Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain

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13th-century illustration from the Libro de los juegos depicting Jews playing chess. Grande-acedrex.jpg
13th-century illustration from the Libro de los juegos depicting Jews playing chess.

The Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain refers to a period (roughly from the 10th to the 12th century) during which Jewish life flourished under Muslim rule in Al-Andalus (Muslim-ruled Iberia). During this time, Jews experienced relative tolerance, prosperity, and cultural integration within the broader Islamic society. Notable figures from this era include Maimonides,Hasdai ibn Shaprut, Samuel ha-Nagid, Solomon ibn Gabirol, and Judah Halevi.

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Under Muslim rule, Jews were designated as dhimmi ("protected people")—non-Muslim subjects granted religious freedom and legal protection in exchange for paying a special tax and accepting certain social restrictions. Although they held a second-class status, this framework allowed for a relatively stable coexistence that enabled Jewish religious, cultural, and economic life to flourish. Jews occupied prominent positions in government, medicine, philosophy, science, and diplomacy, and played a key role in the transmission of classical knowledge from the Islamic world to Medieval Christian Europe. The period also saw remarkable achievements in Hebrew poetry, religious scholarship, grammar, and philosophy.

The nature and length of this "Golden Age" has been debated, as there were at least three periods during which non-Muslims were oppressed. A few scholars give the start of the Golden Age as 711–718, the Muslim conquest of Iberia. Others date it from 912, during the rule of Abd al-Rahman III. The end of the age is variously given as during the times of invasions and persecutions of the Almoravid and Almohads or with the expulsion of Jews from Spain.

Historiography and nature of Golden Age

Image of a cantor reading the Passover story in Al-Andalus, from the 14th century Haggadah of Barcelona. Spanishhaggadah.jpg
Image of a cantor reading the Passover story in Al-Andalus, from the 14th century Haggadah of Barcelona.

Having invaded southern Spain and coming to rule in a matter of seven years, Islamic rulers were confronted with many questions relating to the implementation of Islamic rule of a non-Islamic society. The coexistence of Muslims, Jews, and Christians Convivencia during this time is revered by many writers. Al-Andalus was a key center of Jewish life during the early Middle Ages.

María Rosa Menocal, a specialist in Iberian literature at Yale University, claims that "tolerance was an inherent aspect of Andalusian society". [1] Menocal's 2003 book, The Ornament of the World, argues that the Jewish dhimmis living under the Caliphate were allowed fewer rights than Muslims but were still better off than in the Christian parts of Europe. Jews from other parts of Europe made their way to al-Andalus, where in parallel to Christian sects regarded as heretical by Catholic Europe, they were not just tolerated, but where opportunities to practise faith and trades were open without restriction save for the prohibitions on proselytisation and, sometimes, on synagogue construction.

Bernard Lewis takes issue with this view, calling it ahistorical and exaggerated. He argues that Islam traditionally did not offer equality or even pretend that it did and argues that it would have been both a "theological as well as a logical absurdity." [2] However, he also states:

Generally, the Jewish people were allowed to practice their religion and live according to the laws and scriptures of their community. Furthermore, the restrictions to which they were subject were social and symbolic rather than tangible and practical in character. That is to say, these regulations served to define the relationship between the two communities, and not to oppress the Jewish population. [2]

Mark R. Cohen, Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, in his Under Crescent and Cross, calls the idealized interfaith utopia a "myth" that was first promulgated by Jewish historians such as Heinrich Graetz in the 19th century as a rebuke to Christian countries for their treatment of Jews. [3] This myth was met with the "counter-myth" of the "neo-lachrymose conception of Jewish-Arab history" by Bat Ye'or and others, [3] which also "cannot be maintained in the light of historical reality". [4] Cohen adds that the "Golden Age" myth has been used since the nineteenth century by Muslims who use it "as a weapon against Zionism and the State of Israel," in which the claims "soft-pedal the legal inferiority of the Jews and gloss over, or ignore, episodes of violence that call the harmony into question." [5]

The notable Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135–1204) was forced to flee from Al-Andalus to avoid conversion by the Almohads. In Letter to Yemen, Maimonides wrote:

Dear brothers, because of our many sins Hashem has cast us among this nation, the Arabs, who are treating us badly. They pass laws designed to cause us distress and make us despised.... Never has there been a nation that hated, humiliated and loathed us as much as this one. [6]

Birth of the Golden Age

Prior to 589, the Jewish population of Spain was tolerated by its Arian Visigoth rulers and placed on equal footing with the other ethnic and religious communities of the region. The Arians may have preferred the Jewish population to the Catholic one, as they did not fear political enmity from the Jews. [7] The Visigoths were mainly indifferent towards Jews and allowed them to grow and prosper. After the Visigoths joined the Catholic Church, they placed ever greater economic burdens on the Jewish population, and later persecuted them severely. It is possible that Jews welcomed the Muslim Arab and mainly-Berber conquerors in the 8th century.

A period of tolerance dawned for the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. Their number was considerably augmented by immigration from North Africa in the wake of the Muslim conquest.[ citation needed ] Immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East bolstered the Jewish population and made Muslim Spain probably the largest centre of contemporary Jews. Nevertheless, their numbers were comparably low to the other ethnic groups on the Iberian peninsula and Eliyahu Asthor estimates their number at a little over 0.5% of the total Iberian population, but with a presence of up to 15-20% in some towns and cities. [8] Especially after 912, during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III and his son, Al-Hakam II, the Jews prospered culturally, and some notable figures held high posts in the Caliphate of Córdoba. Jewish philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, poets and rabbinical scholars composed highly-rich cultural and scientific work. Many devoted themselves to the study of the sciences and philosophy, composing many of the most valuable texts of Jewish philosophy. Jews took part in the overall prosperity of Muslim Al-Andalus. Jewish economic expansion was unparallelled. In Toledo, after the Christian reconquest in 1085, Jews were involved in translating Arabic texts to the romance languages in the so-called Toledo School of Translators, as they had been previously in translating Greek and Hebrew texts to Arabic. Jews also contributed to botany, geography, medicine, mathematics, poetry and philosophy. [9]

'Abd al-Rahman's court physician and minister was Hasdai ibn Shaprut, the patron of Menahem ben Saruq, Dunash ben Labrat and other Jewish scholars and poets. In following centuries, Jewish thought flourished under famous figures such as Samuel Ha-Nagid, Moses ibn Ezra, Solomon ibn Gabirol and Judah Halevi. [9] During 'Abd al-Rahman's term of power, the scholar Moses ben Hanoch was appointed rabbi of Córdoba, and as a consequence al-Andalus became the center of Talmudic study, and Córdoba the meeting-place of Jewish savants.

It was a time of partial Jewish autonomy. As "dhimmis", "protected non-Muslims", Jews in the Islamic world paid the jizya, which was administered separately from the zakat paid by Muslims. The jizya has been viewed variously as a head tax, as payment for non-conscription in the military (as non-Muslims were normally prohibited from bearing arms or receiving martial training) or as a tribute. Jews had their own legal system and social services. Monotheist religions of the People of the Book were tolerated but conspicuous displays of faith, such as bells and processions, were discouraged. [10]

Comparing the treatment of Jews in the medieval Islamic world and medieval Christian Europe, the Jews were far more integrated in the political and economic life of Islamic society, [11] and usually faced far less violence from Muslims, but there were some instances of persecution in the Islamic world as well from the 11th century. [12] The Islamic world classified Jews and Christians as dhimmis and allowed Jews to practice their religion more freely than they could in Christian Europe. [13]

End of the Golden Age

With the death of Al-Hakam II in 976, the caliphate began to dissolve, and the position of the Jews became more precarious under the various smaller kingdoms.[ citation needed ] The first major persecution was the 1066 Granada massacre, which occurred on 30 December in which a Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, crucified the Jewish Vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacred many of the Jewish population of the city. According to one source, "more than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day". [14] [15] It was the first persecution of Jews on the Peninsula under Islamic rule.

Manuscript page by Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish scholars of Al Andalus, born in Cordoba, in Arabic in the Hebrew script. Manuscript page by Maimonides Arabic in Hebrew letters.jpg
Manuscript page by Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish scholars of Al Andalus, born in Córdoba, in Arabic in the Hebrew script.

Beginning in 1090, the situation deteriorated and Muslim religious attitudes hardened further with the invasion of the Almoravids, a puritan Muslim dynasty from Morocco. [16] The Jewish community of Granada, barely re-established following the massacre, was destroyed during the sack of Granada by the Almoravids that same year. [15] Jews were slowly pushed out from civil and political positions, [17] though there were some exceptions and some Jews even held the title of "vizier" ("nasi") such as the poet and physician Abu Ayyub Solomon ibn al-Mu'allam, Abraham ibn Meïr ibn Kamnial, Abu Isaac ibn Muhajar and Solomon ibn Farusal.[ citation needed ] Nevertheless, Andalusian religious scholarship was still ongoing and the art of Hebrew poetry reached a highpoint with the verses of Judah ha-Levi. [17] However, from that time onwards, Jews were sometimes safer in northern Spain under Christian rulers. [18]

In 1146, the fundamentalists Berber Almohad dynasty begun their conquest of al-Andalus, defeating the Almohads and bringing almost all of Islamic Spain under their control by 1172. [18] [19] The Almohads tolerated neither and Christians nor Jews and, having already extinguished the indigenous Christian communities that had existed in North Africa for a millennium, the Almohads also put the Jews before the choice between conversion and death. [18] [19] Many Jews, and even Muslim scholars,[ citation needed ] fled the Muslim controlled portion of Iberia either to more tolerant Muslim countries such as Ayyubid Egypt and Syria or fled over the frontier into Christian Spain. [19]

There were also mass conversions of Jews to Islam, but similar to under the Visigothic rulers, they often practised their religion secretly and were mistrusted by Muslims. [18] [20] Questioning their sincerity, the Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur still treated the new converts to Islam as if they were dhimmis, not only limiting their civil rights but also having them wear distinguishing clothing consisting of blue-black garments, ludicrous caps and the shikla . [18] [20] Yaqub's son changed the colours later to yellow garments and turbans, a colour that the Muslim in general frowned on since the times of Muhammad himself. [20]

Thus, the Almohad persecutions ended the flourishing Jewish settlements in Muslim Spain at the end of the twelfth century. [18] [19] The Jewish presence in Iberia continued in the Christian territories until the Jews were forced to leave or to convert to Christianity in the Alhambra Decree of 1492 and a similar decree by Portugal in 1496.

Jewish Street (Toledo, Spain) Located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo.jpg
Jewish Street (Toledo, Spain)

Notable figures

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Press Release: The Ornament of the World by María Rosa Menocal". August 28, 2005. Archived from the original on 2005-08-28.
  2. 1 2 Lewis, Bernard W (1984). The Jews of Islam
  3. 1 2 Cohen, Mark R. (October 1995). Under Crescent and Cross. Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-01082-X.
  4. ↑ Daniel J. Lasker (1997). "Review of Under Crescent and Cross. The Jews in the Middle Ages by Mark R. Cohen". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 88 (1/2): 76–78. doi:10.2307/1455066. JSTOR   1455066.
  5. ↑ Cohen, Mark R. (2013). Meddeb, Abdelwahab; Stora, Benjamin (eds.). A history of Jewish-Muslim relations: from the origins to the present day. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 29. ISBN   978-0-691-15127-4. In the twentieth century, Muslims appropriated the Jewish myth of the interfaith utopia as a weapon against Zionism and the State of Israel. They expressed this both in political broadsides and in books and articles about Jews or about non-Muslims in general in the Middle Ages. The leitmotif of these writings is Islamic "tolerance" (Arabic samāḥa or tasāmuḥ), often contrasted with the persecutions of medieval Christian society. Characteristically, these writings soft-pedal the legal inferiority of the Jews and gloss over, or ignore, episodes of violence that call the harmony into question.
  6. ↑ Yaakov Finkel, Avraham (January 1994). "Rambam: Selected Letters of Maimonides". Scranton, Pennsylvania: Yeshivath Beth Moshe (published 1994). p. 58. ISBN   096262263X.
  7. ↑ Arianism, Kaufmann Kohler, Samuel Krauss, Jewish Encyclopedia
  8. ↑ Stillman 1979, p. 54.
  9. 1 2 Sephardim by Rebecca Weiner.
  10. ↑ Fred J. Hill et al., A History of the Islamic World 2003 ISBN   0-7818-1015-9, p.73
  11. ↑ Mark R. Cohen (1995), Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press, pp. 66–7 & 88, ISBN   0-691-01082-X , retrieved 2010-04-10
  12. ↑ Mark R. Cohen (1995), Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press, pp. xvii, xix, 22, 163, 169, ISBN   0-691-01082-X , retrieved 2010-04-10
  13. ↑ Mark R. Cohen (1995), Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press, ISBN   0-691-01082-X , retrieved 2010-04-10
  14. ↑ Granada by Richard Gottheil, Meyer Kayserling, Jewish Encyclopedia . 1906 ed.
  15. 1 2 Stillman 1979, p. 59.
  16. ↑ Stillman 1979, pp. 59–60.
  17. 1 2 Stillman 1979, p. 60.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Johnson 1994, p. 178.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Stillman 1979, p. 61.
  20. 1 2 3 Stillman, Norman (8 June 2022). Arab Dress, A Short History: From the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times. BRILL. pp. 96, 109. ISBN   978-90-04-49162-5 . Retrieved 18 October 2025.

Bibliography

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