Asian Art

Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain

The Jewish Golden Age in Spain began shortly after the Muslim conquest in the 8th century. Its end date is debated, with some saying that it ended with the persecution of Jews by the Almohad Caliphate in the 1100s, and others saying it lasted until the Christian Reconquista resulted in the expulsion of Jews by the 15th century. During this period, Jews living in what was collectively called al-Andalus (Iberian territories under Muslim rule 711–1492, now Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar) experienced relative tolerance, prosperity, and socio-cultural integration within the broader Muslim society that had come to dominate the region. Owing to this environment, Jewish culture flourished and several Jews rose to prominence in scholarly and religious spheres, including Maimonides, Hasdai ben Shaprut, Shmuel ha-Nagid, Solomon ben Judah, and Judah ha-Levi. The Jewish community of al-Andalus also contributed greatly to and benefited from the Muslim world's advancements in astronomy, medicine, and science. Jews under Muslim authority in Spain and Portugal were designated as dhimmi (Arabic: ذمي)—a legally protected class of non-Muslim subjects—in exchange for paying jizya (جِزْيَة) and accepting certain restrictions. Although they still held a second-class status relative to Muslims, the dhimmi framework in al-Andalus gradually allowed for the development of stability and co-existence that was otherwise uncommon in Jewish history in Europe; Jews were able to occupy a variety of positions in government and diplomacy, medicine, and science, while also playing a key role in the Muslim world's transmission of classical knowledge to Christian Europe. Further, the Jewish Golden Age in Spain brought about remarkable achievements in Hebrew poetry, religious scholarship, grammar, and philosophy. Some historians, however, view this to be more of a myth. The exact nature and length of this particular "Golden Age" for Jews has been debated, as there were at least three periods during which non-Muslims were widely oppressed in al-Andalus. A few scholars give the start date of the Jewish Golden Age in Spain as falling in the years when the region was conquered and annexed by the Umayyad Caliphate. Others date it from 912, during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III, who founded the Caliphate of Córdoba.

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See also

• ▸Harari people
• ▸Arakhchin
• ▸Chinese swordsmanship

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.