World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

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THE WAYS OF CULTURAL TRANSMISSION IN THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN (10TH-15TH CENTURIES) - 1/4: Religion and Society in the Western Mediterranean (900-1300) (302) - NOT_DEFINED activity_field_Panel
 

· NOT_DEFINED date: THU 22, 9.00-11.00 am

· NOT_DEFINED institution: ICREA and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Alexander Fidora and Fèlix Retamero

· NOT_DEFINED language: English/Français

· NOT_DEFINED description: The intercultural networks between Jewish, Christian and Arabic communities during the Middle Ages have played a decisive role in the evolution of Western thought and have helped to shape the European identity.

The goal of this series of panels is to study the diverse facets of cultural transmission in the Western Mediterranean from the 11th to the 15th century. Today we know that the processes involved in this transmission were extremely complex, since transfer of knowledge among the different cultural and religious communities along the Mediterranean was both multi-directional and multi-layered, including both religious and social aspects.

The focus of this panel will be on Religion and Society in the Western Mediterranean from 900-1300. The panel will include papers on Latin Iberian historians discovering Islam as a religious system (Dr. Matthias M. Tischler); Ibn Hazm (994–1064) and his position on faith and reason in religious thought (Ms. Andrea Baer, M.A.); socio-economic processes of transmission in the Iberian Christian Kingdoms (Dr. Fèlix Retamero) as well as the role of the Franciscan for the perception of the history of religions (Dr. Cándida Ferrero).

Chair: Óscar de la Cruz, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Paper presenter: Matthias M. Tischler, Phil.-Theol. Hochschule St. Georgen, Frankfurt,
“Discovering Islam as a Historical Phenomenon: The Case of the Latin Historiography of the Iberian Peninsula 8th to 13th Centuries”
The rediscovery of the religious sphere if not of the religions themselves in the aftermaths of ‘9/11’ seems to announce a new period of post-secular societies in Europe (Jürgen Habermas). The power of transcendence, forming our modern cultures and societies, seems to be more uncontested than ever before. Yet in this perspective, we may not forget our refreshed sensibility for the ever lasting cultural phenomenon of ‘othering’ in religious terms: ‘Religions’ have and make their history at every time and place, but they cannot find their identities without processes of mutual transfer and transformation. My paper will show, how ‘Islam’ has become an item of growing importance within and via the Latin historiography of the Iberian Peninsula from the Early to the High Middle Ages. Dealing with the faith of the Muslims in the genre of historiography shows its double historicity: Having become a subject of the Christian Latin historiography, this faith has become part of the Christian history. A new religious tradition has been born: Islam.

Paper presenter: Andrea Baer, Phil.-Theol. Hochschule St. Georgen, Frankfurt, “Ibn Hazm and the Other”
Ibn Hazm lived at the beginning of the 11th century in al-Andalus side by side with Jews and Christians and was surrounded by Muslims who did not share his approach to Islam. His writings show that he had a pragmatic view of people of different beliefs living together under Muslim domination. Thus, it seems that for him it was irrelevant which religion they followed as long as they were virtuous people. This thesis will have to be substantiated through a detailed analysis of his “Kitab al-Akhlaq” and with reference to other of his writings. In particular, it should be examined whether Ibn Hazm is exceeding or following his own thesis in his other works.

Paper presenter: Fèlix Retamero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, “The use of Andalusi coins in the Iberian Christian Kingdoms (10th-13th centuries)”
The use of coins minted in al-Andalus between the 10th and the 13th centuries in the Iberian Christian Kingdoms is broadly documented. Written evidence, remarkably from the Catalan counties, attests abundantly the presence of dinars and –more rarely– dirhams in transactions and wills. Mancusi, morabatini, and masmudinae, among other denominations, were used both as means of payment and as accounting units. This well documented –although uneven- presence of Arabic coins in Christian areas has been often presented as a burst for the “take off” of the 11th century, in the case of the Catalan counties. However, very few numismatic traces of this apparently massive presence in some areas have been preserved, in spite of the abundant documentary evidence of the gold Andalusi coins in some feudal areas.
The aim of this paper is to examine some examples showing the uses of the Andalusi coins in different Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, as attested in written documents, as well as to present the numismatic evidence of their circulation. Secondly, this evidence will be discussed in order to distinguish patterns of coin uses in the Christian kingdoms, and between the northern societies of the Peninsula and al-Andalus. Finally, the diverse role of coins in the organisation of the political power in these different societies will be explored, as well as the effect of these differences in the diverse numismatic records of the feudal countries and al-Andalus. Special attention will be payed to the role of the Church in the “disparition” of the Andalusi dinars in Christian areas.

Paper presenter : Cándida Ferrero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
“Juifs et musulmans à l’œuvre de Fr. Juan Gil de Zamora. Tradition et innovation"
L’objet de notre étude est de présenter une lecture de quelques passages des œuvres du moine franciscain Juan Gil de Zamora (ca.1241-1318), spécialement du Liber Mariae et de celui De praeconiis Hispaniae, à travers lesquels nous effectuerons une analyse du traitement qu’il présente au moment d’aborder l’altérité des juifs et musulmans, ainsi que l’utilisation des sources, entre lesquelles ils soulignent la tradition byzantine et l’européenne occidentale, mais aussi on observe de manière évidente la tradition péninsulaire. Nous soulignerons, de même, ces aspects dans lesquels l’auteur présente des innovations par rapport à l’argument proposé.