and is Book Review Editor (late medieval) for Speculum. His fields of research include medieval Spain and the Mediterranean, and ethno-religious identity and relations in the pre-modern Christian and Islamic worlds.