Emily Lanzarotto
October 23, 2014
HIS 304-Professor Pearson
Writing Assignment #1
Convevencia
Often when the history of medieval Europe is told it is only from the view point of Christianity however, the story of medieval Europe from an Islamic point of view is in many ways far more vital to the true history.
Early Islam was a powerful force in Europe that revived old and created new cities. As the Muslims moved into a Spain under the Visigoths, they took control in a swift and fairly bloodless invasion in 711 and even reached as far as southern France by 719. The ruling Umayyad family in Muslim Spain, al-Andalus, was slaughtered and all but one had died out by the year 1031. The Muslim faithful stayed in the al-Andalus area and in the eleventh century Europe saw a large number of Muslim converts bringing a new and highly advanced Islamic culture to Europe.
The main city of Cordoba was the headquarters of all things “high-tech”. Cordoba had grand mosques, libraries, hospitals, paved streets, street lamps, schools, homes with running water, all things that cities like London and Paris would not see for another 700 years. Some of the early Muslims in Cordoba pioneered medicine with pharmacology along with astronomy and philosophy. Most notably a philosopher/astronomer named Averroes whose translation of Aristotle from Greek to Arabic to Latin shocked the world at the time.
As time went on the Muslim rule weakened and the Christians in the north took advantage. They launched a re-conquest of southern Spain from the Muslims; by 1013 they had taken the city of Cordoba. Muslim rule was weak and split into smaller states that were not only fighting the Christian force but also fighting within themselves and the aristocracy. The city of Toledo became a safe haven for those of all religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. They set up a fortified area for some