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Autor: Clara Almagro Vidal

Muslims and Lords in Medieval Iberia

Clara Almagro Vidal, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)

Abstract: The research project “Muslims in Signorial lands: an Integrative Perspective in Medieval Iberia” (for further information visit: https://www.socriem.es/mutis/) not only aims to detect the administrative and territorial framing of Muslim communities in Christian Iberia, but also seeks to analyse the relations between Muslims and their lords in both a legal and organisational framework. With this contribution project member Clara Almagro Vidal offers a close-up look of the project and shares some preliminary results.

Although they were theoretically part of the treasure of the Christian kings in medieval Iberia, Muslims often lived in lands that were not under Royal jurisdiction throughout the Middle Ages. The presence of Muslim communities in signorial lands within the Christian kingdoms of medieval Iberia is of great interest for the study of this religious minority because it reflects an overlapping of jurisdictional spheres of a different nature depending on the type of lordship and the conditions under which the lands were given the lords. These lordships, whether nobiliary, ecclesiastical, municipal or of any other type, formed an element of distortion for the exercise of royal authority, fragmenting its capacity to act and generating, through the exercise of its unequal prerogatives, a wide range of circumstances that determined the life of Muslims in these areas.

Moreover, although not exclusively, Muslims were often settled in rural communities or located in small population centres that did not become fully urban. Areas with these characteristics have traditionally received less interest in historiography.

The research project Muslims in Signorial lands: an Integrative Perspective in Medieval Iberia, funded by the Regional Government of Madrid through its programme for talent attraction (2020-T1/HUM-20291), was born from the awareness of the relevance of this phenomenon and the gap in existing scholarship.

The researchers involved in the project are focusing on a number of points of interest: Detecting forms of administrative and territorial framing of communities on manorial lands; Analysing relations between Muslims and their lords and the effects of the overlapping of different jurisdictional spheres, both at the individual and collective level; and explore the impact that the two previous points had in the internal organisation of these communities, including the characteristics and attributions of the officials and governing bodies of the Muslim community, the functioning of obligations towards the Christians and towards themselves, and relations with the Christian authorities.

Although the project is still underway, some provisional findings are coming to light. For one, the strategies used by lords show significant similarities across the Crowns of Castile and Aragon. For another, Muslims were perceived as valuable dependents, whose permanence was often sought and even a point of contention between lords. Moreover, the unstable balance and struggles for power between the various Christian authorities had an obvious impact on Muslims. At times, Muslims were key elements in the entrenchment and legitimisation of signiorial power, and at others they were reduced to pawns affected by the ambitions of the various Christian actors. Observation of the multiple manifestations of lordship allows us to identify the different factors at play at each moment and their relative weight.

Selected Bibliography

Almagro Vidal, Clara. “Grammars of Dependence. A Historical Semantics Approach to Population Charters Granted by Military Orders to Muslims in Medieval Iberia”, Österreiche Zeitschrift für Geschichte, 34-2 (2023), pp. 105-124. https://doi.org/10.25365/oezg-2023-34-2-6

Almagro Vidal, Clara (ed.), Musulmanes y señores en la Edad Media Peninsular, Monographic issue in Espacio, Tiempo y Forma: Edad Media, 37 (2024), pp. 15-204. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfiii.37.2024

Moreno Moreno, Yolanda, “El negocio de mantener una aljama musulmana en tierras de señorío. El caso de Talavera de la Reina”, Musulmanes y señores en la Edad Media Peninsular, Número monográfico en Espacio, Tiempo y Forma: Edad Media, 37 (2024), pp.145-166. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfiii.37.2024.38802

García de Gea, Jorge Ángel, “Musulmanes al servicio de la nobleza: fuentes testamentarias bajomedievales”, Musulmanes y señores en la Edad Media Peninsular, Número monográfico en Espacio, Tiempo y Forma: Edad Media, 37 (2024), pp.63-90. https://doi.org/10.5944/etfiii.37.2024.39113

Photo: Ceiling of the chapel in Mesones de Isuela castle (Zaragoza), Clara Almagro Vidal (15.07.2024).

Muslims under the rule of Military Orders in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula

Clara Almagro Vidal, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main

Within the medieval Iberian Peninsula, military orders prospered in a context in which the fight against Islam held great weight. They played an important role in the territorial advance of Christian kingdoms at the expense of Andalusian territories and were also instrumental in the consolidation of frontier areas. In spite of it, or maybe because of it, they encountered Muslims often, both in the battlefields and outside of them. Muslims served in their convents, castles and houses, and resided on their lands as settlers in different fashions.

Military orders were present in different kingdoms at the same time. As such, they offer an excellent case study to approach Muslim presence under Christian rule while sidestepping the traditional focus on individual kingdoms. This has the potential to bring a new perspective to the interpretation of the factors and mechanisms at play in the relations between Muslims and their Christian lords in different areas and moments in time, showing the equilibriums and internal tensions that marked the different contexts and configurations surrounding their presence.

With the financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the goal of my research project is to to analyse the ways in which military orders ruled over the Muslims that lived and worked under their rule in the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. The analysis focuses on two facets of Muslim presence: Muslim servants and Muslim inhabitants on their lands. In both cases, the objective is to identify both the characteristics of their status and of the roles they played, as well as to analyse the actions taken by military orders as their lords towards them. In order to do so, special attention is dedicated to records that relate to the economic administration of the possessions of the orders, as well as internal regulations, privileges, and judicial records.

The project is still ongoing. However, some very interesting findings are shaping a fascinating picture: servants of the orders included not only slaves, but also free Muslim men who occupied positions of trust within the orders fulfilling al manners of roles. 

The presence of Muslim settlers was encouraged in a number of ways, including establishing agreements with already existing Muslim communities or providing partial tax exemptions, among other strategies. The knights also offered protection to the Muslims living under their rule, which probably played a role in the fact that the relations between Muslim and Christian neighbours was often peaceful. However, these actions by the military orders were in a big part influenced by circumstances outside of the orders themselves. They showed themselves to be adaptable in this respect and, as a result, local factors greatly influenced the manifestations of overarching developments. In turn, the presence of Muslims inhabitants brought certain advantages to military orders, such as the availability of workforce on the land, especially at times when it was difficult to attract Christian settlers; and in the form taxable subjects, Muslims  could be subjected to higher fiscal pressure than their Christian counterparts, among other benefits.

Some early results of my research have already been published and a monograph is in the works.

Photo: Cantiga 181 of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfons X, in: Codex Rico, Ms TI1, f. 240r, Biblioteca de El Escorial, URL: [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/; http://warfare.gq/Cantiga/Cantigas_de_Santa_Maria-181.htm].