The History of Spain Podcast

Today I’m announcing the cancellation of The History of Spain Podcast, and instead I’m making […]

This is episode 46 called al-Hakam II, the cultivated caliph, and in this episode you […]

This is episode 45 called Umayyad interventions and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - A brief overview of the history of Catalonia of the 950s and 960s - Muslim expeditions against the Kingdom of León during the reign of Ordoño III - The Umayyad interventions in North Africa and Umayyad-Fatimid conflict in the 950s - Civil war during the reign of Ordoño III of León and its aftermath - The coup d’état against Sancho the Fat - The trip of Toda of Pamplona and Sancho the Fat to Córdoba to ask for the help of Abd al-Rahman III - The Umayyad-Christian coalition to depose Ordoño IV of León - The legacy of Abd al-Rahman III - The humiliating audience of Ordoño IV with al-Hakam II of Córdoba - The failed Christian anti-Cordoban coalition and the succession of Sancho the Fat - A reflection about why the fact that Christian rulers declared themselves vassals of the Caliphate of Córdoba is often forgotten

This is episode 44 called Slavery and Jews of al-Andalus and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Introduction to slavery in the Islamic world and al-Andalus - What’s the difference between a captive and a slave - Captivity for women and the social problem that captivity supposed - Which were the occupations and jobs performed by slaves in al-Andalus - Captivity and slavery in the context of the campaigns of Almanzor - What determined the price of a slave and how were auctions and transactions done - Jews under early Umayyad rule and the case of Eleazar of Zaragoza - Why Jews in al-Andalus were Arabized but not Islamized - A brief biography of the great foreign minister and physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut - Jews under the Taifa kingdoms, the case of Samuel HaNagrid, and the Golden Age of Jewish culture - The end of the Jewish golden age in al-Andalus, with the 1066 Granada Massacre and the arrival of the Almoravids - The expulsion and forced conversions of Christians and Jews under the Almohads - Why Jews were sometimes tolerated and sometimes suffered repression, understanding the political and economic logic behind it - A reflection on the lives of captives and enslaved people