Ramón, a fine art photographer, purchases an anonymous 19th-century portrait…
Ornament of the World
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- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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This remarkable story from the past is especially timely today. Filmed in Cordoba, Granada, Seville, and Toledo, this film retraces the 800-year period in medieval Spain when Muslims, Christians, and Jews forged a common cultural identity that frequently transcended their religious differences, revealing what made this rare and fruitful collaboration possible, and what ultimately tore it apart.
Citation
Main credits
Kapany, Kiki (film producer)
Schwarz, Michael (film director)
Schwarz, Michael (film producer)
Schwarz, Michael (screenwriter)
Cohn, Jason (screenwriter)
Phelan, Tim (narrator)
Other credits
Cinematography, Vicento Franco; editing, Gail Huddleson, Rhonda Collins; music, Jamshied Sharifi; animation, Brian O'Connell.
Distributor subjects
Iberian Studies; Culture + Identity; History; Religion + Spirituality; SociologyKeywords
00:00:03.792 --> 00:00:06.975
-Granada...
00:00:06.999 --> 00:00:09.810
Seville...
00:00:09.834 --> 00:00:11.935
Córdoba...
00:00:11.959 --> 00:00:13.768
and Toledo --
00:00:13.792 --> 00:00:16.185
the storied cities
of southern Spain,
00:00:16.209 --> 00:00:20.185
centers of some of the most
extraordinary art,
00:00:20.209 --> 00:00:23.999
culture, literature,
and music ever created,
00:00:25.334 --> 00:00:29.500
all forged in the crucible
of a remarkable time and place.
00:00:31.292 --> 00:00:34.518 line:20%
♪♪
00:00:34.542 --> 00:00:36.101
-Spain is particularly
interesting because
00:00:36.125 --> 00:00:38.268
it's one of the places
where Christians,
00:00:38.292 --> 00:00:40.685
Muslims, and Jews
confronted each other
00:00:40.709 --> 00:00:42.999
over a long period of time
and in very, very basic ways.
00:00:43.999 --> 00:00:47.018 line:20%
♪♪
00:00:47.042 --> 00:00:48.852
-Under many different
political configurations,
00:00:48.876 --> 00:00:52.435
you had the ongoing creation
00:00:52.459 --> 00:00:55.209
of many different great
cultural forms
00:00:55.999 --> 00:00:59.560 position:20%
that would not have existed
00:00:59.584 --> 00:01:01.143
except for these
complicated ways
00:01:01.167 --> 00:01:04.018
in which Jews and Christians
and Muslims
00:01:04.042 --> 00:01:07.351
were living in
the same time and place.
00:01:07.375 --> 00:01:11.226
-They were using
each other's languages,
00:01:11.250 --> 00:01:13.894
reading each other's poetry,
00:01:13.918 --> 00:01:15.685
arguing each
other's philosophies
00:01:15.709 --> 00:01:18.894
in a way that was productive,
00:01:18.918 --> 00:01:21.542
in a way that helped create
the world that we live in today.
00:01:22.709 --> 00:01:25.935 line:20%
♪♪
00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:27.518
-Nowhere else in Europe
did the three religions
00:01:27.542 --> 00:01:29.918
so thoroughly share
a society and a culture.
00:01:30.542 --> 00:01:34.018
It was period of coexistence,
00:01:34.042 --> 00:01:36.310
now known as La Convivencia,
00:01:36.334 --> 00:01:39.292
that lasted
almost 800 years...
00:01:39.876 --> 00:01:43.560
a time of
unprecedented collaboration,
00:01:43.584 --> 00:01:46.975 position:20%
but also frequent violence.
00:01:46.999 --> 00:01:49.975
-Ah!
[ Horse neighs ]
00:01:49.999 --> 00:01:51.852
-There are endless conflicts.
00:01:51.876 --> 00:01:54.268
There are huge numbers
of attacks against Jews.
00:01:54.292 --> 00:01:58.250
-There were martyrdoms.
There were executions.
00:01:58.584 --> 00:02:01.975
There were betrayals.
00:02:01.999 --> 00:02:04.435
-It was not perfect.
00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:06.143
There was tolerance
rather than pluralism,
00:02:06.167 --> 00:02:09.268
but there was an openness
to difference
00:02:09.292 --> 00:02:12.999
that was extraordinary
in the medieval world.
00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.810
-And that openness made
possible
00:02:17.834 --> 00:02:19.975
the creation of a culture
so wondrous
00:02:19.999 --> 00:02:22.975 position:20% line:20%
that it was called
the Ornament of the World.
00:02:22.999 --> 00:02:26.209 line:20%
♪♪
00:02:32.500 --> 00:02:35.834 line:20%
-Major funding for this program
has been provided by
00:02:35.999 --> 00:02:39.976 line:20%
the National Endowment
for the Humanities,
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.999 line:20%
"Bringing you the stories
that define us."
00:02:45.999 --> 00:02:49.976 line:20%
Additional funding
has been provided by...
00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:53.334 line:20%
O0 C1 P
00:02:58.459 --> 00:03:03.459 line:20%
O0 C1 P
00:03:08.542 --> 00:03:11.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:03:11.792 --> 00:03:15.584 line:20%
-The story of medieval Spain
began here in a palace
00:03:16.042 --> 00:03:19.975 line:20%
outside Damascus
in what is now Syria.
00:03:19.999 --> 00:03:23.018 line:20%
♪♪
00:03:23.042 --> 00:03:24.894 line:20%
The year was 750,
00:03:24.918 --> 00:03:26.975 line:20%
and the long-standing rulers
of the Muslim Empire
00:03:26.999 --> 00:03:29.727 position:20% line:20%
have just been overthrown.
00:03:29.751 --> 00:03:32.709 line:20%
-In 750, there was
a massive coup,
00:03:33.125 --> 00:03:36.727 line:20%
and it was a bloody coup.
00:03:36.751 --> 00:03:38.975 line:20%
-The palace was now occupied
00:03:38.999 --> 00:03:40.935 line:20%
by the victorious
Abbasid family.
00:03:40.959 --> 00:03:43.435 line:20%
The clan they defeated,
the Umayyads,
00:03:43.459 --> 00:03:45.975 line:20%
had been in power
for nearly 100 years
00:03:45.999 --> 00:03:48.975 line:20%
and had overseen
the Muslim Empire's expansion
00:03:48.999 --> 00:03:51.894 line:20%
to the farthest reaches
of the known world.
00:03:51.918 --> 00:03:55.351 line:20%
The Umayyads were the second
caliphate, or ruling dynasty,
00:03:55.375 --> 00:03:58.975 line:20%
established after
the death of Muhammad.
00:03:58.999 --> 00:04:02.143 line:20%
This royal lineage made them
a continuing threat
00:04:02.167 --> 00:04:04.935 line:20%
to the new rulers.
00:04:04.959 --> 00:04:06.560 line:20%
-Because the caliphate was
a dynastic phenomenon
00:04:06.584 --> 00:04:09.727 line:20%
in which a son
could turn up later and claim
00:04:09.751 --> 00:04:13.310 line:20%
that he was the true heir
to the Muslim world,
00:04:13.334 --> 00:04:16.435 line:20%
the Abbasids decided
they needed to kill everyone,
00:04:16.459 --> 00:04:18.975 line:20%
to destroy everyone in the house
of the Bani Umayyah.
00:04:18.999 --> 00:04:22.143 line:20%
♪♪
00:04:22.167 --> 00:04:24.143 line:20%
-According to lore,
after the coup,
00:04:24.167 --> 00:04:26.810 line:20%
the Abbasids invited
the Umayyads back to the palace
00:04:26.834 --> 00:04:29.999 line:20%
in a gesture of reconciliation,
but it was all a ruse.
00:04:31.375 --> 00:04:34.935 line:20%
[ Laughter]
00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:36.268 line:20%
-There was one particular
moment when it seemed
00:04:36.292 --> 00:04:39.143 line:20%
that there might be
some sort of reconciliation,
00:04:39.167 --> 00:04:42.334 line:20%
the Umayyads coming humbly
to beg to be spared.
00:04:43.999 --> 00:04:47.602
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:04:47.626 --> 00:04:50.643
-According to the story,
at a certain point,
00:04:50.667 --> 00:04:53.042
the Abbasids arose and beheaded
almost every Umayyad there.
00:04:53.999 --> 00:04:57.768
[ Indistinct shouting ]
00:04:57.792 --> 00:05:00.393
-Ah!
00:05:00.417 --> 00:05:01.975
-With the clap of a hand,
00:05:01.999 --> 00:05:03.876
in one fell swoop, virtually,
the entire upper rank
00:05:05.667 --> 00:05:09.393
of the Umayyads
had been extinguished.
00:05:09.417 --> 00:05:12.101
[ Wine dripping ]
00:05:12.125 --> 00:05:15.852
-One young Umayyad prince,
Abd al-Rahman,
00:05:15.876 --> 00:05:19.018
escaped the onslaught and fled.
00:05:19.042 --> 00:05:22.560
An account of his journey
survives to this day.
00:05:22.584 --> 00:05:25.393
[ Water rushing ]
00:05:25.417 --> 00:05:27.143
-The incredible thing about
this account is it's told
00:05:27.167 --> 00:05:29.935 position:20%
in the first person,
and at one point, he says,
00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:33.226 line:20%
"We were encamped
on the banks of a river,
00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:36.167 line:20%
and my young son
came to me crying, and I said,
00:05:36.792 --> 00:05:40.351 line:20%
'Come on.
You should be strong,'
00:05:40.375 --> 00:05:42.976
you know, 'You're my son,'
but I looked behind him,
00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.542
and I saw the black flags
of the Abbasids."
00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:50.975
He speaks about picking up
his young son
00:05:50.999 --> 00:05:53.435
and grabbing his younger brother
00:05:53.459 --> 00:05:56.018
and flying to the banks
of the river...
00:05:56.042 --> 00:05:58.435
[Splash ]
00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:01.268
...and he has his young son
on his back,
00:06:01.292 --> 00:06:03.125
and he starts to swim
across the river...
00:06:03.292 --> 00:06:07.310
and his little brother
keeps up with him for a while
00:06:07.334 --> 00:06:09.975
but then can't swim,
00:06:09.999 --> 00:06:11.310
and he's afraid of drowning
and starts to go back.
00:06:11.334 --> 00:06:14.459 position:20%
-And the cavalrymen
standing there on the bank
00:06:14.667 --> 00:06:18.059 position:20%
beckoned him back, saying,
00:06:18.083 --> 00:06:20.209
"Not to fear, we've just
come to take you to safety."
00:06:20.999 --> 00:06:24.894
-Abd al-Rahman I makes it
to the other side
00:06:24.918 --> 00:06:27.268 position:20%
and drops off his son and turns
around to get his brother,
00:06:27.292 --> 00:06:30.876
and he sees his brother on
the far bank with the Abbasids,
00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:35.727
and he says he watches
his brother's head
00:06:35.751 --> 00:06:38.018
tumble into the water.
00:06:38.042 --> 00:06:39.435
[Sword unsheathes,
head splashes ]
00:06:39.459 --> 00:06:41.476
The Abbasids beheaded him
immediately.
00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:44.459 line:20%
♪♪
00:06:48.834 --> 00:06:50.125
[ Bird cries ]
00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.083 position:20%
-For Abd al-Rahman,
there was no turning back.
00:06:54.375 --> 00:06:57.975
-The Abbasids were determined
00:06:57.999 --> 00:06:59.894
that no Umayyad
of significance would survive,
00:06:59.918 --> 00:07:04.000
and so he was the most hunted
man in the entire Muslim Empire.
00:07:07.375 --> 00:07:10.626 line:20%
♪♪
00:07:12.876 --> 00:07:16.351
-Twenty-year-old Abd al-Rahman
00:07:16.375 --> 00:07:18.310
fled south
several hundred miles,
00:07:18.334 --> 00:07:20.727
then west across North Africa.
00:07:20.751 --> 00:07:24.667
-Where he was heading
was for the tribe of his mother.
00:07:25.417 --> 00:07:29.018 line:20%
His mother was
a Berber concubine
00:07:29.042 --> 00:07:31.518
of one of the Umayyads,
00:07:31.542 --> 00:07:33.393
and so he had Berber relatives
and tribal affiliations.
00:07:33.417 --> 00:07:36.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:07:36.792 --> 00:07:38.810
When he finally reached
what is today Tunis,
00:07:38.834 --> 00:07:41.334
he was taken in by the tribe
and given their protection.
00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:44.167
-When he gets there,
00:07:46.250 --> 00:07:47.999
he doesn't just want to live his
life out as some protected guy.
00:07:48.999 --> 00:07:52.999 line:20%
He's a young man, and he was
bred to the caliphate.
00:07:54.167 --> 00:07:57.975
He understands
that these Abbasids
00:07:57.999 --> 00:08:00.999
are not the legitimate
successors of Muhammad,
00:08:01.250 --> 00:08:04.894 position:20%
that he is the real caliph
00:08:04.918 --> 00:08:07.476
and that legitimacy
lies with him.
00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:10.226 line:20%
♪♪
00:08:10.250 --> 00:08:11.643
-To reclaim that legitimacy,
00:08:11.667 --> 00:08:13.476
the last surviving heir
to the Umayyad caliphate
00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:16.435 position:20%
would need to leave Africa.
00:08:16.459 --> 00:08:18.393 line:20%
♪♪
00:08:18.417 --> 00:08:20.975
Across the narrow
Straits of Gibraltar,
00:08:20.999 --> 00:08:23.310
Abd al-Rahman could see
the Iberian Peninsula
00:08:23.334 --> 00:08:26.393
and what is today
southern Spain.
00:08:26.417 --> 00:08:29.975
The territory was controlled
by Muslim armies
00:08:29.999 --> 00:08:32.894
who had seized it back
in the year 711
00:08:32.918 --> 00:08:35.250
from Christians
called Visigoths.
00:08:35.417 --> 00:08:37.918
The Muslims named it al-Andalus.
00:08:38.999 --> 00:08:42.518
It was officially part
of the caliphate,
00:08:42.542 --> 00:08:44.852
ruled from Damascus
and then Baghdad,
00:08:44.876 --> 00:08:48.518
but its distance
from those capitals
00:08:48.542 --> 00:08:50.334
allowed its people
relative autonomy.
00:08:50.542 --> 00:08:54.310
Abd al-Rahman's supporters
encouraged him
00:08:54.334 --> 00:08:56.643
to travel
to al-Andalus and claim power.
00:08:56.667 --> 00:08:59.975
The young prince
had to weigh the risks.
00:08:59.999 --> 00:09:03.393
-Should he be in North Africa
00:09:03.417 --> 00:09:04.975
and run a small business
in leatherwork,
00:09:04.999 --> 00:09:07.435
or should he listen
to these people
00:09:07.459 --> 00:09:09.101
who came to him from Spain
saying to him,
00:09:09.125 --> 00:09:11.975
the most legitimate figure
on the scene,
00:09:11.999 --> 00:09:14.018
"Come to Spain.
We want you to rule over us.
00:09:14.042 --> 00:09:17.685
You bear the name.
You are a genuine Umayyad"?
00:09:17.709 --> 00:09:20.975
I think
that's almost irresistible.
00:09:20.999 --> 00:09:24.768
-His relatives raise him
a small army,
00:09:24.792 --> 00:09:27.018
and he goes across
the Straits of Gibraltar
00:09:27.042 --> 00:09:29.975 position:20%
onto the Iberian peninsula.
00:09:29.999 --> 00:09:31.894
[ Horse neighs ]
00:09:31.918 --> 00:09:33.643 line:20%
♪♪
00:09:33.667 --> 00:09:36.018
-Al-Andalus was
in some disorder.
00:09:36.042 --> 00:09:40.042
There had been one emir,
ruling emir, after another.
00:09:40.375 --> 00:09:44.226
-The Abbasids putatively
held it by this time,
00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:47.268
but it was so far away
from the center of power
00:09:47.292 --> 00:09:49.975
for the Abbasids
that really easily
00:09:49.999 --> 00:09:52.999
was able to conquer
the forces that were there.
00:09:53.375 --> 00:09:56.602 line:20%
♪♪
00:09:56.626 --> 00:09:58.810
[ Indistinct shouting,
swords clanging ]
00:09:58.834 --> 00:10:01.999
-At the end of the day,
he was able to occupy Córdoba,
00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:06.975
enter the Amiral Palace,
00:10:06.999 --> 00:10:09.709
then proclaim himself
the new emir.
00:10:09.999 --> 00:10:13.167 line:20%
♪♪
00:10:14.167 --> 00:10:17.975 line:20%
-When al-Rahman arrives
in Córdoba,
00:10:17.999 --> 00:10:21.334 line:20%
he encounters
a rather sleepy city,
00:10:21.584 --> 00:10:25.185
a city that is really
in decline
00:10:25.209 --> 00:10:26.975
with walls
that are falling down
00:10:26.999 --> 00:10:28.935
and a bridge that has crumbled,
00:10:28.959 --> 00:10:31.975
and they were living in the city
sort of in that state,
00:10:31.999 --> 00:10:34.626
not really having the funds or
the wherewithal to improve it.
00:10:35.542 --> 00:10:39.143
Abd al-Rahman,
he knows Damascus.
00:10:39.167 --> 00:10:41.602
He knows what a really good city
ought to look like,
00:10:41.626 --> 00:10:44.101
and he sets about making Córdoba
00:10:44.125 --> 00:10:46.768
into a kind of new Damascus.
00:10:46.792 --> 00:10:50.185
-Córdoba has some great bones,
00:10:50.209 --> 00:10:53.042 position:20%
Roman streets and aqueducts
00:10:53.500 --> 00:10:56.976
and elements of Roman culture
00:10:57.000 --> 00:10:59.810
that have fallen out of use
but are still there,
00:10:59.834 --> 00:11:03.310 line:20%
and one can see how a prince
coming from Damascus
00:11:03.334 --> 00:11:06.643 line:20%
can look at this and recognize
something valuable there.
00:11:06.667 --> 00:11:09.999
-So Abd al-Rahman I does
what any good Umayyad would do
00:11:11.167 --> 00:11:14.935
upon taking the city of Córdoba
00:11:14.959 --> 00:11:16.727
is that he makes
a new center of the city,
00:11:16.751 --> 00:11:18.810 position:20%
and he makes the center
of the city into a mosque.
00:11:18.834 --> 00:11:21.435 line:20%
♪♪
00:11:21.459 --> 00:11:23.518
-Abd al-Rahman built
the Great Mosque of Córdoba
00:11:23.542 --> 00:11:26.435
over the top of what had
previously been a church,
00:11:26.459 --> 00:11:30.310
where Christian Visigoths
and Romans before them
00:11:30.334 --> 00:11:33.226
had been praying
for generations.
00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:36.435
-On fairly good evidence,
00:11:36.459 --> 00:11:38.000
we think that they legitimately
rented that space
00:11:39.459 --> 00:11:43.250
and then eventually
bought the building.
00:11:43.918 --> 00:11:47.852
-Abd al-Rahman, looking around
at this landscape,
00:11:47.876 --> 00:11:50.999
decides that he's going
to appropriate the ruins
00:11:51.999 --> 00:11:55.518 position:20%
of this former Roman Empire
00:11:55.542 --> 00:11:58.751
into his new imperial mosque.
00:11:59.459 --> 00:12:03.268
-You have all of these columns
and capitals
00:12:03.292 --> 00:12:06.268
from old Roman buildings
00:12:06.292 --> 00:12:08.143 line:20%
that were scattered probably
all over the countryside,
00:12:08.167 --> 00:12:12.185
and they were brought into
and made a central part
00:12:12.209 --> 00:12:15.018
of the architecture
of the mosque itself.
00:12:15.042 --> 00:12:17.999 line:20%
♪♪
00:12:20.999 --> 00:12:24.975 position:20%
-A hypostyle mosque has
a kind of dispersed space.
00:12:24.999 --> 00:12:27.975
There's not a sense
of hierarchy.
00:12:27.999 --> 00:12:30.101 line:20%
There's no altar at which
a priest might stand
00:12:30.125 --> 00:12:32.768 line:20%
or have an image of Christ
that would give you a sense
00:12:32.792 --> 00:12:34.975 line:20%
that that was
the most important place.
00:12:34.999 --> 00:12:38.459
Instead, it's this broad hall
in which every member
00:12:38.999 --> 00:12:42.959
of the community
prays individually and equally.
00:12:43.584 --> 00:12:47.560
It didn't matter if you were
the caliph or the imam
00:12:47.584 --> 00:12:50.310
who led prayer.
00:12:50.334 --> 00:12:51.810
Everyone was equal
in the eyes of God.
00:12:51.834 --> 00:12:54.101 line:20%
♪♪
00:12:54.125 --> 00:12:56.999
So its forest of columns
really exemplifies that notion
00:12:58.042 --> 00:13:01.852
of a community
in which religion
00:13:01.876 --> 00:13:04.727
was celebrated
very democratically.
00:13:04.751 --> 00:13:08.101
-Construction of the Great
Mosque firmly established Islam
00:13:08.125 --> 00:13:11.999
at the heart of
Abd al-Rahman's new kingdom,
00:13:12.292 --> 00:13:16.059
but the ruling Umayyads
made allowances
00:13:16.083 --> 00:13:18.476
for their Jewish
and Christian subjects.
00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:20.975
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:13:20.999 --> 00:13:23.310
-Certainly, the Umayyads
looked upon
00:13:23.334 --> 00:13:26.125
Christians and Jews in Spain
as a subject population
00:13:26.459 --> 00:13:30.226
that they were going
to govern and rule.
00:13:30.250 --> 00:13:32.975
Wise administration, though,
00:13:32.999 --> 00:13:34.975
tells you that you don't want to
disrupt the local populations.
00:13:34.999 --> 00:13:38.643
You don't want to cause
grievances
00:13:38.667 --> 00:13:40.975 line:20%
that would make
for unstable situations,
00:13:40.999 --> 00:13:43.226 line:20%
rebellions and the like,
00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:45.393 line:20%
and so they took a very
hands-off sort of attitude.
00:13:45.417 --> 00:13:49.393
-Abd al-Rahman governed
non-Muslim populations
00:13:49.417 --> 00:13:52.310
according to a code,
or dhimma,
00:13:52.334 --> 00:13:54.792
established a century earlier
by Muhammad and his successors.
00:13:55.751 --> 00:13:59.667 line:20%
-When Muhammad encountered
a community of Jews
00:14:00.542 --> 00:14:04.018
or a community of Christians,
00:14:04.042 --> 00:14:06.310
his policy was they did
not have to convert.
00:14:06.334 --> 00:14:10.375 position:20%
If they submitted, he guaranteed
them religious protection.
00:14:10.667 --> 00:14:14.435
They were free to practice
their religion
00:14:14.459 --> 00:14:16.476 position:20%
under certain restrictions.
00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:17.935 position:20%
They could not proselytize.
00:14:17.959 --> 00:14:19.143
They could not hold positions
over Muslims.
00:14:19.167 --> 00:14:21.268 position:20%
They couldn't rule Muslims.
00:14:21.292 --> 00:14:22.560
They couldn't build
new churches.
00:14:22.584 --> 00:14:24.101
They couldn't spread
their religion,
00:14:24.125 --> 00:14:25.975
but otherwise,
they were free to practice,
00:14:25.999 --> 00:14:27.852
and then they paid tribute
to the Muslim community,
00:14:27.876 --> 00:14:30.143
the sign of submission.
00:14:30.167 --> 00:14:31.709 line:20%
-This is far from the kind
of pluralistic society
00:14:32.125 --> 00:14:36.334 line:20%
in which everyone in a sense
lives at peace with each other.
00:14:37.959 --> 00:14:41.918
You pay a certain price
for being allowed to live
00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.685 position:20%
within Muslim civilization.
00:14:45.709 --> 00:14:48.185
What you have is
just a strange phenomenon
00:14:48.209 --> 00:14:50.518
where Christians and Jews
00:14:50.542 --> 00:14:53.643 position:20%
may retain their religion,
00:14:53.667 --> 00:14:56.727
but they will
become acculturated
00:14:56.751 --> 00:14:59.643 position:20%
into Islamic civilization.
00:14:59.667 --> 00:15:02.476
That is to say,
they will speak Arabic.
00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:04.935 position:20%
They will write in Arabic.
00:15:04.959 --> 00:15:06.518 position:20%
They will eat like Muslims,
00:15:06.542 --> 00:15:08.584
all those practices of the
dominant group within society.
00:15:08.999 --> 00:15:12.518
[ Laughter]
00:15:12.542 --> 00:15:14.351
-But for the Jewish population
in Spain,
00:15:14.375 --> 00:15:16.975
the implementation
of the Islamic dhimma
00:15:16.999 --> 00:15:19.435
offered a distinct improvement
00:15:19.459 --> 00:15:21.059
over life under the previous
Christian rulers.
00:15:21.083 --> 00:15:24.727
-The Visigoths who had been
ruling in Spain
00:15:24.751 --> 00:15:27.975 position:20%
before the Muslims arrived
00:15:27.999 --> 00:15:29.999
were very harsh toward Jews
in particular.
00:15:30.459 --> 00:15:34.602
They had very strict rules about
how much Jews could operate
00:15:34.626 --> 00:15:38.018
in the public sphere,
basically very little.
00:15:38.042 --> 00:15:41.975
-The Visigoths, over the period
of their reign,
00:15:41.999 --> 00:15:45.185 position:20%
had become harsher and harsher
with the Jewish community.
00:15:45.209 --> 00:15:48.975
There were many different
legal restrictions
00:15:48.999 --> 00:15:51.185
against owning land.
00:15:51.209 --> 00:15:52.643
There were types of occupations
00:15:52.667 --> 00:15:54.560
they could and could not
maintain,
00:15:54.584 --> 00:15:56.975
who they could marry,
00:15:56.999 --> 00:15:58.226
what type of wealth
they could have.
00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:00.101
So they were really
00:16:00.125 --> 00:16:01.518
in tremendously
reduced circumstances.
00:16:01.542 --> 00:16:05.310
-Jews probably welcomed
the change of regime
00:16:05.334 --> 00:16:08.643
because it enhanced their status
00:16:08.667 --> 00:16:10.810
from a despised and recently
suppressed minority
00:16:10.834 --> 00:16:14.709
to a community that could use
its skills of literacy,
00:16:15.876 --> 00:16:19.643 position:20%
of scholarship
and traditions of learning
00:16:19.667 --> 00:16:22.435
as ways to incorporate
in the political culture
00:16:22.459 --> 00:16:25.643
and political administration
of the Umayyads.
00:16:25.667 --> 00:16:28.435
-As long as Jews and Christians
00:16:28.459 --> 00:16:30.685 line:20%
are paying
the necessary poll tax
00:16:30.709 --> 00:16:33.959 line:20%
in a timely way
and understanding of their place
00:16:34.667 --> 00:16:38.476
as second-class citizens
in a Muslim country,
00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:42.059
then they have complete freedom
00:16:42.083 --> 00:16:44.059
to engage
in their political economy,
00:16:44.083 --> 00:16:46.975
their communal
and religious affairs
00:16:46.999 --> 00:16:49.101
as they see fit,
and they did so.
00:16:49.125 --> 00:16:52.310
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:16:52.334 --> 00:16:53.975
-One sees the beginning
of what
00:16:53.999 --> 00:16:55.975 line:20%
will be called later
La Convivencia,
00:16:55.999 --> 00:16:59.292 line:20%
the marvelous collaboration
of faiths and races
00:16:59.959 --> 00:17:03.626
that was distinctive
in al-Andalus.
00:17:03.999 --> 00:17:07.584
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:17:07.834 --> 00:17:11.602
-Convivencia --
Spanish for "coexistence"
00:17:11.626 --> 00:17:15.018
or "living together."
00:17:15.042 --> 00:17:16.976
Nowhere else in Europe
would the three religions
00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:19.476
share a society
and a culture so thoroughly.
00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:22.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:17:22.792 --> 00:17:25.542
Convivencia contributed to
great prosperity in al-Andalus.
00:17:26.999 --> 00:17:30.476
Córdoba became a luminous city
00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.852
filled with the buzzing
of outdoor markets
00:17:32.876 --> 00:17:35.143
and the cacophony
of new construction.
00:17:35.167 --> 00:17:37.643 line:20%
♪♪
00:17:37.667 --> 00:17:41.268
Even the countryside
was transformed with extensions
00:17:41.292 --> 00:17:44.626
and improvements to the old
Roman irrigation system.
00:17:45.375 --> 00:17:49.101
-Because they were able
to control water
00:17:49.125 --> 00:17:51.059 line:20%
and actually store it for use
during the summer months
00:17:51.083 --> 00:17:53.435 line:20%
and even into the fall,
00:17:53.459 --> 00:17:54.894 line:20%
they were able
to grow more crops,
00:17:54.918 --> 00:17:56.810 line:20%
and they were able to grow crops
that demanded more water
00:17:56.834 --> 00:17:59.999
than were naturally available
in that kind of an environment.
00:18:00.792 --> 00:18:04.476
-In the newly bountiful
countryside,
00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:06.999
Abd al-Rahman built a lavish
estate that he named Rusafa,
00:18:07.709 --> 00:18:11.435
recollecting the palace
outside Damascus
00:18:11.459 --> 00:18:13.894
where he had spent time
in his youth.
00:18:13.918 --> 00:18:16.643
-Rusafa was this country estate
00:18:16.667 --> 00:18:18.643
that Abd al-Rahman built
outside of the city.
00:18:18.667 --> 00:18:20.602
It was a retreat,
an escape from urban life
00:18:20.626 --> 00:18:23.834 position:20%
and the congestion
and the noises of Córdoba.
00:18:24.375 --> 00:18:28.101
-Abd al-Rahman's retreat
overlooked fields
00:18:28.125 --> 00:18:30.975
of wheat and fruit trees.
00:18:30.999 --> 00:18:33.935
We know about it only
from written accounts
00:18:33.959 --> 00:18:36.310
of its irrigated gardens
and exotic plants,
00:18:36.334 --> 00:18:39.685
its opulence and beauty.
00:18:39.709 --> 00:18:42.792
-He plants very interesting
species of rare plants,
00:18:43.999 --> 00:18:47.975
some of which were actually
imported from the East.
00:18:47.999 --> 00:18:51.975
He's using it as a kind of
botanical exchange point
00:18:51.999 --> 00:18:55.584
for the domestication of rare,
unusual plant varieties.
00:18:57.042 --> 00:19:00.518
[ Birds chirping ]
00:19:00.542 --> 00:19:02.351
-In Rusafa, he planted
palm trees
00:19:02.375 --> 00:19:05.560
like the ones so common in Syria
00:19:05.584 --> 00:19:07.976
but previously unknown
in al-Andalus.
00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:10.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:19:10.999 --> 00:19:13.143
-A palm tree stands in Rusafa,
00:19:13.167 --> 00:19:15.894
born in the West,
far from the land of palms.
00:19:15.918 --> 00:19:19.999
I said to it, "How like me
you are, far away and in exile,
00:19:21.792 --> 00:19:25.560
in long separation
from family and friends.
00:19:25.584 --> 00:19:28.975
You have sprung from soil
in which you are a stranger,
00:19:28.999 --> 00:19:32.626
and I, like you,
am far from home."
00:19:33.626 --> 00:19:37.351
-It's this incredibly
nostalgic poem.
00:19:37.375 --> 00:19:40.768
It's just heartbreaking
because you're watching
00:19:40.792 --> 00:19:43.375
this young prince,
last survivor of his family,
00:19:43.999 --> 00:19:47.975
try to recreate something
that is, of course,
00:19:47.999 --> 00:19:50.584
never going to be
fully recreated.
00:19:51.417 --> 00:19:54.975
-And yet -- and yet --
00:19:54.999 --> 00:19:56.375
I think what is impressive
and powerful is his ability
00:19:57.417 --> 00:20:00.975
to not let that keep him
00:20:00.999 --> 00:20:03.685 position:20%
from building a new future.
00:20:03.709 --> 00:20:06.976 line:20%
He doesn't spend his life
militating
00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:10.351 line:20%
to get back his homeland.
00:20:10.375 --> 00:20:12.626
He creates a different
version of it,
00:20:13.751 --> 00:20:17.584
and I think he does that
with great success.
00:20:18.542 --> 00:20:21.792 line:20%
♪♪
00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:29.602
-Abd al-Rahman died
in the year 788.
00:20:29.626 --> 00:20:32.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:20:32.792 --> 00:20:35.935 position:20%
But the new homeland
that Abd al-Rahman created
00:20:35.959 --> 00:20:38.292
in al-Andalus
continued to thrive.
00:20:38.999 --> 00:20:42.975
Within two generations,
the Umayyad community
00:20:42.999 --> 00:20:45.976
outgrew the mosque
Abd al-Rahman constructed
00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.059
when he first arrived in Córdoba
30 years earlier.
00:20:49.083 --> 00:20:52.975 position:20%
-They need to expand
the congregational mosque.
00:20:52.999 --> 00:20:55.894
This is where the community
as a whole gathers on Fridays,
00:20:55.918 --> 00:20:58.768
so it really is a measure
of the size of that community.
00:20:58.792 --> 00:21:02.999
-The expansion of the mosque
reflects the growth of Córdoba,
00:21:03.459 --> 00:21:07.351
and the growth of Córdoba
is being fueled partly
00:21:07.375 --> 00:21:10.518 line:20%
by this flux of migration
from the countryside
00:21:10.542 --> 00:21:14.042 line:20%
from outlying villages into the
city as people convert to Islam.
00:21:15.834 --> 00:21:19.709
Converts to Islam
often choose an Arabic name
00:21:19.999 --> 00:21:23.918
so that if you look
at a Muslim's genealogy
00:21:24.667 --> 00:21:28.268 line:20%
when you see that his name
is Ahmad
00:21:28.292 --> 00:21:29.975 position:20% line:20%
and his father's is Mohammad,
his father's name was Ali,
00:21:29.999 --> 00:21:33.999
and his father's name was Lopez
or Ruiz or something like that,
00:21:35.999 --> 00:21:39.976
then you can conjecture
that that is the generation
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.727
where the conversion took place.
00:21:43.751 --> 00:21:46.560
If you take a lot of these
genealogies,
00:21:46.584 --> 00:21:49.518
you can assign
a date of conversion,
00:21:49.542 --> 00:21:52.292
and you get a graph
of the growth of the community.
00:21:52.918 --> 00:21:56.852
It starts very slowly and then
at a certain point
00:21:56.876 --> 00:21:59.976
has a kind of a chain reaction
or a going viral,
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.083
and it suddenly appears
everybody is becoming a Muslim.
00:22:03.292 --> 00:22:06.542 line:20%
♪♪
00:22:06.834 --> 00:22:10.685 line:20%
-As you might imagine,
as happens even today,
00:22:10.709 --> 00:22:14.727 line:20%
there were many people who were
very unhappy about this process,
00:22:14.751 --> 00:22:17.999
about the intermarriage,
about the conversion,
00:22:18.292 --> 00:22:22.101
about the fact that
the Christian population
00:22:22.125 --> 00:22:24.602
seemed to be shrinking
so dramatically,
00:22:24.626 --> 00:22:28.268 position:20%
and in particular for them,
melancholy lay in the fact
00:22:28.292 --> 00:22:32.000
that in the early Middle Ages,
under the rule of the Visigoths,
00:22:32.167 --> 00:22:35.975
the church was enormously
powerful.
00:22:35.999 --> 00:22:38.894
-The memory of the time
when the church
00:22:38.918 --> 00:22:40.810
was enormously powerful
made them chafe
00:22:40.834 --> 00:22:43.292
even more against
the hegemony of the Umayyads.
00:22:44.500 --> 00:22:47.975
So a group of churchmen
00:22:47.999 --> 00:22:50.643
begin a kind of
resistance movement.
00:22:50.667 --> 00:22:54.059
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:22:54.083 --> 00:22:55.685
-The movement was led by
the Christian monk Eulogius
00:22:55.709 --> 00:22:58.852
and encouraged by a layman,
Paul Alvarus.
00:22:58.876 --> 00:23:02.268
Alvarus was upset,
not just by conversion,
00:23:02.292 --> 00:23:05.143
but by the fact that even
the remaining Christians
00:23:05.167 --> 00:23:07.918
seemed unduly influenced
by Arabic culture.
00:23:08.792 --> 00:23:12.768
-"Alas, all talented young
Christians read and study
00:23:12.792 --> 00:23:16.143
with enthusiasm
the Arab books.
00:23:16.167 --> 00:23:19.185
They have forgotten
their own language.
00:23:19.209 --> 00:23:21.975
For everyone who can write
a letter in Latin to a friend,
00:23:21.999 --> 00:23:25.643
there are a thousand who can
express themselves in Arabic
00:23:25.667 --> 00:23:28.560
with elegance
and write better poems
00:23:28.584 --> 00:23:31.602
in this language
than the Arabs themselves."
00:23:31.626 --> 00:23:34.975
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:23:34.999 --> 00:23:36.310
-Where's the next generation
and the generation after that
00:23:36.334 --> 00:23:39.185
of the priesthood
going to come from
00:23:39.209 --> 00:23:41.143 line:20%
if young Christian men
are increasingly of the belief
00:23:41.167 --> 00:23:44.643 line:20%
that they can continue
to be good Christians,
00:23:44.667 --> 00:23:47.334
but Arabo-Islamic in all of
their other cultural visages?
00:23:49.209 --> 00:23:53.000
-Paul and Eulogius saw this
as a crisis.
00:23:54.250 --> 00:23:58.042 line:20%
-Islam represented clearly
a higher culture
00:23:58.792 --> 00:24:02.727 position:20%
than the Latin culture
of the Spanish Christians.
00:24:02.751 --> 00:24:06.101
Everything that the Muslims
did was better --
00:24:06.125 --> 00:24:08.685
the art, the literature,
their agricultural techniques.
00:24:08.709 --> 00:24:12.518
The whole lifestyle
was more attractive.
00:24:12.542 --> 00:24:16.459
-It becomes a culture of
extraordinary seduction
00:24:17.083 --> 00:24:20.852
and attraction for many people.
00:24:20.876 --> 00:24:24.351
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:24:24.375 --> 00:24:25.727
-So for the Christian
community, it becomes a problem.
00:24:25.751 --> 00:24:29.268
They begin to lose
their culture.
00:24:29.292 --> 00:24:31.351
It's rolled over by
this cultural juggernaut
00:24:31.375 --> 00:24:34.226
that is Arabic.
00:24:34.250 --> 00:24:36.101
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:24:36.125 --> 00:24:37.751
-The resistance movement became
known as the Córdoban Martyrs.
00:24:38.459 --> 00:24:42.268
-They would go in front
of a Muslim judge.
00:24:42.292 --> 00:24:44.351
They would go in front of
a Muslim ruler,
00:24:44.375 --> 00:24:46.018
and they would start saying
the most horrible things
00:24:46.042 --> 00:24:48.101
they could think of
about the prophet Muhammad.
00:24:48.125 --> 00:24:50.101 line:20%
-And these are things
that they know very clearly
00:24:50.125 --> 00:24:52.894 line:20%
are punishable by death,
and they seek death.
00:24:52.918 --> 00:24:55.975
-So what you see
in the Córdoban Martyrs movement
00:24:55.999 --> 00:24:58.518 position:20%
is this last-ditch attempt
00:24:58.542 --> 00:25:01.226
to halt
this cultural interpenetration,
00:25:01.250 --> 00:25:04.834
to halt this process by which
large numbers of Christians
00:25:06.751 --> 00:25:10.393
under Muslim rule were
converting.
00:25:10.417 --> 00:25:13.685
-The voluntary martyrs
00:25:13.709 --> 00:25:15.101 position:20%
had a kind of
deep cultural frustration,
00:25:15.125 --> 00:25:18.059
and this very
rhetorical movement
00:25:18.083 --> 00:25:20.059
seemed to answer their need
to put Christianity
00:25:20.083 --> 00:25:23.975
in the center of the spotlight.
00:25:23.999 --> 00:25:27.476
-Beginning in the year 850,
48 Andalusi Christians
00:25:27.500 --> 00:25:31.083
were executed
for offenses against Islam.
00:25:31.876 --> 00:25:35.768
Eulogius himself,
one of the last to be killed,
00:25:35.792 --> 00:25:38.894
was beheaded in 859.
00:25:38.918 --> 00:25:42.185
-He was martyred in
mid-afternoon
00:25:42.209 --> 00:25:44.226
of Saturday, the 11th of March,
00:25:44.250 --> 00:25:47.101
oh, blessed and wonderful man
of his age
00:25:47.125 --> 00:25:49.935
who, in many martyrs,
00:25:49.959 --> 00:25:51.334
sent the fruit of his work
ahead of him.
00:25:51.542 --> 00:25:55.310
-But the deaths of the martyrs
did little
00:25:55.334 --> 00:25:57.709
to stop the surge of Islam
on the Iberian peninsula.
00:25:59.792 --> 00:26:01.125
In fact, Muslim Córdoba was
about to witness
00:26:03.626 --> 00:26:06.768
something Abd al-Rahman
could only have dreamed of.
00:26:06.792 --> 00:26:09.999
[ Chanting in Arabic ]
00:26:10.417 --> 00:26:13.667 line:20%
♪♪
00:26:15.250 --> 00:26:19.292
On a Friday in January
in the year 929, Spanish Muslims
00:26:20.125 --> 00:26:24.143
gathered to pray inside
the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
00:26:24.167 --> 00:26:27.810
[ Praying in Arabic ]
00:26:27.834 --> 00:26:31.226
There, they heard
an extraordinary pronouncement.
00:26:31.250 --> 00:26:34.602
The ruler of al-Andalus,
Abd al-Rahman III,
00:26:34.626 --> 00:26:38.059
declared himself caliph,
00:26:38.083 --> 00:26:40.709
the legitimate sovereign of all
of the Islamic territories.
00:26:41.999 --> 00:26:44.125
The center of the Islamic world,
he proclaimed, was Córdoba,
00:26:46.876 --> 00:26:50.959
and he, seven generations
removed from Abd al-Rahman I,
00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:55.560
was Islam's true leader.
00:26:55.584 --> 00:26:59.417
This directly defied a rival
Islamic dynasty in North Africa
00:27:00.459 --> 00:27:04.101
as well as the Abbasid
leadership,
00:27:04.125 --> 00:27:06.059
which ruled from Baghdad.
00:27:06.083 --> 00:27:08.834 line:20%
-He says, "Look, I've been
kowtowing to the Abbasids
00:27:08.999 --> 00:27:12.435 line:20%
down there in Baghdad,
00:27:12.459 --> 00:27:13.975 line:20%
but the reality is this is
a caliphate as much as that.
00:27:13.999 --> 00:27:18.018 position:20% line:20%
-Declaring himself the caliph
didn't mean that suddenly,
00:27:18.042 --> 00:27:21.000 line:20%
Muslims, you know, in Persia
recognized him as their leader,
00:27:21.292 --> 00:27:25.435
but what it meant is that in
order to make this claim stick
00:27:25.459 --> 00:27:29.101
or seem reasonable,
he had to act like a caliph
00:27:29.125 --> 00:27:31.975
and also create
a glamorous capital
00:27:31.999 --> 00:27:34.476
that was worthy of
that status and title.
00:27:34.500 --> 00:27:37.602 line:20%
♪♪
00:27:37.626 --> 00:27:40.685
-Abd al-Rahman III
ruled over a city
00:27:40.709 --> 00:27:43.542 position:20%
that by the 10th century
was the largest in Europe.
00:27:44.250 --> 00:27:48.459
Córdoba boasted sophisticated
amenities like paved streets,
00:27:49.083 --> 00:27:52.935
lighting systems
and running water.
00:27:52.959 --> 00:27:55.393 line:20%
♪♪
00:27:55.417 --> 00:27:58.959
-The introduction of water
transforms the city.
00:27:59.125 --> 00:28:02.727
The city becomes cleaner.
00:28:02.751 --> 00:28:04.976
They have bathhouses.
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:06.560
People can bathe at any time.
00:28:06.584 --> 00:28:10.101
They also have a system
of sewers that runs underground
00:28:10.125 --> 00:28:13.935 position:20%
that washes away the waste.
00:28:13.959 --> 00:28:16.894 line:20%
So if you can imagine walking
through a medieval city
00:28:16.918 --> 00:28:19.393 line:20%
that did not smell,
00:28:19.417 --> 00:28:21.810 line:20%
that is
an extraordinary indication
00:28:21.834 --> 00:28:24.268 position:20%
of high standard of living,
00:28:24.292 --> 00:28:25.852 position:20%
and that is the kind of thing
that people from elsewhere
00:28:25.876 --> 00:28:28.393 position:20%
commented upon
when they came to Córdoba,
00:28:28.417 --> 00:28:30.560
that it was beautiful,
00:28:30.584 --> 00:28:31.975
partly because it appealed
to the senses,
00:28:31.999 --> 00:28:34.393
all of the senses.
00:28:34.417 --> 00:28:36.999
-The reports of the glamour
of the city
00:28:37.500 --> 00:28:40.975
reached far and wide,
00:28:40.999 --> 00:28:43.101
and it's at that point
00:28:43.125 --> 00:28:44.435 position:20% line:20%
when Córdoba
really does feel to itself
00:28:44.459 --> 00:28:47.727 line:20%
and to other visitors
from both the East and the North
00:28:47.751 --> 00:28:51.000
it is very much the center
of the civilized world.
00:28:53.083 --> 00:28:55.000
-The German nun and poet
Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim
00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.101
never visited Córdoba,
00:29:00.125 --> 00:29:02.143
yet the stories that reached
her inspired her
00:29:02.167 --> 00:29:04.643 position:20%
to call it
the Ornament of the World.
00:29:04.667 --> 00:29:08.250
-The brilliant Ornament
of the World shown in the West,
00:29:08.751 --> 00:29:12.626
a noble city newly known
for the military prowess
00:29:12.918 --> 00:29:16.685
that its Hispanic colonizers
had brought.
00:29:16.709 --> 00:29:20.083
Córdoba was its name,
and it was wealthy and famous
00:29:20.959 --> 00:29:24.999
and known for its pleasures
and resplendent in all things.
00:29:26.459 --> 00:29:30.393
-Nothing better exemplified
Córdoba's ascendancy
00:29:30.417 --> 00:29:33.852
than the opulent palace complex
00:29:33.876 --> 00:29:35.959
Abd al-Rahman III
built outside the city.
00:29:36.417 --> 00:29:39.975 position:20%
He called it Medina Azahara
00:29:39.999 --> 00:29:42.143
and made it
the new seat of government.
00:29:42.167 --> 00:29:45.500
-Medina Azahara was built
on the side of a hill
00:29:45.999 --> 00:29:49.643
overlooking a vast landscape,
00:29:49.667 --> 00:29:52.310
and, of course, overlooking
the landscape was very important
00:29:52.334 --> 00:29:55.185
because that view exemplified
00:29:55.209 --> 00:29:56.560
in many ways your power
over that land.
00:29:56.584 --> 00:30:00.334
-He builds it,
not as a single palace
00:30:00.542 --> 00:30:04.459
but as a sprawling complex
of multiple palaces,
00:30:05.792 --> 00:30:09.417
multiple mosques,
multiple gardens.
00:30:10.667 --> 00:30:14.000
It is absolutely huge.
00:30:14.209 --> 00:30:18.209
-The palace had things
that are spoken of by poets
00:30:19.167 --> 00:30:22.852 position:20%
for generations afterwards.
00:30:22.876 --> 00:30:24.975
It had fountains with
little statues of animals
00:30:24.999 --> 00:30:28.143
who spewed water into its pool.
00:30:28.167 --> 00:30:30.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:30:30.999 --> 00:30:33.143
-You know, you were
almost godlike in your powers.
00:30:33.167 --> 00:30:36.975
If you could control nature,
00:30:36.999 --> 00:30:38.268
and part of that would be
to control water,
00:30:38.292 --> 00:30:40.602
to send it spewing
through little canals and
00:30:40.626 --> 00:30:43.459
to have it travel vast amounts
of territory on aqueducts
00:30:43.999 --> 00:30:47.602
and to spew out of the mouths
00:30:47.626 --> 00:30:49.834
of precious, jewel-studded
or gilded animals.
00:30:49.999 --> 00:30:53.059 line:20%
♪♪
00:30:53.083 --> 00:30:55.768 line:20%
That showed not only
beautiful taste
00:30:55.792 --> 00:30:58.935 position:20% line:20%
and luxurious appointments,
00:30:58.959 --> 00:31:00.751 line:20%
but it also showed
a kind of awesome power.
00:31:01.918 --> 00:31:04.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:31:04.999 --> 00:31:06.975
-The city's resplendence
00:31:06.999 --> 00:31:08.435
extended beyond
its architecture.
00:31:08.459 --> 00:31:11.894
It was also a place of learning,
home to great book collections
00:31:11.918 --> 00:31:15.852
that stood in marked contrast
to the small monastic libraries
00:31:15.876 --> 00:31:19.351
scattered throughout
the rest of Europe.
00:31:19.375 --> 00:31:22.999
-The grandeur of the city
lay in great measure
00:31:23.167 --> 00:31:26.999
because of the enormous
numbers of books.
00:31:27.999 --> 00:31:31.602
There is a legendary recounting
00:31:31.626 --> 00:31:35.042
that says there were as many
as 400,000 books in Córdoba.
00:31:37.667 --> 00:31:41.101
There's a complete inability
00:31:41.125 --> 00:31:42.975
to judge the literal truth
of this,
00:31:42.999 --> 00:31:46.185
but I think the statement
is meant to reflect
00:31:46.209 --> 00:31:48.810
what was a reality,
00:31:48.834 --> 00:31:50.185
which is, it's a culture
that highly valued books
00:31:50.209 --> 00:31:53.602
as part of the overall culture.
00:31:53.626 --> 00:31:56.975
-One young Córdoban who emerged
from this vibrant culture
00:31:56.999 --> 00:32:00.584
was the Jewish physician and
intellectual Hasdai ibn Shaprut.
00:32:02.167 --> 00:32:05.975 line:20%
-Most of the intellectuals
in those days
00:32:05.999 --> 00:32:09.393 line:20%
were physicians
and philosophers.
00:32:09.417 --> 00:32:12.226 line:20%
That is, they were scientists,
and they were thinkers,
00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:15.476
and Hasdai ibn Shaprut became
a physician to the caliph
00:32:15.500 --> 00:32:18.268
for the caliph's court.
00:32:18.292 --> 00:32:20.226 line:20%
♪♪
00:32:20.250 --> 00:32:22.226
-Hasdai rose through the ranks,
00:32:22.250 --> 00:32:24.351
eventually becoming
the right-hand man
00:32:24.375 --> 00:32:26.476
to Abd-ar-Rahman III
00:32:26.500 --> 00:32:28.709
and the highest-ranking Jew
in al-Andalus.
00:32:29.292 --> 00:32:32.976 line:20%
-Things had never been
so comfortable
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:36.042 line:20%
for a Jewish community
that they were aware of.
00:32:36.500 --> 00:32:40.476
Jews' influence in the social
and political realm
00:32:40.500 --> 00:32:44.143
as well as their social,
economic accomplishments
00:32:44.167 --> 00:32:47.727
and their creative
and productivity
00:32:47.751 --> 00:32:50.584
as authors of all of the Hebrew
humanities had no parallel.
00:32:52.584 --> 00:32:56.393
-Inspired by Abd-ar-Rahman's
determination
00:32:56.417 --> 00:32:58.975
to make Córdoba
the center of Islam,
00:32:58.999 --> 00:33:01.685
Hasdai ibn Shaprut
00:33:01.709 --> 00:33:03.209
set out to make it
the heart of Jewish life, too.
00:33:03.918 --> 00:33:07.602
He launched an attempt
to wrest power
00:33:07.626 --> 00:33:09.268 position:20%
from the rabbis in Baghdad,
00:33:09.292 --> 00:33:11.476
which had been the seat of
Jewish learning for centuries.
00:33:11.500 --> 00:33:15.584
-You have this Jewish community
in Córdoba that says,
00:33:15.834 --> 00:33:19.643
"Nah, guys, we're not
subservient to you.
00:33:19.667 --> 00:33:21.975
We are actually better
than you are.
00:33:21.999 --> 00:33:24.975
We have achieved more than
you have.
00:33:24.999 --> 00:33:28.560
We are more central."
00:33:28.584 --> 00:33:30.976
-Hasdai ibn Shaprut established
the first center
00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:34.602
of rabbinical learning
in medieval Spain,
00:33:34.626 --> 00:33:36.999 line:20%
and so Sephardic Jewry
had their own academy
00:33:37.667 --> 00:33:41.500 line:20%
as a center of Jewish
religious learning.
00:33:41.751 --> 00:33:44.167
-And Hasdai was just beginning
his campaign to promote Córdoba.
00:33:46.542 --> 00:33:50.226
-I think one of the most
important things
00:33:50.250 --> 00:33:52.101
that you learn about Hasdai
through his writing
00:33:52.125 --> 00:33:54.500
is his sense
of the centrality of Spain.
00:33:55.250 --> 00:33:58.476 line:20%
♪♪
00:33:58.500 --> 00:34:00.727
-A delegation
came to Córdoba
00:34:00.751 --> 00:34:02.518
from what was called
at the time Khazaria
00:34:02.542 --> 00:34:05.685
in what is today Croatia.
00:34:05.709 --> 00:34:07.935
This was a Turkic kingdom
00:34:07.959 --> 00:34:10.125
that legend had it was
a Jewish kingdom.
00:34:10.999 --> 00:34:14.935
-Hasdai ibn Shaprut asked
the Turkic delegation
00:34:14.959 --> 00:34:17.976
to carry a letter back
to the Jewish king.
00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:22.018
-"Our land is called Sepharad
in the holy tongue
00:34:22.042 --> 00:34:25.351
while the Ishmaelite citizens
call it al-Andalus,
00:34:25.375 --> 00:34:28.876
and the kingdom
is called Córdoba.
00:34:29.417 --> 00:34:32.975
It is a land of grains,
00:34:32.999 --> 00:34:34.894
wines and purest fruits,
rich in plants,
00:34:34.918 --> 00:34:38.518
a paradise of every sort
of sweet and with gardens
00:34:38.542 --> 00:34:42.334
and orchards where every
kind of fruit tree blossoms."
00:34:43.250 --> 00:34:47.059
-It gives you a taste of his
and, I think,
00:34:47.083 --> 00:34:51.059 line:20%
the rest of the community's
great love of this place
00:34:51.083 --> 00:34:55.000
that nourished them,
that not only tolerated them,
00:34:55.209 --> 00:34:58.975
which is one thing,
but which provided
00:34:58.999 --> 00:35:01.975 position:20%
the wherewithal
for this great well-being.
00:35:01.999 --> 00:35:05.852
The true flourishing
of the Jewish community,
00:35:05.876 --> 00:35:08.018
which could be said
to begin with Hasdai,
00:35:08.042 --> 00:35:10.375
at least, as a symbolic moment,
will continue and will, in fact,
00:35:11.709 --> 00:35:15.500
survive the destruction
of the caliphate.
00:35:17.999 --> 00:35:18.959
-The years of Abd-ar-Rahman III
00:35:21.667 --> 00:35:23.975
were the zenith
of Córdoban power,
00:35:23.999 --> 00:35:27.476 position:20%
but the Umayyad caliphate's
00:35:27.500 --> 00:35:28.975
brilliant star
was about to fade.
00:35:28.999 --> 00:35:31.894 line:20%
♪♪
00:35:31.918 --> 00:35:34.894
Abd-ar-Rahman III died
in the year 961,
00:35:34.918 --> 00:35:38.393
followed 15 years later
by his son.
00:35:38.417 --> 00:35:42.643
Next in the line of succession
was his 12-year-old grandson,
00:35:42.667 --> 00:35:46.125
Hisham, but the young Hisham,
though caliph in name,
00:35:47.375 --> 00:35:50.935
was just a figurehead.
00:35:50.959 --> 00:35:52.976
True power was seized
by his ambitious chamberlain,
00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:56.209 position:20%
who called himself
Al-Mansur, The Victorious.
00:35:57.167 --> 00:36:01.018
-Al-Mansur is kind of an
interesting character.
00:36:01.042 --> 00:36:03.975
Extremely despotic.
00:36:03.999 --> 00:36:05.999 position:20%
He claims for a while to rule
in the name of the caliph,
00:36:06.417 --> 00:36:10.393
but in fact the young caliph
is made impotent by him,
00:36:10.417 --> 00:36:14.125
and he's kind of a strongman
in a lot of ways.
00:36:14.626 --> 00:36:18.268
-Al-Mansur,
like his predecessors,
00:36:18.292 --> 00:36:20.999
carried on Córdoba's tradition
of architectural resplendence,
00:36:21.167 --> 00:36:24.852 position:20%
expanding the Great Mosque,
00:36:24.876 --> 00:36:27.976
but he also had
a militaristic bent.
00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:31.518
He led a series of raids against
Christian territories
00:36:31.542 --> 00:36:34.975
that went beyond any carried out
00:36:34.999 --> 00:36:36.975
since the beginning
of the Islamic conquest.
00:36:36.999 --> 00:36:39.310
[ Indistinct shouting ]
00:36:39.334 --> 00:36:41.935
-Spain, during
the Muslim period,
00:36:41.959 --> 00:36:43.727
was divided into three zones.
00:36:43.751 --> 00:36:46.101 position:20%
There was the Muslim south,
00:36:46.125 --> 00:36:47.975
and then there were the
Christian principalities
00:36:47.999 --> 00:36:50.685 line:20%
in the north,
00:36:50.709 --> 00:36:51.975 line:20%
and in between the two,
the whole central area of Spain,
00:36:51.999 --> 00:36:55.310 line:20%
was a kind of no-man's-land
with sparse settlements
00:36:55.334 --> 00:36:58.101
but which they constantly being
raided one side or the other.
00:36:58.125 --> 00:37:01.792
What Mansur did was to turn
these raids
00:37:02.125 --> 00:37:06.000
into full attacks
upon the Christian north...
00:37:06.999 --> 00:37:10.393
[ Horse neighs ]
00:37:10.417 --> 00:37:12.894 line:20%
♪♪
00:37:12.918 --> 00:37:14.602
...and he ran
a great number of them.
00:37:14.626 --> 00:37:16.685
[ Horse neighs,
swords clang ]
00:37:16.709 --> 00:37:19.975 position:20%
But more seriously perhaps
00:37:19.999 --> 00:37:22.143
in terms
of the long-range consequences,
00:37:22.167 --> 00:37:24.476
it was Mansur began to invoke
the ideology
00:37:24.500 --> 00:37:27.727 position:20%
of the Holy War, the jihad.
00:37:27.751 --> 00:37:29.935
-Al-Mansur is the first player
in this history
00:37:29.959 --> 00:37:32.999
who makes ideology
and religious ideology central.
00:37:35.334 --> 00:37:39.185
He rides out to battle against
the Christians
00:37:39.209 --> 00:37:42.268
as a Muslim
anti-Christian thing.
00:37:42.292 --> 00:37:45.476
[Horse neighing ]
00:37:45.500 --> 00:37:48.435 line:20%
♪♪
00:37:48.459 --> 00:37:50.226
-But these recurrent battles
took a toll
00:37:50.250 --> 00:37:52.185
on Al-Mansur's armies,
and he needed an infusion
00:37:52.209 --> 00:37:55.143
of new blood
to defeat the northern kingdoms.
00:37:55.167 --> 00:37:57.999
[Swords clanging]
00:37:58.209 --> 00:38:01.768
To bolster his forces,
00:38:01.792 --> 00:38:03.310
he turned to Berber mercenaries
from North Africa.
00:38:03.334 --> 00:38:06.810
-And the Berbers
have to be paid.
00:38:06.834 --> 00:38:09.975
That's the thing
about mercenaries.
00:38:09.999 --> 00:38:11.393
They want to be paid.
00:38:11.417 --> 00:38:14.685
-It was a dangerous game
in which Al-Mansur
00:38:14.709 --> 00:38:17.393
paid his troops
with the loot they plundered.
00:38:17.417 --> 00:38:21.226
-Ah!
[Thunder crashes]
00:38:21.250 --> 00:38:22.935
-Emboldened by his successes,
00:38:22.959 --> 00:38:24.727
Al-Mansur turned his attention
00:38:24.751 --> 00:38:26.351
to the Church of Santiago
de Compostela,
00:38:26.375 --> 00:38:29.250 position:20%
a famous pilgrimage destination
in the northwest of Spain.
00:38:30.500 --> 00:38:34.459
-In 910, the first pilgrim
from across the Pyrenees
00:38:34.626 --> 00:38:37.975
came on a pilgrimage,
00:38:37.999 --> 00:38:39.975 line:20%
and then it became a river
of pilgrims
00:38:39.999 --> 00:38:42.876 line:20%
that descended
from France and Germany,
00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:46.602
from the low countries,
00:38:46.626 --> 00:38:48.185
all the way to Saint James
of Compostela.
00:38:48.209 --> 00:38:51.435
-The pilgrims believe
the remains
00:38:51.459 --> 00:38:53.476
of Saint James the Apostle
were buried at the site,
00:38:53.500 --> 00:38:56.351
which made it one of
the most sacred in Christianity.
00:38:56.375 --> 00:38:59.226
[ Indistinct shouting,
bell tolling ]
00:38:59.250 --> 00:39:01.643
But in 997, Al-Mansur made it
00:39:01.667 --> 00:39:04.643
the target of one of his
most brazen raids.
00:39:04.667 --> 00:39:07.685
[ Fire crackling ]
00:39:07.709 --> 00:39:09.250
-He takes the church bells,
the bells of Santiago,
00:39:09.417 --> 00:39:13.476
and makes Christian prisoners
carry them on their backs
00:39:13.500 --> 00:39:17.143
on the march back to Córdoba...
00:39:17.167 --> 00:39:19.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:39:19.792 --> 00:39:22.584
...and then Córdoba makes them
into mosque lamps.
00:39:23.751 --> 00:39:26.976
[ Fire crackling ]
00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:29.143 position:20%
-The significance of bells
00:39:29.167 --> 00:39:30.975
is that they were
the sign of Christianity.
00:39:30.999 --> 00:39:33.751
Muslims have minarets from where
the muezzin calls to prayer.
00:39:33.999 --> 00:39:38.042
Christians have bells
from which they call to prayer,
00:39:38.334 --> 00:39:42.018
and therefore,
by bringing the bells
00:39:42.042 --> 00:39:43.999
it shows a dominance of Islam
over Christianity.
00:39:44.792 --> 00:39:48.768
-What it was about was
who controlled the airwaves,
00:39:48.792 --> 00:39:51.810 line:20%
who controlled the sounds
that you heard
00:39:51.834 --> 00:39:53.685 line:20%
because the call to prayer
and the bells had come
00:39:53.709 --> 00:39:56.292 line:20%
to represent the ascendance
of one or another faith.
00:39:57.584 --> 00:40:00.810 line:20%
♪♪
00:40:00.834 --> 00:40:02.999
-In total, Al-Mansur led
57 successful campaigns
00:40:03.292 --> 00:40:06.975
against the Christian north,
00:40:06.999 --> 00:40:09.083
but the string of victories
soon came back to haunt him.
00:40:09.626 --> 00:40:13.518 line:20%
-The consequences are that
the kings of Galicia
00:40:13.542 --> 00:40:17.209 position:20% line:20%
and León and Castile
and Navarra and Catalonia,
00:40:17.959 --> 00:40:21.310
who could never get on,
00:40:21.334 --> 00:40:23.000
after 25 years of this guy
roaring into their kingdoms
00:40:24.125 --> 00:40:27.975
and taking their people
for ransom
00:40:27.999 --> 00:40:30.975 position:20%
and pillaging their wealth,
00:40:30.999 --> 00:40:33.310 position:20%
they begin to collaborate.
00:40:33.334 --> 00:40:35.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:40:35.999 --> 00:40:38.018
-To fight this ever-stronger
Christian adversary,
00:40:38.042 --> 00:40:41.417
Al-Mansur recruited
more Berber mercenaries,
00:40:41.918 --> 00:40:45.643
but the Berbers
were more conservative
00:40:45.667 --> 00:40:47.393
than most Muslim Córdobans,
and they were troubled
00:40:47.417 --> 00:40:50.334
by the growing materialism
all around them.
00:40:50.959 --> 00:40:54.751
-There is a sense of splendor
and wealth
00:40:54.999 --> 00:40:58.959
that begins to create
political opposition
00:40:59.042 --> 00:41:03.167 line:20%
within the Islamic community
that had not existed before.
00:41:05.999 --> 00:41:09.059 line:20%
♪♪
00:41:09.083 --> 00:41:11.143 position:20%
-When Al-Mansur died,
Córdoba was further rocked
00:41:11.167 --> 00:41:14.310
by another succession crisis.
00:41:14.334 --> 00:41:17.185
He had managed to maintain
his charade of legitimacy
00:41:17.209 --> 00:41:20.059
despite his lack
of Umayyad blood,
00:41:20.083 --> 00:41:23.101
but when his son tried to claim
the title of caliph,
00:41:23.125 --> 00:41:26.185
the citizens
of Córdoba rebelled.
00:41:26.209 --> 00:41:28.602
[ Indistinct shouting ]
00:41:28.626 --> 00:41:30.768
In 1010,
as chaos enveloped Córdoba,
00:41:30.792 --> 00:41:34.125
Berber mercenaries descended
on the palatial Medina Azahara,
00:41:34.667 --> 00:41:38.226
the symbol of everything
they felt
00:41:38.250 --> 00:41:39.894
had gone wrong in al-Andalus.
00:41:39.918 --> 00:41:42.226 line:20%
♪♪
00:41:42.250 --> 00:41:44.918
-You can imagine what those
marauders would've seen
00:41:45.999 --> 00:41:49.685
when they entered the palace.
00:41:49.709 --> 00:41:51.999 line:20%
They would've been absolutely
stupefied by the luxury
00:41:52.584 --> 00:41:56.018 line:20%
that they encountered there,
00:41:56.042 --> 00:41:57.894
every surface covered
with carved stucco,
00:41:57.918 --> 00:42:01.667
every floor paved in beautiful,
opalescent marble.
00:42:04.542 --> 00:42:07.417 position:20%
It must have been a treasure
house, and they sacked it.
00:42:10.542 --> 00:42:13.768 line:20%
♪♪
00:42:13.792 --> 00:42:16.101
-When the destruction
was complete,
00:42:16.125 --> 00:42:18.018
the Umayyad dynasty was finished
00:42:18.042 --> 00:42:20.999
and, with it,
the era of Córdoba's greatness.
00:42:24.292 --> 00:42:27.560
With the dawn of
the 11th century
00:42:27.584 --> 00:42:29.975
and the end
of the Umayyad reign,
00:42:29.999 --> 00:42:32.101
al-Andalus
was on the cusp of a new era.
00:42:32.125 --> 00:42:36.310
-The 11th century is this
wonderful, paradoxical period
00:42:36.334 --> 00:42:40.459
where you have this virtually
catastrophic political situation
00:42:41.167 --> 00:42:44.975
in that the caliphate
has broken up,
00:42:44.999 --> 00:42:47.894
and it's been replaced
by a series of city-states,
00:42:47.918 --> 00:42:50.852
which are called taifas,
00:42:50.876 --> 00:42:52.602
and they're all fighting
amongst themselves
00:42:52.626 --> 00:42:55.059
plus the Christian kingdoms
in the north,
00:42:55.083 --> 00:42:58.975
but in the middle
of this political chaos,
00:42:58.999 --> 00:43:01.999
you have this sudden
flourishing of culture.
00:43:02.334 --> 00:43:06.375
-It begins indeed in many ways
the most remarkable time
00:43:07.500 --> 00:43:11.167
in the Muslim
presence in Iberia.
00:43:11.375 --> 00:43:15.292
These independent cities
competed with each other,
00:43:16.417 --> 00:43:19.975
and in that competition,
00:43:19.999 --> 00:43:21.999
they produced a great upswell
of commercial activity
00:43:23.751 --> 00:43:27.226
and even greater
Convivencia.
00:43:27.250 --> 00:43:29.975
[ Indistinct talking ]
00:43:29.999 --> 00:43:32.351
This is the time when
the pluralism that is supposed
00:43:32.375 --> 00:43:36.709
to distinguish this experiment
in al-Andalus really takes hold.
00:43:38.959 --> 00:43:41.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:43:41.999 --> 00:43:44.351
-Instead of having
one central court,
00:43:44.375 --> 00:43:47.167
there were now a whole variety
of different city-states
00:43:48.042 --> 00:43:51.643
that were in competition.
00:43:51.667 --> 00:43:53.626 line:20%
These different courts competed
for singers
00:43:54.083 --> 00:43:57.999 line:20%
and performers
and poets and writers.
00:43:58.626 --> 00:44:02.101
-It's almost like Athens when,
00:44:02.125 --> 00:44:03.602
in its darkest days
in the Peloponnesian War,
00:44:03.626 --> 00:44:06.685
it produced Sophocles
and Aristophanes.
00:44:06.709 --> 00:44:10.518 line:20%
Out of political turmoil
frequently comes
00:44:10.542 --> 00:44:12.999 line:20%
extraordinary literary
and artistic productions,
00:44:13.125 --> 00:44:16.975
and the same is true here
with the taifas.
00:44:16.999 --> 00:44:18.976 line:20%
♪♪
00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:21.226
-One of the art forms
to reach new heights
00:44:21.250 --> 00:44:23.393
under the taifa kingdoms
was Andalusian music.
00:44:23.417 --> 00:44:26.727 line:20%
♪♪
00:44:26.751 --> 00:44:28.768
-The most characteristic form
of Andalusian music,
00:44:28.792 --> 00:44:31.852
the muwashshah, really
begins to spread
00:44:31.876 --> 00:44:34.810
and become popular
in the 11th century.
00:44:34.834 --> 00:44:37.417 line:20%
♪♪
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.810
-The muwashshah is a form
of music
00:44:43.834 --> 00:44:45.685
that's still played today
00:44:45.709 --> 00:44:47.351
because the melodies
have been passed down
00:44:47.375 --> 00:44:49.351
from generation to generation.
00:44:49.375 --> 00:44:51.518 line:20%
♪♪
00:44:51.542 --> 00:44:54.083
-The songs have a very simple,
powerful structure,
00:44:54.999 --> 00:44:58.768
and that means
when you listen to a song
00:44:58.792 --> 00:45:01.375
that you can really rather
quickly pick up the melody.
00:45:01.834 --> 00:45:04.999 line:20%
♪♪
00:45:06.999 --> 00:45:10.810
A typical scene would be set
at a garden
00:45:10.834 --> 00:45:13.602
where the voice
within the lyric
00:45:13.626 --> 00:45:15.792
is talking about the distance
between him and his beloved.
00:45:16.125 --> 00:45:19.709 line:20%
-[ Singing in Arabic ]
00:45:40.167 --> 00:45:43.393 line:20%
♪♪
00:45:43.417 --> 00:45:45.000
-The lover often describes how
he has grown thin or grown pale
00:45:45.500 --> 00:45:48.976
because he's no longer eating
00:45:49.000 --> 00:45:51.351
because he has received
no signal
00:45:51.375 --> 00:45:53.101 position:20%
that his love has returned.
00:45:53.125 --> 00:45:56.810
These are not happy love songs.
00:45:56.834 --> 00:45:58.310
These are unrequited love songs.
00:45:58.334 --> 00:46:00.999 line:20%
♪♪
00:46:01.459 --> 00:46:04.709 line:20%
♪♪
00:46:04.999 --> 00:46:08.852
-The muwashshah was sung
in Classical Arabic
00:46:08.876 --> 00:46:11.476
while a related form,
00:46:11.500 --> 00:46:12.975
called the zajal,
was sung in Andalusi Arabic,
00:46:12.999 --> 00:46:16.375
which was the vernacular
language of the day.
00:46:30.999 --> 00:46:34.894
-The vernacular
is what people speak
00:46:34.918 --> 00:46:37.560
as opposed
to what people write.
00:46:37.584 --> 00:46:40.876
I think Mark Twain is one of
the great examples
00:46:40.999 --> 00:46:44.935
of a writer that stood out
in his own moment
00:46:44.959 --> 00:46:47.810
because he attempted
to give a written version
00:46:47.834 --> 00:46:50.834
of what would've been
the Southern black vernacular.
00:46:51.334 --> 00:46:55.459
-This kind of music was popular
not only in al-Andalus,
00:46:55.626 --> 00:46:59.059
but also in southern France,
00:46:59.083 --> 00:47:01.476
where the troubadours
were writing their lyrics
00:47:01.500 --> 00:47:03.999 position:20%
not in Latin, but in Occitan,
the local spoken language.
00:47:04.959 --> 00:47:08.334 line:20%
-[ Singing in Occitan ]
00:47:18.918 --> 00:47:22.999 position:20% line:20%
-In both traditions, the Arabic
and the troubadour poetry,
00:47:23.500 --> 00:47:27.000
there is a sort of wild frenzy
00:47:27.292 --> 00:47:31.209
of writing complicated,
complex rhyme schemes.
00:47:49.792 --> 00:47:53.876
It's very striking, the number
of structural elements,
00:47:54.876 --> 00:47:58.185
the number of themes,
00:47:58.209 --> 00:47:59.999
the number of motifs
that the two traditions share.
00:48:00.709 --> 00:48:04.768
-Despite these common elements,
no one is really sure
00:48:04.792 --> 00:48:07.935
how the two traditions
came to be so similar.
00:48:07.959 --> 00:48:11.393 line:20%
-One of the problems
historically has always been
00:48:11.417 --> 00:48:14.999 line:20%
that people imagined that these
were two very separate worlds,
00:48:15.375 --> 00:48:19.459
that you had the high courtly
world of southern France,
00:48:20.167 --> 00:48:23.976
and then you had this
somehow very distant
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:26.667
and utterly removed world
of Islamic Spain.
00:48:26.918 --> 00:48:30.685
This division is almost
totally illusory.
00:48:30.709 --> 00:48:34.268
These were worlds
that interpenetrated each other.
00:48:34.292 --> 00:48:37.975
Things like musical instruments
00:48:37.999 --> 00:48:40.018
as well as the music played
on musical instruments
00:48:40.042 --> 00:48:43.351
travel very easily.
00:48:43.375 --> 00:48:44.975
There's no language barriers,
nor is there much for song,
00:48:44.999 --> 00:48:48.727
which is something
that you can appreciate
00:48:48.751 --> 00:48:50.602
if you pay close attention
to the ways in which people
00:48:50.626 --> 00:48:53.292
who speak no English whatsoever
can sing Beatles songs.
00:48:54.751 --> 00:48:57.999 line:20%
♪♪
00:48:58.167 --> 00:49:01.975
-As music flourished,
so did other arts.
00:49:01.999 --> 00:49:05.351
Some of medieval Spain's most
important thinkers and writers
00:49:05.375 --> 00:49:08.975
lived during the 11th century.
00:49:08.999 --> 00:49:11.768
-The most famous
of these figures
00:49:11.792 --> 00:49:14.059
in the Arabic-speaking world
is Ibn Hazm,
00:49:14.083 --> 00:49:17.727
who's extraordinarily
prolific man
00:49:17.751 --> 00:49:20.226
and wrote hundreds
and hundreds of books
00:49:20.250 --> 00:49:22.417
and was a ferocious polemicist.
00:49:25.083 --> 00:49:26.584
His counterpart
with whom in fact
00:49:28.959 --> 00:49:31.393
he had a great
polemical relationship
00:49:31.417 --> 00:49:33.894
is Samuel the Nagid.
00:49:33.918 --> 00:49:37.476
-These two great intellectuals
fled Córdoba
00:49:37.500 --> 00:49:40.643
after the fall of the caliphate.
00:49:40.667 --> 00:49:44.018
-If you think of two figures
00:49:44.042 --> 00:49:46.143 line:20%
that emerged from
the collapse of Córdoba,
00:49:46.167 --> 00:49:49.518 line:20%
Ibn Hazm, a Muslim
on the one hand,
00:49:49.542 --> 00:49:52.143 line:20%
and Samuel ibn Naghrillah,
a Jew on the other,
00:49:52.167 --> 00:49:55.459
both are struggling
to make careers in the wreckage.
00:49:55.709 --> 00:49:59.852
-They shared much in common,
but the course of their lives
00:49:59.876 --> 00:50:03.185
could not have been
more different.
00:50:03.209 --> 00:50:06.059
Ibn Hazm was born in 994
00:50:06.083 --> 00:50:08.459
into a wealthy
and influential Córdoban family.
00:50:09.083 --> 00:50:12.975
The son of a powerful
government official,
00:50:12.999 --> 00:50:15.768 position:20%
he expected to follow
in his father's footsteps,
00:50:15.792 --> 00:50:18.975
but the collapse of Córdoba
derailed his plans.
00:50:18.999 --> 00:50:22.876 position:20%
-In his early years,
he was deposed from office
00:50:23.918 --> 00:50:27.059
and imprisoned
00:50:27.083 --> 00:50:28.768
and eventually retired
from public life
00:50:28.792 --> 00:50:31.042
at a relatively young age
to devote himself to scholarship
00:50:31.500 --> 00:50:35.351 line:20%
and to a kind of an intellectual
rabble-rousing
00:50:35.375 --> 00:50:39.101 line:20%
against all that he thought
had gone wrong
00:50:39.125 --> 00:50:42.685 line:20%
with Islam in al-Andalus.
00:50:42.709 --> 00:50:46.667
-"Prosperity has been changed
into a sterile desert,
00:50:47.375 --> 00:50:51.018 position:20%
society
into frightful loneliness,
00:50:51.042 --> 00:50:54.602
beauty into rubble-strewn
plains,
00:50:54.626 --> 00:50:58.209
tranquility into
terrifying difficulties."
00:50:59.375 --> 00:51:02.935
-Well, Ibn Hazm in exile
00:51:02.959 --> 00:51:04.417
is a cranky
roaming philosopher-writer.
00:51:07.083 --> 00:51:10.975
He wrote very bitterly
and harshly
00:51:10.999 --> 00:51:13.999
against his enemies
of every sort,
00:51:14.125 --> 00:51:17.975
and yet he's remembered
for one book,
00:51:17.999 --> 00:51:19.975 position:20%
which is a book about love,
00:51:19.999 --> 00:51:21.975
and it's this wonderful book
that is called
00:51:21.999 --> 00:51:25.834 position:20%
"The Neck-Ring of the Dove,"
or "The Dove's Neck-Ring."
00:51:26.876 --> 00:51:30.834
-"I've a sickness doctors
can't cure inextricably
00:51:31.542 --> 00:51:35.310
pulling me
to the well of my destruction,
00:51:35.334 --> 00:51:39.417
consented to be a sacrifice
killed for her love,
00:51:40.500 --> 00:51:44.542
eager like the drunk
gulping wine mixed with poison.
00:51:46.584 --> 00:51:50.101
Shameless were those my nights,
00:51:50.125 --> 00:51:52.751
yet my soul love them
beyond all passion."
00:51:54.209 --> 00:51:57.999
-It's a book about
the different ways
00:51:58.417 --> 00:52:01.975
in which people fall in love
00:52:01.999 --> 00:52:04.083
and how and where
and when and why,
00:52:04.500 --> 00:52:08.500
but on the other hand,
it's also a book about loss.
00:52:09.792 --> 00:52:13.226 position:20%
It's got embedded within it
00:52:13.250 --> 00:52:14.975
some of his pretty
explicit meditations
00:52:14.999 --> 00:52:17.709 position:20%
about the tragedy of the loss
of first love, of Córdoba.
00:52:20.167 --> 00:52:24.167
It's just filled with a certain
kind of nostalgia.
00:52:25.626 --> 00:52:29.226
-"Those rooms full of
epigraphy,
00:52:29.250 --> 00:52:31.935
those adorned boudoirs
that used to shine like the sun
00:52:31.959 --> 00:52:35.810
and which, with the sole
contemplation of their beauty,
00:52:35.834 --> 00:52:39.101
sadness fled.
00:52:39.125 --> 00:52:41.667
Now they are like
the open jaws of savage beasts
00:52:41.999 --> 00:52:45.959
that announce the decline
that is this world."
00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:49.226 line:20%
♪♪
00:52:49.250 --> 00:52:51.226
-He writes of how heartbreaking
it is to see
00:52:51.250 --> 00:52:53.975
the remains of what was once,
00:52:53.999 --> 00:52:55.602
you know, a beautiful palace
or a beautiful villa,
00:52:55.626 --> 00:52:58.393
and all of it is just flattened,
00:52:58.417 --> 00:53:01.643 line:20%
so he has this sense
that Córdoba
00:53:01.667 --> 00:53:03.143 line:20%
is just a kind of ghost
of its former self.
00:53:03.167 --> 00:53:06.542 line:20%
You get the sense of a beautiful
city that's just...gone.
00:53:08.667 --> 00:53:10.918
-"My eyes wept.
My heart was pained.
00:53:13.584 --> 00:53:17.292
My bosom was saddened
by these stones.
00:53:17.876 --> 00:53:21.351
My soul has risen in anguish."
00:53:21.375 --> 00:53:24.268 line:20%
♪♪
00:53:24.292 --> 00:53:27.292
-He never got over the loss
of the Umayyad hegemony,
00:53:29.209 --> 00:53:33.167
and he wandered all over,
never found another home,
00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:38.999
never reconciled himself
to his own exile,
00:53:40.042 --> 00:53:43.999
I think, in many ways,
grew increasingly bitter.
00:53:44.999 --> 00:53:48.999
He's an example of the ways
in which even though there was
00:53:50.125 --> 00:53:54.167
this great poetic flourishing
that is the 11th century
00:53:54.999 --> 00:53:58.999
that, for the Muslims,
this is a bad period.
00:54:01.500 --> 00:54:04.727 line:20%
♪♪
00:54:04.751 --> 00:54:07.626
That loss of that caliphate
and that unity
00:54:09.125 --> 00:54:12.810
and that political stability
00:54:12.834 --> 00:54:15.975
is never recouped.
00:54:15.999 --> 00:54:18.959 line:20%
♪♪
00:54:20.584 --> 00:54:23.834 line:20%
♪♪
00:54:24.999 --> 00:54:28.727
-Ibn Hazm's counterpart
in exile,
00:54:28.751 --> 00:54:30.999
a Jew named Samuel the Nagid,
followed a very different path.
00:54:33.250 --> 00:54:36.894 position:20%
After the fall of Córdoba,
00:54:36.918 --> 00:54:38.626
he fled to the Mediterranean
port city of Málaga.
00:54:38.999 --> 00:54:43.000
The story of his rise has been
passed down through generations.
00:54:44.292 --> 00:54:48.250
-Samuel the Nagid was a very
brilliant intellect
00:54:48.999 --> 00:54:52.685
and an extraordinary
Arabic stylist
00:54:52.709 --> 00:54:56.268
working in a spice shop
in Málaga.
00:54:56.292 --> 00:55:00.292
According to this tale,
his fame in this spice shop
00:55:00.542 --> 00:55:04.292
extended beyond his
selling of spices.
00:55:05.250 --> 00:55:09.059
-The maidservant of the scribe
of the king
00:55:09.083 --> 00:55:12.975
was sent to that shop
to buy spices,
00:55:12.999 --> 00:55:16.250
and when she saw how eloquent
his computation and writing was,
00:55:18.667 --> 00:55:22.476 line:20%
she conveyed that information
to her boss,
00:55:22.500 --> 00:55:25.143 line:20%
who then conveyed
that information up the line,
00:55:25.167 --> 00:55:28.959
and he became a person of
interest in the positive sense.
00:55:31.542 --> 00:55:32.834
-Word of Samuel's talents
reached the king of Granada,
00:55:35.584 --> 00:55:38.959
and he was invited
into the royal entourage.
00:55:39.542 --> 00:55:43.268
Granada
was one of the taifa kingdoms,
00:55:43.292 --> 00:55:46.560
the small city-states
that had emerged
00:55:46.584 --> 00:55:48.768
in the wake
of the collapsed caliphate.
00:55:48.792 --> 00:55:50.975 line:20%
♪♪
00:55:50.999 --> 00:55:53.351
The political, economic
and cultural competition
00:55:53.375 --> 00:55:56.518
among these taifas was intense.
00:55:56.542 --> 00:56:00.101
-The taifa king of Granada
found himself
00:56:00.125 --> 00:56:02.518
in the difficult position
00:56:02.542 --> 00:56:04.018
of having many rival
Muslim factions,
00:56:04.042 --> 00:56:08.018
none of whom he could really
trust to administer his kingdom
00:56:08.042 --> 00:56:12.167
or to delegate power to,
so he struck upon the solution
00:56:13.584 --> 00:56:17.268
of appointing
a Jewish administrator
00:56:17.292 --> 00:56:19.018
and giving this Jewish
administrator much more power
00:56:19.042 --> 00:56:22.101
than previous
Jewish administrators
00:56:22.125 --> 00:56:24.059
had tended to have.
00:56:24.083 --> 00:56:26.768
-Samuel the Nagid quickly rose
to the position
00:56:26.792 --> 00:56:29.643
of vizier of Granada,
00:56:29.667 --> 00:56:31.292
second in power
only to the king.
00:56:32.125 --> 00:56:33.918
-Now this is truly
extraordinary.
00:56:35.999 --> 00:56:37.975
According to Islamic law,
non-Muslims
00:56:37.999 --> 00:56:40.918 line:20%
are forbidden from holding
executive office over Muslims,
00:56:42.167 --> 00:56:46.250 position:20% line:20%
but here you have the Nagid
exercising executive power
00:56:46.834 --> 00:56:50.143
over Muslims in Granada.
00:56:50.167 --> 00:56:52.476 line:20%
♪♪
00:56:52.500 --> 00:56:54.685
-Indeed, one of Samuel's
most famous poems
00:56:54.709 --> 00:56:57.685
asserted that he was
the general of a Muslim army.
00:56:57.709 --> 00:57:00.685
[ Indistinct shouting ]
00:57:00.709 --> 00:57:03.751
-"My friend for me
in my straits, the rock rose up,
00:57:04.834 --> 00:57:08.792
therefore, I offer praises,
my poem to the Lord.
00:57:10.709 --> 00:57:14.584
He recognized fear in my heart
and erased it,
00:57:15.375 --> 00:57:18.976
so my song
is sung to the healer.
00:57:19.000 --> 00:57:22.999
He ravaged my enemies with pain,
easing my own.
00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:27.999
Someone objected,
'Who are you to pay homage?'
00:57:28.375 --> 00:57:32.250
'I am,' I answered,
'The David of my age.'"
00:57:34.292 --> 00:57:38.334
-Samuel's poetry marked
an extraordinary innovation.
00:57:38.999 --> 00:57:42.918 line:20%
-What he does is,
he takes the Arabic meter
00:57:42.999 --> 00:57:46.959 position:20% line:20%
and Arabic rhyme,
and he puts it into Hebrew
00:57:47.500 --> 00:57:51.209
and takes the language
of the synagogue
00:57:51.999 --> 00:57:55.810
out of the synagogue,
into the salon
00:57:55.834 --> 00:57:58.999
and into the vineyard
and into the garden.
00:57:59.125 --> 00:58:02.768 position:20% line:20%
-So beginning with Samuel,
00:58:02.792 --> 00:58:04.959 line:20%
you really have this golden age
of the new Hebrew poetry.
00:58:06.999 --> 00:58:10.810
-"Gazing through the night
and its stars
00:58:10.834 --> 00:58:13.393
or the grass and its bugs,
I know in my heart
00:58:13.417 --> 00:58:17.459
these swarms are the craft
of surpassing wisdom.
00:58:18.626 --> 00:58:20.876
Think. The skies resemble
00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:24.435
a tent stretched taut
by loops and hooks
00:58:24.459 --> 00:58:28.310
and the moon with its stars
a shepherdess on a meadow
00:58:28.334 --> 00:58:32.292
grazing like beasts
in their ample stalls
00:58:33.500 --> 00:58:36.975
fleeing our terror of death,
00:58:36.999 --> 00:58:40.476
like a dove, its hawk in flight,
00:58:40.500 --> 00:58:43.185
though we'll lie in the end
like a plate
00:58:43.209 --> 00:58:46.209
hammered into dust and shards."
00:58:47.999 --> 00:58:49.125
-Samuel died of natural
causes in 1056.
00:58:51.918 --> 00:58:55.476
The extraordinary thing
about Samuel the Nagid --
00:58:55.500 --> 00:58:57.975
truly unprecedented
in Jewish history --
00:58:57.999 --> 00:58:59.975
is that he transferred power
to his son,
00:58:59.999 --> 00:59:02.975
and his son, Yusef,
took over his office
00:59:02.999 --> 00:59:06.643
as the prime minister
of Granada.
00:59:06.667 --> 00:59:10.209
-Joseph had all the talents
of his father except one.
00:59:11.459 --> 00:59:15.250
Joseph lacked the humility
of his father.
00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:20.167
-That shortcoming was about
to have terrible consequences.
00:59:21.083 --> 00:59:24.975
-When one is a vizier
of a kingdom,
00:59:24.999 --> 00:59:28.852
you have to have
a pretty strong ego,
00:59:28.876 --> 00:59:31.643
so it's not surprising
that someone like Shmuel HaNagid
00:59:31.667 --> 00:59:34.768
would write a poem
in which he would say,
00:59:34.792 --> 00:59:36.810
"I'm the David
of my generation."
00:59:36.834 --> 00:59:39.560
He might write that in poetry,
but he would be much more humble
00:59:39.584 --> 00:59:43.375
when addressing a Muslim
of his class or status
00:59:44.999 --> 00:59:48.602
or certainly the royal family.
00:59:48.626 --> 00:59:51.101
That might not be the case
with his son.
00:59:51.125 --> 00:59:54.435
-Joseph lacked the political
suavité of his father
00:59:54.459 --> 00:59:58.435 position:20%
because he was -- this word
is often used -- arrogant.
00:59:58.459 --> 01:00:01.560
-There was great resentment
of the prominence
01:00:01.584 --> 01:00:05.459 position:20%
of the Jewish community on the
part of the lower classes,
01:00:07.500 --> 01:00:11.018
but not exclusively only there.
01:00:11.042 --> 01:00:14.143
-The very fact
of Jewish success
01:00:14.167 --> 01:00:16.852
created new discourses,
01:00:16.876 --> 01:00:18.626
new ways
of criticizing Jewish power.
01:00:18.792 --> 01:00:22.602
-In any event,
there was a major uprising,
01:00:22.626 --> 01:00:25.560
and there was a massacre
in which Joseph was killed,
01:00:25.584 --> 01:00:29.351
and the Jewish community
was really slaughtered.
01:00:29.375 --> 01:00:31.976
[ Horse neighs ]
01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:33.975
[ Swords clang ]
01:00:33.999 --> 01:00:36.268
This was 1066, and it marks
the first case
01:00:36.292 --> 01:00:39.975
of real serious Muslim violence
01:00:39.999 --> 01:00:42.999 position:20%
against Jews
as Jews in medieval Spain.
01:00:43.999 --> 01:00:47.500
[ Rain falling ]
01:00:48.125 --> 01:00:49.667
-We have uprisings and revolts
and assassinations
01:00:52.751 --> 01:00:56.560
in the history of al-Andalus
all the time,
01:00:56.584 --> 01:00:59.351
most of which have nothing
whatsoever to do with the Jews.
01:00:59.375 --> 01:01:01.975
So in a certain sense,
01:01:01.999 --> 01:01:03.975
Joseph was the wrong person
in office at the wrong time,
01:01:03.999 --> 01:01:07.226
and his community
was an easy target.
01:01:07.250 --> 01:01:10.602
But from a more narrow
perspective of Jewish history,
01:01:10.626 --> 01:01:13.751
it reacquaints one with the
precariousness of Jewish life
01:01:16.834 --> 01:01:20.101
as a small minority.
01:01:20.125 --> 01:01:21.975 line:20%
♪♪
01:01:21.999 --> 01:01:25.334
-The most important
explanation of this is,
01:01:25.709 --> 01:01:29.185
it's kind of a release valve.
01:01:29.209 --> 01:01:31.894
It's part of this view
that medieval Spain
01:01:31.918 --> 01:01:34.560
works in these contradictions
01:01:34.584 --> 01:01:36.999
by having these little
periodic explosions,
01:01:38.292 --> 01:01:41.975
and it's also true
that even though
01:01:41.999 --> 01:01:44.310
you have this massacre
of the Jews
01:01:44.334 --> 01:01:47.643
towards the end
of the 11th century,
01:01:47.667 --> 01:01:50.167
that the Jews of that period
still understand
01:01:50.999 --> 01:01:54.584
this to be a good moment.
01:01:55.999 --> 01:01:57.500
That attitude that Hosdi
first articulates
01:02:00.500 --> 01:02:04.143
in the middle
of the 10th century
01:02:04.167 --> 01:02:06.059
that, you know,
Córdoba al-Andalus
01:02:06.083 --> 01:02:08.685
is the center of the universe.
01:02:08.709 --> 01:02:10.226
This is the best place Jews
or anybody else
01:02:10.250 --> 01:02:13.810
has ever lived in, etc.
etc., is still held onto.
01:02:13.834 --> 01:02:17.709
You'd rather be a Jew
in an Islamic universe
01:02:18.626 --> 01:02:22.709
certainly than you ever would
in the Christian north.
01:02:22.876 --> 01:02:25.999 line:20%
♪♪
01:02:26.459 --> 01:02:29.975 position:20%
-In the late 11th century,
01:02:29.999 --> 01:02:31.999
the Christian kingdoms in
the north were growing in power.
01:02:32.417 --> 01:02:36.059
They turn their attention
to Toledo,
01:02:36.083 --> 01:02:38.667
one of the most prominent
Muslim city-states.
01:02:39.918 --> 01:02:43.185
In 1085, Alfonso VI,
01:02:43.209 --> 01:02:46.351
the Christian ruler
of Leon Castile,
01:02:46.375 --> 01:02:48.975
brought Toledo
under his control.
01:02:48.999 --> 01:02:51.975
-It's not just any old city.
01:02:51.999 --> 01:02:54.476
It is also, and heavily symbolic
for the Christians,
01:02:54.500 --> 01:02:57.975
is the old Visigothic capital.
01:02:57.999 --> 01:03:00.852
It's like getting
the capital back.
01:03:00.876 --> 01:03:03.709
This is a great turning point
in the history of medieval Spain
01:03:04.500 --> 01:03:08.417
because it's the first large
Islamic city-state
01:03:08.751 --> 01:03:12.584
taken by the ascendant
Christian kingdoms.
01:03:14.125 --> 01:03:18.143
-And Alfonso accomplished this
momentous power shift
01:03:18.167 --> 01:03:21.351 position:20%
without spilling any blood.
01:03:21.375 --> 01:03:24.975
Toledo's Muslim leader,
01:03:24.999 --> 01:03:26.852
weakened by years of conflict
with rival taifas,
01:03:26.876 --> 01:03:29.810
gave Alfonso the keys
to the city
01:03:29.834 --> 01:03:31.876
in exchange for a safe escape.
01:03:32.459 --> 01:03:33.959
The cultural richness of Toledo
amazed the arriving Castilians.
01:03:38.167 --> 01:03:41.975
-These Castilians come
out of a rugged,
01:03:41.999 --> 01:03:45.459
relatively primitive universe,
01:03:45.792 --> 01:03:49.143
relatively mono-cultural,
01:03:49.167 --> 01:03:52.685
and now they walk into Toledo,
01:03:52.709 --> 01:03:54.560
and it's a city filled
with other languages,
01:03:54.584 --> 01:03:57.709 position:20%
other religions,
other kinds of Christians.
01:04:01.667 --> 01:04:05.709
-There was no city like Toledo
in the north of Spain,
01:04:06.083 --> 01:04:09.602
no cosmopolitan city
01:04:09.626 --> 01:04:11.810
teeming with goods
from around the world,
01:04:11.834 --> 01:04:14.768 position:20%
with all this diversity
of knowledge and learning.
01:04:14.792 --> 01:04:17.894
So coming into this city
and possessing it
01:04:17.918 --> 01:04:20.918
was an extraordinary
cultural change.
01:04:22.792 --> 01:04:23.999
-Alfonso VI called himself
the Emperor of All the Spains.
01:04:27.918 --> 01:04:31.560
-So that means that Alfonso
respects
01:04:31.584 --> 01:04:34.975
the status quo he finds.
01:04:34.999 --> 01:04:36.935
There are guarantees of freedom
of worship
01:04:36.959 --> 01:04:38.975 position:20%
in the same way
that the Muslims had done.
01:04:38.999 --> 01:04:41.584
Really, what has changed
is the guy who occupies
01:04:41.959 --> 01:04:45.667
Toledo rather
than the culture itself.
01:04:47.626 --> 01:04:51.643
-But Muslims in the taifa
kingdoms surrounding Toledo
01:04:51.667 --> 01:04:54.792
saw Alfonso's seizure of power
there as a direct threat.
01:04:55.999 --> 01:04:59.810
-The conquest of Toledo
by Alfonso VI
01:04:59.834 --> 01:05:02.351
worried the leaders
of the other taifas
01:05:02.375 --> 01:05:05.476
because it did
change the paradigm.
01:05:05.500 --> 01:05:08.059
Very often, you might lose
a military battle
01:05:08.083 --> 01:05:10.685
and now you would have to pay
tribute to a different overlord,
01:05:10.709 --> 01:05:14.310
but you always maintained
your own small kingdom
01:05:14.334 --> 01:05:17.476
and authority
within it to some extent.
01:05:17.500 --> 01:05:20.975 position:20%
The conquest of Toledo
really changed the balance
01:05:20.999 --> 01:05:24.643
and seemed a much
more drastic move
01:05:24.667 --> 01:05:27.042
that threatened
their political autonomy.
01:05:29.459 --> 01:05:33.435
-With Toledo in hand,
Alfonso's army stood poised
01:05:33.459 --> 01:05:36.685
to attack
the great taifa of Seville.
01:05:36.709 --> 01:05:40.101
Al-Mu'tamid,
the King of Seville,
01:05:40.125 --> 01:05:42.685
contemplated his options.
01:05:42.709 --> 01:05:45.560
-There's this
Alfonso juggernaut.
01:05:45.584 --> 01:05:48.602
So Al-Mu'tamid, as the most
powerful of the taifa kings
01:05:48.626 --> 01:05:52.185 position:20%
and as the head of Seville,
01:05:52.209 --> 01:05:53.975
appeals against
some of their better judgment,
01:05:53.999 --> 01:05:57.375
perhaps, to the Almoravids,
the Muslim group that
01:05:57.667 --> 01:06:01.709
is in power across the streets
of Gibraltar in Morocco.
01:06:03.876 --> 01:06:07.059
-Fierce warriors,
01:06:07.083 --> 01:06:08.709
the Almoravids had already
conquered much of North Africa.
01:06:09.292 --> 01:06:13.101
-The Almoravids had
a particular puritanical
01:06:13.125 --> 01:06:15.976
reforming brand of Islam.
01:06:16.000 --> 01:06:18.560
It had emerged initially
as a religious movement
01:06:18.584 --> 01:06:21.518
that grew in political power.
01:06:21.542 --> 01:06:23.975
They saw the Andaluses
as immoral Muslims,
01:06:23.999 --> 01:06:28.000
and they imagined that their
military and political weakness
01:06:28.834 --> 01:06:32.999
was partly due to their having
lost the true dictates of Islam
01:06:33.292 --> 01:06:37.018
and growing lax
in their practice of it.
01:06:37.042 --> 01:06:40.643
Al-Mu'tamid's son
warned his father
01:06:40.667 --> 01:06:42.852
that the Almoravids
were risky allies,
01:06:42.876 --> 01:06:45.852
but the king felt
he had no choice.
01:06:45.876 --> 01:06:49.602
-I have no desire to be
branded by my descendants
01:06:49.626 --> 01:06:53.268
as the man
who delivered al-Andalus
01:06:53.292 --> 01:06:55.975
as prey to the infidels,
and for my part,
01:06:55.999 --> 01:06:59.351
I would rather be
a camel driver in Africa
01:06:59.375 --> 01:07:02.500
then a swine heard in Castile.
01:07:04.999 --> 01:07:07.975
-Soon after the Almoravids
arrived on Andalusian soil,
01:07:07.999 --> 01:07:11.975
they defeated Alfonso's army
in a battle so savage
01:07:11.999 --> 01:07:15.975
it was named al-Zallaqa,
or slippery ground,
01:07:15.999 --> 01:07:19.500
for the tremendous amount
of blood shed that day.
01:07:20.626 --> 01:07:22.250
-The Almoravids do,
in that sense,
01:07:24.292 --> 01:07:26.685
save Seville for the moment,
01:07:26.709 --> 01:07:29.167
but they also understand,
having been there,
01:07:29.584 --> 01:07:33.542
that this is a place
that's ripe for the picking.
01:07:38.334 --> 01:07:41.518
-A few years after their
successful battle
01:07:41.542 --> 01:07:43.560
against Alfonso VI,
01:07:43.584 --> 01:07:45.209
the Almoravids come across
again, this time uninvited.
01:07:45.459 --> 01:07:49.268
-Now not to help Al-Mu'tamid
or the taifas,
01:07:49.292 --> 01:07:52.751
but to take them over.
01:07:52.999 --> 01:07:56.435
Al-Mu'tamid appeals.
01:07:56.459 --> 01:07:58.351
Who does he appeal
to to help him out
01:07:58.375 --> 01:08:00.709
by the swine heard himself,
Alfonso, and Alfonso,
01:08:01.999 --> 01:08:05.894
in fact,
which is even more interesting,
01:08:05.918 --> 01:08:07.999
heads out to go and help
Al-Mu'tamid to defend him
01:08:08.083 --> 01:08:12.083
against this predatory raid
now of the Almoravids,
01:08:12.792 --> 01:08:16.709
but too little too late,
and not only is Seville
01:08:17.083 --> 01:08:20.975
and the rest of what remained
of al-Andalus
01:08:20.999 --> 01:08:23.999
taken as the colony
now of the Almoravids,
01:08:24.375 --> 01:08:28.059
but poor Al-Mu'tamid
is taken prisoner
01:08:28.083 --> 01:08:31.292
and eventually sent to Morocco
to rot and die in a jail there.
01:08:36.999 --> 01:08:39.975
-The Almoravid Empire
would help to forestall
01:08:39.999 --> 01:08:42.292
for centuries the ultimate
Christian conquest of Spain.
01:08:44.459 --> 01:08:45.834
But under Almoravid influence,
the culture of al-Andalus
01:08:48.751 --> 01:08:52.059
was beginning to change.
01:08:52.083 --> 01:08:54.810
-The Almoravids brought
with them
01:08:54.834 --> 01:08:56.999
the more rigorous,
religiously austere
01:08:57.876 --> 01:09:01.500
and legalistically
serious culture,
01:09:01.999 --> 01:09:06.042
and this is the kind of culture
that they imposed on al-Andalus.
01:09:07.375 --> 01:09:11.334 position:20%
-The Almoravids regarded
the state of Spanish Islam
01:09:12.375 --> 01:09:16.125
as deplorable,
as corrupt, as a softened
01:09:17.918 --> 01:09:21.310 position:20%
and as altogether too much
01:09:21.334 --> 01:09:23.518
wedded to the notion
of Convivencia.
01:09:23.542 --> 01:09:25.334
Convivencia
was a dirty word.
01:09:25.999 --> 01:09:29.975
In practical terms, it meant
something of an end
01:09:29.999 --> 01:09:33.000
to the free movement
across religious boundaries,
01:09:33.834 --> 01:09:37.918
participation in a common
high-culture of music and art,
01:09:38.209 --> 01:09:42.334
things that made Andalusia
distinctive as a Muslim society.
01:09:45.626 --> 01:09:47.584
-With the Almoravid rulers
controlling the south of Spain,
01:09:49.792 --> 01:09:53.310
many Jews, Christians
and even other Muslims
01:09:53.334 --> 01:09:56.975
fled those territories
for the diversity
01:09:56.999 --> 01:09:59.292
and religious tolerance still
found in Toledo to the north.
01:10:01.125 --> 01:10:05.143
But the unique openness
of religious life in Toledo
01:10:05.167 --> 01:10:08.476
would soon be threatened
as well, not by Muslims,
01:10:08.500 --> 01:10:12.375
but by a puritanical current
within Christian Europe itself.
01:10:13.209 --> 01:10:17.334 position:20%
-There was no embedding within
Christianity of any notion
01:10:17.709 --> 01:10:21.518 position:20%
of what you did
with minority communities.
01:10:21.542 --> 01:10:25.101
There was no expectation
that a Christian state should
01:10:25.125 --> 01:10:28.834
or could have these
minority populations,
01:10:29.792 --> 01:10:32.975
except in Spain.
01:10:32.999 --> 01:10:36.101
The rest of Christendom
doesn't do this.
01:10:36.125 --> 01:10:39.975
People say, "Are you kidding me?
01:10:39.999 --> 01:10:41.602
You've got, you know,
the Jews live here,
01:10:41.626 --> 01:10:43.185
the Muslims...
What is this?"
01:10:43.209 --> 01:10:44.685
I mean, many of them are in fact
fascinated by this,
01:10:44.709 --> 01:10:47.542
but it is an oddity
within the Christian world.
01:10:48.042 --> 01:10:52.018
In the 11th century,
this oddity came under attack
01:10:52.042 --> 01:10:55.292
by conservative reformers
within the church hierarchy.
01:10:58.792 --> 01:11:01.852
The reformers targeted
the most Mozarabs,
01:11:01.876 --> 01:11:04.393
Andalusian Christians
01:11:04.417 --> 01:11:05.975
who had adopted Arab language
and culture in the 7th century
01:11:05.999 --> 01:11:10.042
but had remained true to their
own faith for over 400 years.
01:11:11.667 --> 01:11:15.476
-Pope Gregory VII,
the great reformist Pope,
01:11:15.500 --> 01:11:18.584
stood for Christian orthodoxy
of a very severe type
01:11:20.042 --> 01:11:23.975
and regarded the Mozarabs
not as heroic Christians
01:11:23.999 --> 01:11:27.542
who had held out under
enemy occupation for 400 years,
01:11:28.209 --> 01:11:31.602
but as heretics.
01:11:31.626 --> 01:11:33.310
-The Mozarabs had their own
distinctive religious
01:11:33.334 --> 01:11:36.476
and liturgical culture
01:11:36.500 --> 01:11:38.000
that they were eager
to maintain.
01:11:40.792 --> 01:11:43.876
-The liturgy was called
the Mozarabic Rite,
01:11:44.999 --> 01:11:48.560
and it is performed to this day
01:11:48.584 --> 01:11:50.292
in a chapel
in the Cathedral of Toledo,
01:11:50.876 --> 01:11:54.894
but in the 11th century,
traditionalists in the church
01:11:54.918 --> 01:11:58.584
put pressure on Alfonso VI
to stop the Mozarabs' practices
01:11:59.209 --> 01:12:03.310
and force them to conform
to the standardized Roman Rite.
01:12:03.334 --> 01:12:07.226
-This didn't go over well
with the Christian community.
01:12:07.250 --> 01:12:10.268
They had a distinctive identity
and a distinctive culture
01:12:10.292 --> 01:12:13.351
that they were eager
to preserve,
01:12:13.375 --> 01:12:16.250
so they resisted attempts to
change the way that they prayed.
01:12:18.167 --> 01:12:22.059
-This conflict within
the Christian community
01:12:22.083 --> 01:12:24.602
posed a problem
for Alfonso VI,
01:12:24.626 --> 01:12:26.999
who was beholden
to the Pope in Rome.
01:12:28.167 --> 01:12:29.417
According to lore, Alfonso VI
decided to resolve the dispute
01:12:32.834 --> 01:12:36.768
by subjecting both the Mozarabic
and the Roman Rite
01:12:36.792 --> 01:12:39.834
to what was called The Ordeal.
01:12:41.999 --> 01:12:45.999 position:20%
-During the Middle Ages,
very often trial by combat
01:12:46.083 --> 01:12:49.476
or trial by fire
01:12:49.500 --> 01:12:50.999
was a way to resolve
the truth of a situation.
01:12:51.542 --> 01:12:55.351
Which Latin Mass
was the correct or true one?
01:12:55.375 --> 01:12:58.310
And they subjected them
to the fire
01:12:58.334 --> 01:13:01.059
and decided
whichever one emerges
01:13:01.083 --> 01:13:03.375
unscathed will be the true one.
01:13:03.918 --> 01:13:07.435
-The story that was told
was that
01:13:07.459 --> 01:13:09.125
the Roman Rite
burned up immediately.
01:13:11.500 --> 01:13:14.999
The Mozarabic Rite
emerged unscathed.
01:13:16.709 --> 01:13:17.999
-This is a fanciful story
about the trial by fire,
01:13:20.626 --> 01:13:23.727
but what it reflects
is actually the strength
01:13:23.751 --> 01:13:26.143
of local resistance.
01:13:26.167 --> 01:13:27.975
The consensus of the community
was so strong
01:13:27.999 --> 01:13:31.143
that the Mozarabic Rite
01:13:31.167 --> 01:13:32.975
had actually passed
through this trial,
01:13:32.999 --> 01:13:34.518
that it was impossible
01:13:34.542 --> 01:13:36.059
for the new political
and ecclesiastical authorities
01:13:36.083 --> 01:13:38.999
to overcome popular loyalty
to that religious tradition.
01:13:41.751 --> 01:13:45.476
-The history of Christianity
is not one
01:13:45.500 --> 01:13:47.768
of some uniform thing
from the beginning.
01:13:47.792 --> 01:13:49.894
On the contrary, it's a series
of both regional
01:13:49.918 --> 01:13:53.792
and philosophical quarrels
within the community itself.
01:13:56.042 --> 01:13:59.976
What is interesting about
medieval Spain is that,
01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:02.518
because of the peculiar
historical conditions,
01:14:02.542 --> 01:14:06.542
there is a pragmatic challenge
to the Roman version,
01:14:08.751 --> 01:14:12.417
if you will,
of what Christianity is.
01:14:12.792 --> 01:14:16.518
For me, this is what
makes it important
01:14:16.542 --> 01:14:19.185
as a historical period.
01:14:19.209 --> 01:14:21.975
You use it to shatter
these myths of monolithic
01:14:21.999 --> 01:14:25.459
understanding
of what that faith is all about.
01:14:31.542 --> 01:14:35.226
-As the 12th century
dawned in Toledo,
01:14:35.250 --> 01:14:38.059
the city's persistent
intellectual richness
01:14:38.083 --> 01:14:41.042
helped fuel profound changes
in the rest of Europe.
01:14:41.834 --> 01:14:45.876
-In the 12th century, there is
this revival of learning
01:14:45.999 --> 01:14:49.918
in certain centers in France
and in England,
01:14:51.250 --> 01:14:54.935
but this revival of learning
01:14:54.959 --> 01:14:57.083
is really
a revival of Roman learning.
01:14:58.250 --> 01:15:01.810
What these people lack
01:15:01.834 --> 01:15:04.083
is access
to Greek learning.
01:15:05.500 --> 01:15:07.999
-After the fall
of the Roman Empire,
01:15:09.209 --> 01:15:11.727
most of the scientific
and philosophical works
01:15:11.751 --> 01:15:14.042
of Ancient Greece
were unknown in Europe,
01:15:15.999 --> 01:15:17.042
but these works
could still be found
01:15:19.876 --> 01:15:21.667
in the libraries of Toledo,
which contained ancient texts
01:15:22.209 --> 01:15:26.250
that had been translated
into Arabic centuries earlier.
01:15:29.751 --> 01:15:32.792
-In 9th century Baghdad,
a school of translation
01:15:33.500 --> 01:15:37.250
was established
to translate into Arabic
01:15:37.542 --> 01:15:41.584
all of the great works
of the legacy of Ancient Greece,
01:15:41.876 --> 01:15:44.976
especially,
01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:46.542
of a medical, scientific
and philosophical nature,
01:15:47.667 --> 01:15:51.435
and these textual treasures
were copied
01:15:51.459 --> 01:15:54.435
and transmitted all throughout
the Islamic world,
01:15:54.459 --> 01:15:57.852
including North Africa,
01:15:57.876 --> 01:15:59.101
and eventually made there way
to al-Andalus.
01:15:59.125 --> 01:16:02.975
-These guys from London
or Paris, at a certain point,
01:16:02.999 --> 01:16:06.059
it comes to their attention that
there's these libraries there
01:16:06.083 --> 01:16:08.935
where people
are reading Aristotle,
01:16:08.959 --> 01:16:10.999
but you have to know Arabic
to be able to read it.
01:16:11.751 --> 01:16:15.185
-So a demand arose for Greek
01:16:15.209 --> 01:16:16.852 position:20%
works in a language
that Europeans could read,
01:16:16.876 --> 01:16:20.560
a demand that was met
in many cases by Jews
01:16:20.584 --> 01:16:23.999
who had fled the Almoravids
in the south.
01:16:24.042 --> 01:16:27.975
-The way the translations
seemed to have worked
01:16:27.999 --> 01:16:30.643
was it was done
orally by and large.
01:16:30.667 --> 01:16:33.292
Somebody translated orally
into a middle language,
01:16:33.918 --> 01:16:37.918
either Castilian or Hebrew,
and then a second person
01:16:38.792 --> 01:16:42.792
would translate from Hebrew
or Castilian into Latin.
01:16:44.751 --> 01:16:46.792 position:20%
-All of these efforts of
translation and production
01:16:48.999 --> 01:16:52.975
and dissemination
in al-Andalus and in Toledo
01:16:52.999 --> 01:16:56.375
produced what some historians
call a 12th century
01:16:56.834 --> 01:17:00.667
Renaissance in Spain,
and it is from there
01:17:01.709 --> 01:17:05.792 position:20%
that the intellectual legacy
of Ancient Greece and Rome
01:17:06.584 --> 01:17:10.417
was transferred from Islam
into Christendom.
01:17:11.876 --> 01:17:15.727
-Europeans were particularly
eager to become
01:17:15.751 --> 01:17:18.101
reacquainted with Aristotle.
01:17:18.125 --> 01:17:20.975
In the 12th century,
one of their sources
01:17:20.999 --> 01:17:23.560
were the writings of Maimonides,
01:17:23.584 --> 01:17:25.918
the great Jewish philosopher
and scholar.
01:17:25.999 --> 01:17:29.935
They also read commentaries
by Maimonides'
01:17:29.959 --> 01:17:31.975 position:20%
contemporary from Córdoba,
01:17:31.999 --> 01:17:34.209
Ibn Rushd, a Muslim intellectual
and legal scholar
01:17:34.626 --> 01:17:38.334
who became known
in the West as Averroes.
01:17:38.999 --> 01:17:42.894
-Everybody needs a commentary
on Aristotle
01:17:42.918 --> 01:17:44.435
because it's not
exactly pellucid, right?
01:17:44.459 --> 01:17:47.935
It's complicated stuff,
01:17:47.959 --> 01:17:50.185
and Averroes seemed
to have understood it
01:17:50.209 --> 01:17:52.976
in a particularly
trenchant fashion.
01:17:53.000 --> 01:17:56.643
-People didn't approach
philosophy by saying,
01:17:56.667 --> 01:17:59.560
"I want to find out
what Aristotle,
01:17:59.584 --> 01:18:01.018
the great ancient master,
had to say."
01:18:01.042 --> 01:18:03.560
What they said was, "I want
to understand Aristotle,"
01:18:03.584 --> 01:18:07.268
and the best way
to understand him
01:18:07.292 --> 01:18:09.143
is to follow in authoritative
commentaries,
01:18:09.167 --> 01:18:12.393
where they have explained
and analyzed
01:18:12.417 --> 01:18:14.975
and arrived at the true
understanding
01:18:14.999 --> 01:18:16.975 position:20%
or interpretation
of Aristotle's philosophy,
01:18:16.999 --> 01:18:20.999 position:20%
and so Averroes, far from having
a kind of secondary status
01:18:21.125 --> 01:18:24.685
as merely a commentator,
01:18:24.709 --> 01:18:26.351
was actually
an authoritative guide
01:18:26.375 --> 01:18:27.975
to understanding
what they were after.
01:18:27.999 --> 01:18:31.518
-Averroes tried to reconcile
the apparent discrepancy
01:18:31.542 --> 01:18:34.834 position:20%
between logic and belief,
philosophy and revelation.
01:18:36.584 --> 01:18:40.226
-I think there
was an understanding
01:18:40.250 --> 01:18:41.876
that philosophy really
contradicted revelation,
01:18:42.167 --> 01:18:46.185
and that's what Averroes
was trying to explain to himself
01:18:46.209 --> 01:18:50.101
how this can be,
how philosophy can say one thing
01:18:50.125 --> 01:18:53.643
and that revelation
can say another.
01:18:53.667 --> 01:18:56.975
-He wanted to harmonize
these two
01:18:56.999 --> 01:18:59.643
and ended up absolutely
coming down
01:18:59.667 --> 01:19:02.542
on the side
of the canons of reason.
01:19:03.083 --> 01:19:06.975
This was never
the orthodox position
01:19:06.999 --> 01:19:09.185
among Muslim theologians,
01:19:09.209 --> 01:19:10.975
and for that reason,
Ibn Rushd fell out of favor
01:19:10.999 --> 01:19:14.042
and really isn't studied
very often in the Muslim world.
01:19:14.999 --> 01:19:18.959
-In the Christian world,
however, his fame grew.
01:19:19.500 --> 01:19:23.560
He heavily influenced
the writings of Thomas Aquinas,
01:19:23.584 --> 01:19:26.975
the philosophy
and Christian theologian
01:19:26.999 --> 01:19:29.375
who famously argued that faith
and reason are complimentary.
01:19:31.834 --> 01:19:33.375
By the time of the Renaissance,
Averroes stature was so great
01:19:36.000 --> 01:19:39.975
that Raphael included him
in his Vatican fresco,
01:19:39.999 --> 01:19:43.101
"The School of Athens."
01:19:43.125 --> 01:19:44.999
-Very often when we think
of the translation movement,
01:19:47.250 --> 01:19:49.975
we think that Arabic culture
and the Arabic language
01:19:49.999 --> 01:19:52.709
preserved the Greek traditions
of philosophy and science
01:19:52.999 --> 01:19:56.852
that then were recovered
by Latin Europe
01:19:56.876 --> 01:19:59.059
in the 12th century.
01:19:59.083 --> 01:20:01.209
But this is, I think, a real
misperception of the situation.
01:20:01.999 --> 01:20:05.959
Arabic, as a language,
had among medieval Latin
01:20:06.500 --> 01:20:10.351
scholars a great deal
of prestige and status
01:20:10.375 --> 01:20:13.976
because it was identified
as a philosophical
01:20:14.000 --> 01:20:16.975
and scholarly language
in its own right,
01:20:16.999 --> 01:20:19.894
and so we can look at the Arab
period and Arab scholars
01:20:19.918 --> 01:20:23.334
as continuing a tradition
rather than just preserving it.
01:20:25.334 --> 01:20:28.894
-As the decades past,
01:20:28.918 --> 01:20:30.393
Toledo grew as a magnet
for scholars,
01:20:30.417 --> 01:20:33.518 position:20%
but its importance
as a center of translation
01:20:33.542 --> 01:20:36.143
also took on
a very different dimension.
01:20:36.167 --> 01:20:39.685
-The translation movement
is always cited
01:20:39.709 --> 01:20:41.602
as an example of Convivencia,
01:20:41.626 --> 01:20:43.018
of how the two sides
sort of reconciled.
01:20:43.042 --> 01:20:46.226
But there's more to
the translation movement.
01:20:46.250 --> 01:20:49.500
There is, for example,
Peter the Venerable.
01:20:50.459 --> 01:20:54.375
-In 1142, Peter the Venerable,
the great abbot
01:20:54.584 --> 01:20:58.435
of the most powerful
and important monastery
01:20:58.459 --> 01:21:01.018
in Latin Europe, Cluny,
01:21:01.042 --> 01:21:03.393
made a trip to Spain
and visited Toledo,
01:21:03.417 --> 01:21:06.727
and while there,
he conceived of the idea
01:21:06.751 --> 01:21:09.999
that there needed to be
some answer to Saracens,
01:21:10.125 --> 01:21:13.768 position:20%
as the Muslims were known,
01:21:13.792 --> 01:21:15.975
that seemed to him that
they were going unchallenged.
01:21:15.999 --> 01:21:18.584
Who was speaking up to challenge
these grave errors that he saw?
01:21:20.626 --> 01:21:24.351
-Up to this point,
not only has no one
01:21:24.375 --> 01:21:26.975
responded to this heresy,
which, more than any other,
01:21:26.999 --> 01:21:30.310
has led to the eternal damnation
of the bodies
01:21:30.334 --> 01:21:33.059
and souls of the great part
of the human race,
01:21:33.083 --> 01:21:36.435
but no one has taken
the least pains to research
01:21:36.459 --> 01:21:39.626
or study what this pestilential
heresy is or whence it has come.
01:21:42.375 --> 01:21:46.310
-He thought that the first
step towards providing
01:21:46.334 --> 01:21:50.000
an authoritative,
polemical refutation of Islam
01:21:50.334 --> 01:21:54.334
was the acquiring of genuine
knowledge about Islam.
01:21:55.250 --> 01:21:59.334
-Peter eventually finds
this man named Robert of Ketton,
01:22:00.334 --> 01:22:03.894
clearly an Englishman,
01:22:03.918 --> 01:22:05.584
and Robert was actually
a great scholar of mathematics,
01:22:05.959 --> 01:22:09.975
and he knew Arabic because,
as many of these scholars did,
01:22:09.999 --> 01:22:12.935 position:20%
he had to learn just enough
01:22:12.959 --> 01:22:14.393
to be able to read
the mathematical texts
01:22:14.417 --> 01:22:16.185
that he wanted
to be able to read.
01:22:16.209 --> 01:22:19.185
Peter was apparently able to,
in effect, bribe Robert
01:22:19.209 --> 01:22:23.143
to put aside the work
that he was really interested in
01:22:23.167 --> 01:22:26.768
so that Robert would take charge
of the project,
01:22:26.792 --> 01:22:30.226
the very difficult project,
it must be said,
01:22:30.250 --> 01:22:32.459
of translating
the Koran into Latin.
01:22:33.083 --> 01:22:36.975
-This is part of the kind
of interest
01:22:36.999 --> 01:22:39.685 position:20%
in new forms of knowledge,
01:22:39.709 --> 01:22:42.351
but it is also a way in which
you have access to a text
01:22:42.375 --> 01:22:45.975
so you can engage
it polemically,
01:22:45.999 --> 01:22:48.810 position:20%
that is to say, against it.
01:22:48.834 --> 01:22:51.975
-Now the Christians began to
have ammunition for polemics.
01:22:51.999 --> 01:22:54.852 position:20%
They knew something
about the life of Muhammad
01:22:54.876 --> 01:22:57.018
and could start
attacking his polygamy
01:22:57.042 --> 01:22:59.935
and his other practices
that they found objectionable.
01:22:59.959 --> 01:23:03.083
This is not exactly Convivencia.
01:23:03.417 --> 01:23:06.975
Peter the Venerable of Cluny
01:23:06.999 --> 01:23:08.602
is just the beginning of this
increasingly aggressive view
01:23:08.626 --> 01:23:12.417
on the part of Christianity
that the Muslims could be had.
01:23:14.125 --> 01:23:18.101
The Christian princes
of the north began to think,
01:23:18.125 --> 01:23:21.518
"We can win this,"
while at the same time,
01:23:21.542 --> 01:23:24.999
the Roman church was thinking
exactly the same thing.
01:23:26.918 --> 01:23:28.542
-The Church had launched
a crusade, or Holy War,
01:23:30.834 --> 01:23:33.643
in Jerusalem at the end
of the 11th century
01:23:33.667 --> 01:23:37.393
and made it clear that it
considered the Iberian conflicts
01:23:37.417 --> 01:23:40.417
to be religious crusades
as well.
01:23:41.334 --> 01:23:42.667
-The Church wants to create
this vision of a cosmos
01:23:45.375 --> 01:23:47.999
in which it's either
Christianity or nothing.
01:23:48.751 --> 01:23:52.435
The Christians,
of especially Rome,
01:23:52.459 --> 01:23:54.852
would like to see
a polarized battle
01:23:54.876 --> 01:23:57.351
which becomes a kind of emblem
of a battle of good
01:23:57.375 --> 01:23:59.768
against evil, of Christianity
against Islam,
01:23:59.792 --> 01:24:03.250
which is not at all how things
have been up until now.
01:24:03.792 --> 01:24:07.918
But with the coming of the
Almoravids from North Africa,
01:24:08.417 --> 01:24:12.018
then there became
the possibility
01:24:12.042 --> 01:24:14.209
to imagine black and white,
right and wrong,
01:24:14.375 --> 01:24:17.834
Muslim/Christian.
01:24:19.542 --> 01:24:22.560
-Despite these
festering political
01:24:22.584 --> 01:24:24.518
and religious conflicts,
01:24:24.542 --> 01:24:26.476
in Toledo, cultural life
continued to flourish,
01:24:26.500 --> 01:24:30.042
now under the reign of Alfonso
X, known as Alfonso the Wise.
01:24:32.667 --> 01:24:36.268
-Alfonso's
intellectual activity
01:24:36.292 --> 01:24:38.975
and his range of activity
01:24:38.999 --> 01:24:41.250
caused him to be referred
to as the wonder of the world.
01:24:44.999 --> 01:24:48.894
-There was a famous story told
of him in a later chronicle,
01:24:48.918 --> 01:24:52.143
that Alfonso had claimed
if he had been present
01:24:52.167 --> 01:24:55.351
at the creation of the world,
01:24:55.375 --> 01:24:56.894
things would have
been done better.
01:24:56.918 --> 01:24:59.999
-Alfonso X created
an enormous corpus
01:25:00.918 --> 01:25:04.351 position:20%
of new literature in Spain.
01:25:04.375 --> 01:25:07.975
One of his great productions
was known as the
01:25:07.999 --> 01:25:10.918 position:20%
"Cantigas de Santa Maria,"
the "Songs of Saint Mary,"
01:25:11.959 --> 01:25:15.999
and it's an incredibly
illuminated manuscript of songs
01:25:18.584 --> 01:25:22.018
dedicated to the Virgin Mary
01:25:22.042 --> 01:25:24.101
that are illustrated with scenes
01:25:24.125 --> 01:25:26.999
of 13th-century Iberia.
01:25:27.667 --> 01:25:29.999
What it does is
essentially show us a snapshot
01:25:31.584 --> 01:25:34.975
of many aspects of life
in the 13th century
01:25:34.999 --> 01:25:38.876
that we otherwise
might not have access to.
01:25:39.000 --> 01:25:42.975
-The scenes of daily life
include illustrations
01:25:42.999 --> 01:25:45.626
of Christians, Muslims and Jews
working together.
01:25:47.459 --> 01:25:49.083
-These scenes are amazing,
of course,
01:25:51.167 --> 01:25:52.975
because they explicitly show
Muslim and Jewish scribes
01:25:52.999 --> 01:25:56.894
sitting together
with a Christian scribe
01:25:56.918 --> 01:25:59.143 position:20%
and translating something,
01:25:59.167 --> 01:26:01.226
that translation
movement of Toledo.
01:26:01.250 --> 01:26:04.727
-The "Cantigas de Santa Maria"
01:26:04.751 --> 01:26:06.975
depict a Spain of religious
and cultural diversity,
01:26:06.999 --> 01:26:10.459
a continuation of Convivencia
now under Christian rule,
01:26:12.792 --> 01:26:16.435
but the tide
of religious intolerance
01:26:16.459 --> 01:26:18.292
was gaining strength
on the Iberian Peninsula.
01:26:18.834 --> 01:26:22.999
-There can be a coincidence
between the sort of Convivencia
01:26:23.334 --> 01:26:26.975 position:20%
you find
in the Toledo translations
01:26:26.999 --> 01:26:30.435
and extremely sanguinary
dealings
01:26:30.459 --> 01:26:32.999
with not just Muslim kings
but with Christian kings too.
01:26:33.834 --> 01:26:37.268
A steady gaze at that period
01:26:37.292 --> 01:26:39.542 position:20%
would not principally describe
it as well as Convivencia.
01:26:40.334 --> 01:26:44.334
If this was Convivencia,
let me have something else.
01:26:44.999 --> 01:26:48.435
It was too dangerous.
01:26:48.459 --> 01:26:51.975
-Even in religiously diverse
Toledo,
01:26:51.999 --> 01:26:54.852
the battle against Islam
found a strong ally,
01:26:54.876 --> 01:26:58.375
the Archbishop
Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada.
01:26:59.417 --> 01:27:03.500
As archbishop, Jimenez de Rada
wrote a history of Spain.
01:27:03.999 --> 01:27:07.935
It was a history that would,
for centuries,
01:27:07.959 --> 01:27:09.999
shape the way Spanish Christians
viewed their past.
01:27:11.500 --> 01:27:13.375
-Rodrigo is responsible
for the narrative
01:27:15.292 --> 01:27:17.185
of the Reconquista,
the Reconquest,
01:27:17.209 --> 01:27:19.975
that is still very powerful
in Spain today.
01:27:19.999 --> 01:27:23.768
He is the man who is
responsible, in large part,
01:27:23.792 --> 01:27:26.268
for later understandings
of this period
01:27:26.292 --> 01:27:29.560
as simply the time
of great conflict
01:27:29.584 --> 01:27:32.268
between Christians and Muslims.
01:27:32.292 --> 01:27:34.975
-In his retelling,
the initial Muslim invasion
01:27:34.999 --> 01:27:37.852
of the Iberian Peninsula
back in 711
01:27:37.876 --> 01:27:40.935
was swift and thorough.
01:27:40.959 --> 01:27:43.834
The Muslims won
their battles decisively,
01:27:45.542 --> 01:27:46.667
but there was
one exception,
01:27:49.083 --> 01:27:50.975
a place where
the Christians resisted
01:27:50.999 --> 01:27:52.768
with astounding courage.
01:27:52.792 --> 01:27:55.393
In the valley of Covadanga,
in the mountains of Asturias,
01:27:55.417 --> 01:27:59.226
a fearless Christian king
named Pelayo
01:27:59.250 --> 01:28:02.268
held off a Muslim army
01:28:02.292 --> 01:28:03.918
thousands of times larger
than his own.
01:28:04.959 --> 01:28:06.209
-According to the story,
Pelayo,
01:28:08.542 --> 01:28:10.685
the one who turns
back the tide,
01:28:10.709 --> 01:28:12.459
preserves that enclave
of Spanish Christianity
01:28:12.999 --> 01:28:16.560
in the north
and sets in train
01:28:16.584 --> 01:28:18.999
this whole myth of the survival
of the true Spain,
01:28:19.042 --> 01:28:22.975
that this wave of Islam
comes over Spain,
01:28:22.999 --> 01:28:26.518
but there's one little island
that is preserved in the north,
01:28:26.542 --> 01:28:29.518
which is the real thing,
the authentic Spain.
01:28:29.542 --> 01:28:33.602
-He casts all this history
as having been from the outset
01:28:33.626 --> 01:28:36.975 position:20%
one of staunch ideological
01:28:36.999 --> 01:28:39.643
Christian resistance
to the Muslims.
01:28:39.667 --> 01:28:43.292
They landed in 711,
and from 712 until 1492,
01:28:45.459 --> 01:28:48.975 position:20%
this was our great mission.
01:28:48.999 --> 01:28:50.709
This is utter nonsense from
almost every single perspective,
01:28:51.417 --> 01:28:55.459
but we should be alerted
to the implausibility of this
01:28:55.792 --> 01:28:59.584
by the duration of time
that is involved.
01:28:59.999 --> 01:29:03.975
-Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada
was more than an archbishop
01:29:03.999 --> 01:29:07.310
and chronicler
of Spanish history.
01:29:07.334 --> 01:29:10.185
He was also a crusader.
01:29:10.209 --> 01:29:13.560
He saw that, with the help
of the Pope in Rome,
01:29:13.584 --> 01:29:16.351
Christian armies stood a chance
of ejecting Islamic rule
01:29:16.375 --> 01:29:19.310
from the peninsula
once and for all.
01:29:19.334 --> 01:29:22.876
-He wrote this incredible
letter to the people of Spain,
01:29:23.584 --> 01:29:27.435
telling them that they should go
seek their death
01:29:27.459 --> 01:29:29.667
against these Muslims
who are coming from abroad,
01:29:30.500 --> 01:29:34.459
because if they didn't,
they would be destroyed
01:29:34.792 --> 01:29:38.250 position:20%
by this scourge of Muslims.
01:29:42.250 --> 01:29:45.975
-in 1212, Rodrigo Jimenez
de Rada got his wish
01:29:45.999 --> 01:29:49.975
when a coalition
of Christian armies from Aragon,
01:29:49.999 --> 01:29:53.000
Navarre, Castile and France
met an army of Berber Muslims
01:29:53.709 --> 01:29:57.834
known as Almohads on the fields
of Las Navas de Tolosa.
01:29:59.709 --> 01:30:03.751
-Catholics and Muslims fight
as Catholics and Muslims,
01:30:04.999 --> 01:30:09.042 position:20% line:20%
not as warriors, some of whom
happen to be this or that,
01:30:09.999 --> 01:30:14.042
and so this great Catholic army
meets the Almohad army
01:30:15.417 --> 01:30:19.167
at Las Navas de Tolosa
and defeats it.
01:30:20.334 --> 01:30:23.976
-This was a very
significant victory.
01:30:24.000 --> 01:30:27.518 line:20%
It was a significant victory
because it was very clear that
01:30:27.542 --> 01:30:31.000 line:20%
from now onwards,
the Christians were on top.
01:30:32.709 --> 01:30:34.500
[ Bell tolling ]
01:30:35.999 --> 01:30:38.975
-Nine years after the Battle
of Las Navas de Tolosa,
01:30:38.999 --> 01:30:42.143
Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada
01:30:42.167 --> 01:30:44.226
came to the Church
of San Roman in Toledo
01:30:44.250 --> 01:30:47.250
to reconsecrate it as a holy
place for Castilian Christians.
01:30:49.834 --> 01:30:51.334
-This old church had been
a Visigothic church,
01:30:53.709 --> 01:30:56.975
but in addition to the
traditional Christian images,
01:30:56.999 --> 01:31:00.667
the church is covered with
iconography and inscriptions
01:31:01.334 --> 01:31:05.459 position:20%
that are clearly in conversation
with Islamic architecture.
01:31:08.209 --> 01:31:12.375
Surrounding many of these scenes
are inscriptions in Arabic,
01:31:14.999 --> 01:31:18.518
prosperity and good fortune,
01:31:18.542 --> 01:31:20.435
repeated again and again
and again and again.
01:31:20.459 --> 01:31:23.292
The Arabic writing was done
by Christians.
01:31:23.999 --> 01:31:27.435 line:20%
The church was reconsecrated
01:31:27.459 --> 01:31:30.768 line:20%
with the Arabic writing.
01:31:30.792 --> 01:31:33.000
-Some of this seems so
flagrantly contradictory to us
01:31:34.792 --> 01:31:38.167 position:20%
because we've fallen into
the trap of believing that
01:31:38.459 --> 01:31:42.185
because it's Arabic,
it must be Muslim,
01:31:42.209 --> 01:31:44.143
and thus it's foreign
to Christians
01:31:44.167 --> 01:31:46.209
whereas, you know, by the
beginning of the 13th century,
01:31:46.999 --> 01:31:50.975
stuff that's Arabic
is part of the definition
01:31:50.999 --> 01:31:53.185
of being a Castilian Christian.
01:31:53.209 --> 01:31:56.685
-Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada,
the churchman and warrior
01:31:56.709 --> 01:32:00.101
who championed the Spanish
Crusade at Las Navas de Tolosa,
01:32:00.125 --> 01:32:03.976
felt right at home
among these Arabic inscriptions.
01:32:04.000 --> 01:32:07.143 line:20%
♪♪
01:32:07.167 --> 01:32:09.351
-He is, himself,
a scholar of Arabic,
01:32:09.375 --> 01:32:12.584
and marvelously, when his body
is exhumed, it's discovered,
01:32:13.959 --> 01:32:17.768
which actually shouldn't
surprise us at all,
01:32:17.792 --> 01:32:20.709
that he's buried
in these wonderful gowns
01:32:21.334 --> 01:32:25.083
that have hems
that have Arabic writing.
01:32:25.792 --> 01:32:29.834
Even at this moment
of most sort of severe cultural
01:32:30.000 --> 01:32:33.560
and ideologically driven
01:32:33.584 --> 01:32:35.143
Christian sentiment
against Muslims,
01:32:35.167 --> 01:32:37.999
to be a high-end
Christian statesman
01:32:39.042 --> 01:32:42.999
is to be able
to wear Arabic gowns.
01:32:43.500 --> 01:32:47.351
-The Christian victory
at Las Navas de Tolosa
01:32:47.375 --> 01:32:50.393
was the first of many
over the next 60 years
01:32:50.417 --> 01:32:53.268
in which one Muslim city after
another, including Córdoba,
01:32:53.292 --> 01:32:56.999
fell to Christian rule under
King Ferdinand III of Castile.
01:32:59.542 --> 01:33:01.959
But one Muslim city-state
survived, Granada,
01:33:04.167 --> 01:33:07.975
which was able to maintain
its independence
01:33:07.999 --> 01:33:10.667
because Muhammad ibn Nasr,
the founder of the Nasr Dynasty,
01:33:11.334 --> 01:33:14.935
had helped King Ferdinand
01:33:14.959 --> 01:33:16.042
conquer the rival Muslim
city of Seville.
01:33:16.250 --> 01:33:18.918 position:20%
-We often forget,
why is it set up that way?
01:33:20.083 --> 01:33:22.727
Well, it's set up as
the last Muslim kingdom
01:33:22.751 --> 01:33:24.560
by the Castilian kings,
01:33:24.584 --> 01:33:27.018
and which will last 250 years.
01:33:27.042 --> 01:33:30.268 line:20%
♪♪
01:33:30.292 --> 01:33:33.685
-Granada is incredibly
prosperous
01:33:33.709 --> 01:33:36.125
because they have access
to the trade with North Africa,
01:33:36.792 --> 01:33:40.852
and the Port of Malaga,
which is the port of Granada,
01:33:40.876 --> 01:33:44.042
it's an incredibly important
port with mercantile connections
01:33:44.999 --> 01:33:48.643
to the entire Mediterranean.
01:33:48.667 --> 01:33:50.959
So they pay very heavy tribute
to the Castilian kings.
01:33:51.542 --> 01:33:55.751
As long as they pay, they are
exempted from a final attack.
01:33:58.417 --> 01:34:01.125
-They're embattled in one way
or another from the beginning,
01:34:02.626 --> 01:34:06.292
and yet -- and yet ---
even they, in this embattled,
01:34:06.834 --> 01:34:10.876
subservient sometimes cornered,
literally, position,
01:34:13.042 --> 01:34:16.999
exert extraordinary
cultural influence
01:34:17.125 --> 01:34:20.975
because at some turn,
the Nasrids,
01:34:20.999 --> 01:34:23.042
who begin to see the building of
the great architectural monument
01:34:23.209 --> 01:34:27.083
that is the Alhambra,
and it is the Alhambra
01:34:28.000 --> 01:34:32.167
and all the style that goes with
that that will set the style
01:34:32.667 --> 01:34:36.417
for the Castilian kings
for generations.
01:34:36.751 --> 01:34:39.999 line:20%
♪♪
01:34:42.083 --> 01:34:45.975
-A century
after Muhammad ibn Nasr
01:34:45.999 --> 01:34:48.602
helped Ferdinand
conquer Seville,
01:34:48.626 --> 01:34:50.810
two young princes
would rise to leadership.
01:34:50.834 --> 01:34:53.643
Sixteen-year-old Muhammed V
assumed power in Granada
01:34:53.667 --> 01:34:57.351
just 4 years after
16-year-old Pedro I,
01:34:57.375 --> 01:35:00.975
also known
as Peter the Cruel,
01:35:00.999 --> 01:35:02.975
was crowned king
of Castile in Seville.
01:35:02.999 --> 01:35:06.059 line:20%
-Peter was both, you know,
aesthetically impeccable
01:35:06.083 --> 01:35:09.852 line:20%
but also personally irascible
and a madman
01:35:09.876 --> 01:35:13.310 line:20%
and had all sorts
of people executed
01:35:13.334 --> 01:35:15.185
at different points in time,
01:35:15.209 --> 01:35:17.643
but even though he was
a homicidal maniac,
01:35:17.667 --> 01:35:21.310
Peter was also the last
of the Castilian kings
01:35:21.334 --> 01:35:24.894
who still views
Castilian identity
01:35:24.918 --> 01:35:28.667
as deeply entwined
with Jewish communities
01:35:28.999 --> 01:35:32.975
and learning and Jewishness,
if you will,
01:35:32.999 --> 01:35:35.709
as well as with Arabic culture.
01:35:37.999 --> 01:35:39.500
-In the mid-14th century,
01:35:41.584 --> 01:35:43.334
political intrigue forced
Muhammed V to flee the Alhambra.
01:35:44.500 --> 01:35:48.602 position:20%
The young leader sought asylum
in Seville at the Alcazar,
01:35:48.626 --> 01:35:52.101
the palatial home
of his friend, Pedro I.
01:35:52.125 --> 01:35:56.018
Their time together there had
a profound influence
01:35:56.042 --> 01:35:58.876
on its architecture.
01:35:59.167 --> 01:36:00.667
-When Muhammad comes,
he brings a taste
01:36:02.999 --> 01:36:05.185
that Pedro finds
very interesting,
01:36:05.209 --> 01:36:07.894 line:20%
and he and Pedro
walk around,
01:36:07.918 --> 01:36:09.810 line:20%
you know, looking at
what could happen in the palace
01:36:09.834 --> 01:36:12.975 line:20%
that belongs to Pedro,
talking about architecture,
01:36:12.999 --> 01:36:15.083
talking about ideas, some of
which came from the Alhambra.
01:36:15.876 --> 01:36:19.643
In the Court of the Maidens,
for example,
01:36:19.667 --> 01:36:21.852 position:20%
you see an open courtyard.
01:36:21.876 --> 01:36:25.250
Surrounding it is an arcade...
01:36:26.334 --> 01:36:29.894
the presence of water,
01:36:29.918 --> 01:36:32.250 position:20%
the presence of gardens,
the use of highly colored,
01:36:32.959 --> 01:36:36.643
really quite beautiful
ceramic tile,
01:36:36.667 --> 01:36:39.894
and the delicate columns.
01:36:39.918 --> 01:36:42.975
I think Muhammad helps Pedro
01:36:42.999 --> 01:36:45.226
to build that courtyard
01:36:45.250 --> 01:36:48.810
because the courtyard
looks very Islamic.
01:36:48.834 --> 01:36:51.476 line:20%
♪♪
01:36:51.500 --> 01:36:54.602
At some point, Muhammad is able
to return home, packs his bags.
01:36:54.626 --> 01:36:58.727
"Thank you. I've had a very nice
time at the Alcazar."
01:36:58.751 --> 01:37:00.975
He goes back to the Alhambra,
but he's still building.
01:37:00.999 --> 01:37:03.351
I mean, he's an architect.
He loves to build,
01:37:03.375 --> 01:37:05.417
and so he now undertakes
his own building intervention,
01:37:06.626 --> 01:37:10.310
and that is
the Court of the Lions.
01:37:10.334 --> 01:37:12.643
The Court of the Lions,
therefore, is, if anything,
01:37:12.667 --> 01:37:15.667
a copy
of the Christian Alcazar.
01:37:16.375 --> 01:37:20.351
We need to think of them
as being in a conversation,
01:37:20.375 --> 01:37:23.101
and in a conversation
when one person speaks,
01:37:23.125 --> 01:37:25.417
the other one answers, and then
the first one answers back,
01:37:25.792 --> 01:37:29.476
and that is exactly
what is happening
01:37:29.500 --> 01:37:31.393
between these two buildings.
01:37:31.417 --> 01:37:33.852
It's a kind of conversation
of architecture
01:37:33.876 --> 01:37:36.975
in which palace
speaks to palace,
01:37:36.999 --> 01:37:38.975
and they respond to each other.
01:37:38.999 --> 01:37:40.935 line:20%
♪♪
01:37:40.959 --> 01:37:43.935
-But as that conversation
continued,
01:37:43.959 --> 01:37:46.310
the Alhambra increasingly
became an expression
01:37:46.334 --> 01:37:49.268
of Muhammad's extravagant
architectural tastes,
01:37:49.292 --> 01:37:52.560
which reflected his beliefs
about the dominion
01:37:52.584 --> 01:37:54.976
over which he ruled.
01:37:55.000 --> 01:37:58.268
-The Alhambra is this
incredibly nostalgic monument
01:37:58.292 --> 01:38:01.834 line:20%
that musters 700 years
of Islamic cultural hegemony
01:38:02.667 --> 01:38:06.876
on the Iberian peninsula to make
a sort of last defiant statement
01:38:07.918 --> 01:38:11.792
to a world from which
the Nasrids are waning
01:38:12.125 --> 01:38:15.643
and Islam is waning.
01:38:15.667 --> 01:38:17.351 line:20%
♪♪
01:38:17.375 --> 01:38:20.143
A large number of the
inscriptions on the building
01:38:20.167 --> 01:38:22.975
are poetry expressing
the immutability
01:38:22.999 --> 01:38:25.751 position:20%
of the power of the sultan.
01:38:25.959 --> 01:38:29.959
The poems seem to be answering
an unvoiced threat,
01:38:30.292 --> 01:38:34.518
which is, of course, the threat
of a place which will soon be
01:38:34.542 --> 01:38:38.143
without power
very soon in history.
01:38:38.167 --> 01:38:40.685 line:20%
♪♪
01:38:40.709 --> 01:38:43.143
-I think it's important
to understand
01:38:43.167 --> 01:38:45.268
that it is a shared culture.
01:38:45.292 --> 01:38:47.975
It's not so much that you have
this separate Castilian culture
01:38:47.999 --> 01:38:50.643
that somehow borrows this stuff.
01:38:50.667 --> 01:38:52.935
All of our old terminology
is wrong,
01:38:52.959 --> 01:38:54.894
but rather that they have
this deeply intertwined,
01:38:54.918 --> 01:38:57.310
shared culture.
01:38:57.334 --> 01:38:59.476
It's that culture that you see
most gloriously perhaps
01:38:59.500 --> 01:39:02.310
in the Alhambra,
but that you also see
01:39:02.334 --> 01:39:04.975
in one of the great
surviving synagogues of Spain,
01:39:04.999 --> 01:39:08.310
which is called the Transito,
01:39:08.334 --> 01:39:11.101
the synagogue built
by Samuel ha-Levi,
01:39:11.125 --> 01:39:14.975
Peter's Jewish finance minister.
01:39:14.999 --> 01:39:18.768 position:20%
-Samuel stood at the end
of a long line of powerful
01:39:18.792 --> 01:39:21.999
and influential Jewish advisors
to Spanish rulers.
01:39:22.375 --> 01:39:26.125
-Samuel has a sumptuous house
in Toledo
01:39:26.292 --> 01:39:30.167 position:20%
and built adjacent
to that house a synagogue.
01:39:31.042 --> 01:39:34.643
It's a private synagogue,
01:39:34.667 --> 01:39:35.975
but he opens it
to the community.
01:39:35.999 --> 01:39:37.727
He lets them in to pray,
01:39:37.751 --> 01:39:40.975
and that building shows
01:39:40.999 --> 01:39:43.000
the same kind
of cultural complexity
01:39:43.626 --> 01:39:47.393
and openness
to other cultural traditions
01:39:47.417 --> 01:39:50.459 position:20%
that we see
at the Alcazar of Seville.
01:39:51.375 --> 01:39:54.975
It is, of course, a synagogue.
01:39:54.999 --> 01:39:56.727
It is, of course,
for Jewish prayer,
01:39:56.751 --> 01:40:00.018
but it has stucco work
that is very similar
01:40:00.042 --> 01:40:03.459
to the kind of stucco work
we see back in Seville,
01:40:03.999 --> 01:40:07.999
and it has not only
Hebrew inscriptions,
01:40:08.250 --> 01:40:11.852
but it also has Arabic,
01:40:11.876 --> 01:40:14.500
and it has the coat of arms
of Pedro of Castile.
01:40:15.999 --> 01:40:19.975
-When Samuel ha-Levi builds
this synagogue,
01:40:19.999 --> 01:40:22.209
he has a dedication plaque
put up in which he dedicates it
01:40:22.709 --> 01:40:26.792
to his wonderful monarch
who supported him in all things
01:40:27.334 --> 01:40:30.975
and who is extraordinarily wise.
01:40:30.999 --> 01:40:33.975
When we look at that plaque,
we see that the plaque
01:40:33.999 --> 01:40:36.560
is written in Hebrew,
but we also see it inscribed
01:40:36.584 --> 01:40:39.852
with the arms
of the king of Castile,
01:40:39.876 --> 01:40:42.351
the castle and the lion.
01:40:42.375 --> 01:40:44.935
That's very important because
it's showing us that this style,
01:40:44.959 --> 01:40:48.643
which looks incredibly
Islamic to us,
01:40:48.667 --> 01:40:51.167
is the style that represents
the king of Castile.
01:40:52.375 --> 01:40:56.626
-But Peter paid a price for his
close relationship to Samuel.
01:40:57.834 --> 01:41:01.852
-One of the propaganda lines
against Peter the Cruel
01:41:01.876 --> 01:41:05.351
was that he was a favorer
of Jews, again,
01:41:05.375 --> 01:41:08.143
a theme that's used against
every Christian king in Spain,
01:41:08.167 --> 01:41:12.083
that he's empowers Jews
too much over Christians.
01:41:12.792 --> 01:41:16.935
In fact, they even circulated
stories that Peter the Cruel
01:41:16.959 --> 01:41:19.250
wasn't actually the son
of his father, the king,
01:41:20.042 --> 01:41:23.768
but that he was a Jewish baby
01:41:23.792 --> 01:41:25.685
who had been smuggled
into the cradle
01:41:25.709 --> 01:41:27.560
by the queen to cover up
the fact that she was barren.
01:41:27.584 --> 01:41:31.059
So the way in which you
criticize a king you don't like
01:41:31.083 --> 01:41:34.685
is by calling him a Jew lover,
and against Peter the Cruel,
01:41:34.709 --> 01:41:38.226
this was deployed
at levels of intensity
01:41:38.250 --> 01:41:41.476
that we'd really
hadn't seen before.
01:41:41.500 --> 01:41:44.975
-Even Samuel became vulnerable.
01:41:44.999 --> 01:41:47.975
After the synagogue
was completed,
01:41:47.999 --> 01:41:50.393
Peter suspected him of
embezzling the funds to build it
01:41:50.417 --> 01:41:53.459
and, in 1360, had him executed.
01:41:53.959 --> 01:41:56.975 line:20%
♪♪
01:41:56.999 --> 01:41:59.667
A few years later,
Peter himself was killed.
01:42:00.459 --> 01:42:03.975
-Peter's bastard half-brother,
01:42:03.999 --> 01:42:06.768
whose name is Henry Enrique,
01:42:06.792 --> 01:42:09.018
murders him.
01:42:09.042 --> 01:42:12.626
It is Henry who, in fact,
cultivates and foments
01:42:12.999 --> 01:42:16.999 position:20%
what will be these terrible
massacres of Jews in 1391,
01:42:19.709 --> 01:42:23.667 line:20%
and after that,
nothing is ever the same again.
01:42:23.834 --> 01:42:26.975
-Ah! Ah!
01:42:26.999 --> 01:42:28.518
-And soon came the events
that marked the beginning
01:42:28.542 --> 01:42:30.727
of the end of Jewish life
in Spain --
01:42:30.751 --> 01:42:33.975
a series of massacres.
01:42:33.999 --> 01:42:36.810
-They begin in Seville in 1391
01:42:36.834 --> 01:42:39.351
where there's an attack
on the Jewish community
01:42:39.375 --> 01:42:41.351
that first starts on Easter
and then is frustrated
01:42:41.375 --> 01:42:43.975
and picks up again
a few weeks later.
01:42:43.999 --> 01:42:46.059
[ Indistinct shouting ]
01:42:46.083 --> 01:42:48.727
-As the rumor of that massacre
spreads,
01:42:48.751 --> 01:42:50.999
the same is done in cities
all over large parts of Spain,
01:42:51.417 --> 01:42:55.310
for example, in Valencia
and Barcelona and Eudona,
01:42:55.334 --> 01:42:58.975
big centers
of Jewish population.
01:42:58.999 --> 01:43:01.852 line:20%
♪♪
01:43:01.876 --> 01:43:04.209 position:20%
-Thousands of Jews were forced
to convert to Christianity
01:43:04.834 --> 01:43:08.059
or be slaughtered.
01:43:08.083 --> 01:43:11.042
-The factors that lead up
to this are not clear,
01:43:11.792 --> 01:43:15.560
but a big part of everything
that happens
01:43:15.584 --> 01:43:18.310
in the second half
of the 14th century
01:43:18.334 --> 01:43:21.185
has to be understood in
at least some general way
01:43:21.209 --> 01:43:25.250
as being a byproduct of the
devastation of the Black Death,
01:43:26.417 --> 01:43:29.975 position:20%
the plague of these years.
01:43:29.999 --> 01:43:32.310 line:20%
♪♪
01:43:32.334 --> 01:43:35.975
-The coming of the Black Death
was something new to Europe,
01:43:35.999 --> 01:43:39.268
a kind of scourge of God,
which needed explanation
01:43:39.292 --> 01:43:42.976
and precipitated
a massive crisis, of course.
01:43:43.000 --> 01:43:45.975
When a third of the population
dies, you need an explanation,
01:43:45.999 --> 01:43:49.727
and you tend to think if you're
thinking in Christian terms,
01:43:49.751 --> 01:43:52.560
in messianic terms,
in apocalyptic terms,
01:43:52.584 --> 01:43:55.393
and the apocalypse
is meant to bring with it
01:43:55.417 --> 01:43:57.351
certain kinds of events,
including the massacre
01:43:57.375 --> 01:44:01.018
and mass conversion of
the remaining Jews in the world.
01:44:01.042 --> 01:44:04.751
So in some ways,
1391 is an attempt to hasten
01:44:05.209 --> 01:44:08.975
or to participate
in the apocalypse
01:44:08.999 --> 01:44:11.351
by forcing the conversion
of the Jews.
01:44:11.375 --> 01:44:13.999
-Though Jews would remain
in Spain for another century,
01:44:15.125 --> 01:44:18.643
the golden age of Jewish
participation
01:44:18.667 --> 01:44:20.999
in Spanish society was over.
01:44:26.000 --> 01:44:29.250 line:20%
♪♪
01:44:30.042 --> 01:44:34.250
Like the Spanish Jews, Muslims
were living on borrowed time.
01:44:35.500 --> 01:44:39.685
Soon Granada, the independent
and protected Nasrid kingdom,
01:44:39.709 --> 01:44:43.476
would be embattled.
[ Swords unsheathing ]
01:44:43.500 --> 01:44:46.976
-There is an increasingly sharp
alignment of Spain
01:44:47.000 --> 01:44:49.999
as kind of the defender
of Europe against Islam
01:44:50.042 --> 01:44:54.250
and an increasingly powerful
ideology of the Christian kings
01:44:55.417 --> 01:44:59.334
as purifiers of Christian Spain
from the dangers
01:45:00.918 --> 01:45:04.375 position:20%
posed by Islam, by Judaism.
01:45:05.709 --> 01:45:07.292
-The final push to rid Spain
of non-Christians began in 1469
01:45:11.167 --> 01:45:14.975
when the two
most important kingdoms
01:45:14.999 --> 01:45:16.975 position:20%
united against the Nasrids.
01:45:16.999 --> 01:45:19.976
-What leads to the last act
in this drama
01:45:20.000 --> 01:45:22.975 line:20%
is really the coming together
of the two primary kingdoms
01:45:22.999 --> 01:45:26.834 line:20%
now of Spain
of Castile and Aragon.
01:45:27.375 --> 01:45:31.143
-It was a feat accomplished
not by war,
01:45:31.167 --> 01:45:33.935
but by the marriage
of Ferdinand II of Aragon
01:45:33.959 --> 01:45:36.935 position:20%
and Isabella I of Castile.
01:45:36.959 --> 01:45:40.268
-Through their marriage,
you finally achieve this thing
01:45:40.292 --> 01:45:43.602
that had not been
achieved before,
01:45:43.626 --> 01:45:45.918 position:20%
which is a real unification
of the Christian kingdoms.
01:45:46.999 --> 01:45:50.518
-Ferdinand and Isabella
01:45:50.542 --> 01:45:52.143
launched a 10-year siege
of Granada,
01:45:52.167 --> 01:45:54.268
ultimately forcing the Muslims
to surrender
01:45:54.292 --> 01:45:57.810
and marking the end
of Muslim rule in Iberia.
01:45:57.834 --> 01:46:01.999
-So the Muslims became subjects
of their Catholic majesties,
01:46:03.626 --> 01:46:07.518
a title given Ferdinand
and Isabella by the Pope
01:46:07.542 --> 01:46:10.643
after their victory at Granada.
01:46:10.667 --> 01:46:13.185
The Catholic majesties declared
that the Muslims
01:46:13.209 --> 01:46:15.351
would be their protected
subjects: Mudejars.
01:46:15.375 --> 01:46:18.975
-The capitulation stipulates
that the Muslims
01:46:18.999 --> 01:46:22.602
will be granted freedom
of religion, freedom
01:46:22.626 --> 01:46:26.018
to wear their own clothes,
in other words,
01:46:26.042 --> 01:46:29.999
continue to be
culturally Muslims.
01:46:30.709 --> 01:46:33.584
-But the Catholic monarchs
chose not to offer
01:46:34.584 --> 01:46:36.975
the same protection
to the Jews of Spain.
01:46:36.999 --> 01:46:40.626
In 1492, just 3 months
after conquering Granada,
01:46:41.125 --> 01:46:45.292
Ferdinand and Isabella issued
the infamous Alhambra Decree
01:46:45.584 --> 01:46:49.751
which gave Jews 90 days to
convert or leave Spain forever.
01:46:51.125 --> 01:46:54.351 line:20%
♪♪
01:46:54.375 --> 01:46:56.185
-If they do not conform
and comply with this command
01:46:56.209 --> 01:46:59.768
and should be found in our said
kingdom and lordships
01:46:59.792 --> 01:47:02.975
and should in any manner
live in them,
01:47:02.999 --> 01:47:05.476
they incur the penalty of death
01:47:05.500 --> 01:47:07.876
and the confiscation
of all their possessions.
01:47:08.542 --> 01:47:12.518
-Tens of thousands of Jews
packed their belongings
01:47:12.542 --> 01:47:15.459
and left Spain in search
of more welcoming shores.
01:47:17.083 --> 01:47:18.792
The Mudejar Muslims remained,
protected for the time being,
01:47:22.292 --> 01:47:25.975
but their troubles
were not over.
01:47:25.999 --> 01:47:28.976
-The powerful forces of
intolerance were growing
01:47:29.000 --> 01:47:32.709
so strong that eventually the
Mudejars' status was abrogated,
01:47:33.834 --> 01:47:37.518
which meant that
the Muslim population
01:47:37.542 --> 01:47:39.999
had to do the same thing as the
Jews were forced to do in 1492,
01:47:40.876 --> 01:47:44.602
that is to say,
either convert or leave.
01:47:44.626 --> 01:47:47.976
[ Hoofbeats ]
01:47:48.000 --> 01:47:51.083
-All the well-to-do Muslims
or the majority of them fled.
01:47:52.667 --> 01:47:55.894 line:20%
♪♪
01:47:55.918 --> 01:47:58.292
Those who remained converted
to Christianity only nominally.
01:47:58.999 --> 01:48:02.935
They retained the way in which
they dressed,
01:48:02.959 --> 01:48:06.059
the way in which they ate,
the manner in which they spoke.
01:48:06.083 --> 01:48:08.999
They spoke Arabic.
They retained their identity.
01:48:09.751 --> 01:48:13.810 position:20%
-But there was real anxiety
about the religious status
01:48:13.834 --> 01:48:16.976 line:20%
of the Moriscos,
as they were called,
01:48:17.000 --> 01:48:19.975 line:20%
the forcibly converted
former Muslims
01:48:19.999 --> 01:48:22.560
who had entered
into Christianity.
01:48:22.584 --> 01:48:25.792
Oddly, the Moriscos were
under greater threat
01:48:26.292 --> 01:48:29.852
to their way of life,
01:48:29.876 --> 01:48:30.975
their culture
and their practices
01:48:30.999 --> 01:48:33.727
after having converted
to Christianity
01:48:33.751 --> 01:48:36.143
than they were
as subjected Muslims.
01:48:36.167 --> 01:48:39.226
Use of Arabic
and the Arabic script,
01:48:39.250 --> 01:48:42.560
going to public bathhouses --
01:48:42.584 --> 01:48:45.999
These kinds of things were
invested with a kind of meaning
01:48:46.209 --> 01:48:50.143
that undermined their status
as good Christians,
01:48:50.167 --> 01:48:53.876
but we might even say
as good Spaniards.
01:48:54.292 --> 01:48:57.976
-So Christianity finds itself
faced
01:48:58.000 --> 01:49:00.435
with the fulfillment
of its dream,
01:49:00.459 --> 01:49:02.894
and the fulfillment of its dream
creates a vast anxiety.
01:49:02.918 --> 01:49:06.268
-Having forced people
to convert,
01:49:06.292 --> 01:49:08.685
they then doubted the sincerity
of the conversions.
01:49:08.709 --> 01:49:11.935
I mean, what else is new?
01:49:11.959 --> 01:49:13.975
And then had to find some sort
of mechanism
01:49:13.999 --> 01:49:16.185
to help themselves
out of this dilemma,
01:49:16.209 --> 01:49:20.101
and the mechanism was,
of course, the Inquisition.
01:49:20.125 --> 01:49:22.751 line:20%
♪♪
01:49:23.000 --> 01:49:26.975
-Ferdinand and Isabella had
first established
01:49:26.999 --> 01:49:29.667 position:20%
the Tribunal of the Holy Office
of the Inquisition in 1480
01:49:29.999 --> 01:49:33.999
to protect the purity
of the Christian faith.
01:49:35.167 --> 01:49:36.709
But after Muslims and Jews
were ordered to convert
01:49:39.167 --> 01:49:41.999
or leave, enforcement of
Christian orthodoxy intensified.
01:49:44.999 --> 01:49:46.459
The tribunal interrogated,
tortured and killed thousands
01:49:49.626 --> 01:49:52.975
of Spaniard suspected
01:49:52.999 --> 01:49:54.751
of continuing to harbor
allegiance to Judaism or Islam.
01:49:58.626 --> 01:50:01.999
-The Spaniards are the last
among the Christians of Europe
01:50:02.292 --> 01:50:06.018
to convert to the idea
that Christians
01:50:06.042 --> 01:50:09.351
don't co-inhabit territories
with Jews and Muslims
01:50:09.375 --> 01:50:13.209
and thus they become the most
rabid enforcers of that notion.
01:50:19.209 --> 01:50:22.975
-The idea of a purely
Christian kingdom
01:50:22.999 --> 01:50:25.476
or a purely Muslim kingdom
had always existed
01:50:25.500 --> 01:50:27.975
as an ideal
for both of these religions.
01:50:27.999 --> 01:50:30.975
What happens is that
in Christian Spain,
01:50:30.999 --> 01:50:34.292
that dream became something
of a reality,
01:50:34.584 --> 01:50:38.268
but the nature
of the dream changed.
01:50:38.292 --> 01:50:41.542
You might almost say it changed
from a dream into a nightmare.
01:50:51.334 --> 01:50:55.101
-Eight hundred years
after Muslim armies
01:50:55.125 --> 01:50:57.393
first invaded Spain,
01:50:57.417 --> 01:50:59.393
the period of Convivencia
drew to a painful,
01:50:59.417 --> 01:51:02.584
prolonged and bloody close,
and ending so traumatic,
01:51:04.959 --> 01:51:08.727
it has obscured
the more enduring story
01:51:08.751 --> 01:51:10.918
of medieval Spain,
01:51:12.626 --> 01:51:16.018
of a time and place
where Muslims, Jews
01:51:16.042 --> 01:51:18.500
and Christians created a
common culture that was unique,
01:51:19.250 --> 01:51:22.975
one whose legacy
still endures today.
01:51:22.999 --> 01:51:25.810
[Lyrics]
01:51:25.834 --> 01:51:28.999
[ Foreign ]
01:51:29.209 --> 01:51:32.935
Spain remains to this very day
01:51:32.959 --> 01:51:36.250
the product of the combination
of these three cultures,
01:51:37.417 --> 01:51:40.975
and the people themselves
01:51:40.999 --> 01:51:42.709
are ethnically part
of that mixture of people
01:51:43.834 --> 01:51:47.834 line:20%
that forge a new kind
of civilization and culture,
01:51:49.999 --> 01:51:52.976 line:20%
♪♪
01:51:53.000 --> 01:51:55.101
...one that still has
a lot of remnants
01:51:55.125 --> 01:51:58.999
and visual presence
of the past.
01:51:59.042 --> 01:52:02.292 line:20%
♪♪
01:52:05.792 --> 01:52:06.999
The presence of the past
in the present.
01:52:09.918 --> 01:52:12.975 line:20%
♪♪
01:52:12.999 --> 01:52:15.602
-The mosque Abd al-Rahman built
01:52:15.626 --> 01:52:17.727
when he first
came to al-Andalus is today
01:52:17.751 --> 01:52:20.226
known as
the Cathedral of Córdoba,
01:52:20.250 --> 01:52:23.310
a place where two great faiths
seem to collide,
01:52:23.334 --> 01:52:26.226
even as they coexist.
01:52:26.250 --> 01:52:29.435
-What you see is essentially
the appropriation
01:52:29.459 --> 01:52:33.125
of the sacred places
of the defeated as a way of,
01:52:34.999 --> 01:52:38.810
in a sense,
marking your victory.
01:52:38.834 --> 01:52:42.792
Nowhere is this more obvious and
more insulting and more horrid
01:52:44.417 --> 01:52:48.268
than in the construction
of a Gothic cathedral
01:52:48.292 --> 01:52:50.709
right smack in the center
of the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
01:52:52.626 --> 01:52:54.500
-The Great Mosque
started as a church.
01:52:56.751 --> 01:53:00.018
It became a mosque.
01:53:00.042 --> 01:53:02.975
It became a church again.
01:53:02.999 --> 01:53:05.476
Now, its primary draw is that
it is a former mosque,
01:53:05.500 --> 01:53:08.999
and everybody wants to come see
the former mosque.
01:53:09.709 --> 01:53:13.351
It's a monument that is
so complex
01:53:13.375 --> 01:53:16.975
in its cultural
and religious roots
01:53:16.999 --> 01:53:20.042 position:20% line:20%
that it's hard to extricate
one strand from the other.
01:53:22.999 --> 01:53:23.667 line:20%
-In medieval Spain,
01:53:26.417 --> 01:53:28.143 line:20%
different people
with different languages
01:53:28.167 --> 01:53:31.476 position:20% line:20%
and different world views
and different ways of life
01:53:31.500 --> 01:53:33.975
and different talents
01:53:33.999 --> 01:53:36.685
were somehow welcomed
01:53:36.709 --> 01:53:39.101
even with lots of problems
and lots of tensions.
01:53:39.125 --> 01:53:42.393
[ Indistinct talking ]
01:53:42.417 --> 01:53:43.975
-There were martyrdoms.
There were executions.
01:53:43.999 --> 01:53:46.643 position:20%
There were battles fought.
01:53:46.667 --> 01:53:47.975
There were betrayals.
01:53:47.999 --> 01:53:50.560
There were also alliances,
and there were moments
01:53:50.584 --> 01:53:53.143
that were truly moments
of Convivencia.
01:53:53.167 --> 01:53:56.959
-What's important about
the period we call Convivencia
01:53:57.792 --> 01:54:01.643
is that we see that every one
of these moments
01:54:01.667 --> 01:54:04.918
contains both a kind of drive
to coexistence...
01:54:06.999 --> 01:54:10.999
and a kind of drive
to the fulfillment of ideals
01:54:11.125 --> 01:54:14.975
that we might call
anti-coexistence --
01:54:14.999 --> 01:54:18.185
messianic purification,
01:54:18.209 --> 01:54:20.976
expulsion, conquest.
01:54:21.000 --> 01:54:24.435
-You have this culture created
that could not have been created
01:54:24.459 --> 01:54:28.226
by any one of these
three religious groups
01:54:28.250 --> 01:54:30.542
but that is very much a product
of this co-mingling of Muslims
01:54:33.083 --> 01:54:36.727 position:20%
and Christians and Jews...
01:54:36.751 --> 01:54:39.560 position:20%
and it has different forms,
01:54:39.584 --> 01:54:42.393
different monuments,
01:54:42.417 --> 01:54:44.685
different poems,
01:54:44.709 --> 01:54:46.602
different languages
at different points,
01:54:46.626 --> 01:54:48.959
but none of it exists
if you disentangle it
01:54:49.042 --> 01:54:52.727 position:20%
from the other communities.
01:54:52.751 --> 01:54:55.584
Culture is powerful
and often contradictory
01:54:56.999 --> 01:55:00.959
to political
and ideological narratives.
01:55:01.542 --> 01:55:05.018
It tells us a different story.
01:55:05.042 --> 01:55:07.935
Sometimes it tells
the more lasting
01:55:07.959 --> 01:55:10.768
and important
and enduring story.
01:55:10.792 --> 01:55:13.459 line:20%
♪♪
01:55:16.292 --> 01:55:19.542 line:20%
♪♪
01:55:22.334 --> 01:55:25.584 line:20%
♪♪
01:55:32.167 --> 01:55:35.417 line:20%
♪♪
01:55:41.459 --> 01:55:44.709 line:20%
♪♪
01:55:48.083 --> 01:55:51.334 line:20%
♪♪
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 120 minutes
Date: 2019
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Not available
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