The Rise and Fall of Islamic Civilization in Spain: A Historical Journey through Al-Andalus

the year is 1492. christopher columbus is about to embark on his world shattering voyage to the

americas [Music] and on his way to the coast he stops off

here at granada he's the honoured guest of a ceremony hosted by the king and queen of spain

ferdinand and isabella [Music] they are celebrating a grand victory

up until this day granada had been ruled by muslims but isabella has managed to wrestle

control from them ferdinands and isabella's victory marks a turning point for spain and for europe

the middle ages are over and the west is about to embark on a new epoch of power and discovery

we tend to think of this as the beginning of an era in fact it's the climax of a forgotten chapter in

european history the rise and fall of islam in the west [Music]

it was rudyard kipling who wrote east is east and west is west have never between shall

meet and it's a world view that still has currency today

islam and christianity seem to have become ideological monoliths citadels whose gates are firmly closed

to one another [Music] but they haven't always lived such

separate lives in the year 711 a.d muslim forces invaded spain and created a society so

rich and so powerful it was the envy of the known world this wasn't the rigid ferocious islam of

our imaginations but a progressive sensuous intellectually

curious culture that for a number of spine tingling years look set to sweep through the whole of

europe it is an incredible story but one that has been systematically

written out of history [Music] after the catholic monarchs took over

the city of granada they began to destroy all evidence that the muslims had ever been in spain

in the following century the spanish authorities persecuted and expelled 300 000 muslims and burned as many as a

million arabic books was an astonishing act of ethnic

cleansing it put an end to a civilization which had flourished in spain

for 700 years these people have become known as the moors

[Music] propaganda sparked by the crusades has given us an enduring image

the diabolical moor of dark-skinned savage alien enemy but this character is a complete

invention and tells us nothing about who these people really were

[Music] now archaeologists and historians are starting to piece together the real

story of the moors in spain they're uncovering the remains of hidden cities discovering the role of muslims

in the revival of the classics and decoding the meaning of islamic buildings

a fascinating picture has emerged i'm going to use this new research to explore what happened when east met

western europe if there is one place which challenges the stereotype of the treacherous

bloodthirsty moor it's here the alambra palace in granada [Music]

the alambra is one of the most complete medieval islamic palaces in the whole world it was built by the

muslim kings of granada in the 14th century at the height of their power [Music]

its name means the red one because the dark surrounding soil has given its stones an earthy reddish hue

[Music] the marvel of the alambra is its mystery not a single account of life here

survives all its archives were incinerated in the fires of the inquisition

[Music] but the catholics couldn't bring themselves to destroy this place

the alambra is one of the wonders of the medieval world and by preserving it they've kept a box

of secrets that we can use to decode the civilization that built it

inside the palace walls the architecture is breathtaking

although the athletic of this courtyard is quite cool and minimal now in its heyday it would have been a riot

of color grenada was very famous for producing silks we've had silk hangings

billowing and debris and silk cushions and silk rugs where people laid out to eat their

dinner and so listen to music in fact it's only when you get down to rug level that you appreciate one of the

bits of magic of the place because from down here this pool

acts like a kind of infinity mirror and the whole of the palace just looks as if it's suspended in water

[Music] every detail of the palace decoration seems to be part of a scheme

row upon row of intricate geometric patterns are carved into the woodwork of the walls and windows

[Music] this is the throne room it was the symbolic center of the palace and

here the sultan had a kind of psychological advantage over his subjects

whereas he'd have stood here an eerie silhouette they'd have been blinded by the light that came streaming in through

these brightly coloured stained glass [Music] windows

[Music] the 19th century writer washington irving observed

it's impossible to contemplate this abode of oriental manners without feeling the early association of arabian

romance one almost expects to see some dark eye sparkling through the lattice

the abode of beauty is here as if it had been inhabited but yesterday

[Music] but this is far more than just a beautiful building

there's a specific reason why it feels so harmonious the men who built it had a knowledge of

complex geometry which had originated in the ancient world the first man to set down these

mathematical principles was the greek philosopher of pythagoras pythagoras saw numbers everywhere in the

universe but his brilliance was to understand the importance of the ratio between them

[Music] professor antonio fernandez puertas has spent his life studying the alambra

he's discovered that the whole of the building from the ground plan to the wall decoration

is based around one single ratio [Music] i think everything is so perfect because

everything is under control of the proportion and very very simple you notice that there

is something magic about these buildings there is something

marvelous in your surroundings it's very very simple is the relation between the

ground and the elevations of the buildings it's as simple as that

the king ordered a new palace he has a limited area to build the palace to west

east and south he was limited then he did something genius ingenious and beautiful

the king of granada asked his architects to harmonize each and every space within the palace

according to a single set of proportions a family of rectangles each related to the other

if you want to get proportional rectangle you have the same base take the diagonal

put it up yes and though you've got successive rectangle proportional rectangle

the key to the ellambras design is the simple relationship between the side of a square

and its diagonal if we use the diagonal to make a rectangle and then the diagonal from that

rectangle to make another we get a progression of rectangles the fourth rectangle is double the size

of the first and the diagonals in this sequence are in fact the square roots of two

three four and five a magical sequence and are they doing all this just with two set squares and a piece of string

yes that's very clever yes every part of the intricate network of spaces all the courtyards

hallways the placement of every column was designed using inspired variations of this

proportional system proportion is also in the elevation you have the kiosk here you build

a square and with the diagonal you swing it up nothing violated this incredibly

elaborate system the alambra is a triumph of mathematics as much as it is of aesthetics

mathematical ingenuity is the root of its beauty [Music]

but no one talks about this everyone looks at the alambra just as an aesthetic experience

when you go to a concert and you listen mosta you listen a bit of them you listen verdi

you don't know perhaps music but you notice that there is something magic yes

it happens without the same you feel it the alambra is so enchanting it's all too easy to view it as a fairy tale

palace isolated from history but that is romantic nonsense

this palace was the product of a very real very gritty history the alambra was built by

a religious empire which at the pinnacle of its power dominated land

from china to africa an empire which had the wealth and intellect to build such masterpieces

an empire whose history goes back to the deserts of 7th century arabia

the alambra was the creation of the richest most intellectually powerful civilization in the world

the roots of this cultural and religious explosion lie not in spain but in the deserts of arabia

[Music] at the beginning of the seventh century in saudi arabia

something happened which was to change the religious makeup of the world forever

[Music] a merchant called muhammad asserted that he had been visited by the archangel

gabriel who had revealed to him the true words of god

these revelations which came to muhammad throughout his life became known as the quran

and the religion was islam this is a time when people were experimenting with all sorts of

cults and religions many of which fell by the wayside but the prophet muhammad and his

followers made an important move they traveled to a desert oasis where they founded a city called medina

with a foothold in medina islam was no longer just a nomadic desert cult it had an urban centre with

a social structure as the religion grew bigger so it grew more ambitious

territorial expansion was a characteristic of nomadic arabs well before the arrival of muhammad

tribal leaders would initiate ratzia or raids on their neighbors and with the advent of

islam these gained some kind of spiritual significance this is what one commander

was reported to have said in one of the earliest ever arabic chronicles this land is your inheritance and the

promise of your lord you've been tasting it and eating from it you have been killing its people

and taking them into captivity you are arab chiefs and notables if you renounce this world and aspire to

the hereafter god will give you this world and the hereafter

they believed they were inspired by the power of god [Music]

within decades islamic arabs had reached as far as persia in the east in the west they'd conquered

egypt jordan and much of north africa and were within spitting distance of europe

but islam wasn't only interested in territorial expansion it was also a faith committed to the

pursuit of learning [Music]

among the prophet's first revelations was the instruction seek knowledge

[Music] this meant that from the very earliest days of islam literacy and religious

study went hand in hand whereas a number of other religions of the day preferred to keep literacy the

privilege of a clerical elite islam actively encouraged it in the ancient muslim city affairs in

morocco there are many examples of this unique integration of religion and education

this is the carowind mosque in fez and it's still the heart of religious life here

it was founded in 859 by a woman both as a religious and as an educational establishment

[Applause] mosques were used for teaching grammar and literacy to ordinary people

[Music] in time colleges known as madrassas were set

up this is the madrasa its walls are covered with the rich rhyming prose of the quran

is only part of the complex which contains both it and the madrasa when the sultan abu anan

founded the place he built the mosque alongside madrasa it is most

as you can see there is no separation [Music] when the quran was given to the prophet

who was illiterate the angel told him reed these inscriptions carved onto the walls

are verses of poetry and can be found throughout the madrasa

but i think the most important section is here what it says in arabic is i am the

apogee of knowledge come you muslims and learn because with knowledge you can

become what you want to be in the future the medieval period knowledge was high

on the agenda in the islamic world muslim societies produced many books in the various

spheres of knowledge and these books came to be known worldwide

[Music] it wasn't just an enlightened attitude to reading which placed learning at the

heart of the islamic world necessity was also the mother of invention

[Music] because the arabs were nomads and desert traders who often had to travel in the

cool of the night they were well versed in using the stars as guiding devices

this developed into a very sophisticated study of astronomy then with the establishment of islam

that knowledge was applied in a new way whenever a mosque was built the pranish had to be orientated in direct relation

to mecca and there were a number of religious festivals that had to fall on certain

days in the lunar year these were complex mathematical problems for which the muslims devised

precise solutions islam became a culture which naturally embraced scientific and mathematical investigation

this uninhibited attitude towards learning meant that when muslims encounter the teachings of

other cultures they seized upon them vigorously in the very early days of islam muslims

came into contact with a body of knowledge which had been ignored by most of northern europe for

centuries the works of the ancient greeks it's once you look at a globe that it

becomes particularly easy to understand why the arabs were such natural inheritors of greek learning

from the bronze age onwards there'd been a constant exchange of artifacts and information

all across the eastern mediterranean and in fact a number of greek ideas stem from

eastern and egyptian influences the bulk of this knowledge was preserved in the great schools and

library at alexandria and then in 641 a.d the arabs take over the city and at a stroke

have direct access to this precious learning [Music]

many of these texts found their way to fez this is an arabic translation of

aristotle with an additional commentary by the muslim scholar avarois the translation is done in iraq and then

avarois does this commentary in al-andalus there's even an early arabic translation of the bible

that's extraordinary isn't it arabic's like the lingua franca and everybody's writing in arabic even

the bible and thus ends the gospel of mark the apostle

the contrast with europe at this time could not have been greater here ancient greek texts and the

rational investigation they contained were often feared as blasphemous when the prophet muhammad was born

christianity had already been battling with paganism for 600 years trying to persuade believers to turn

away from their old gods to the one new god and because of that christians were often

suspicious of greek and roman pagan texts for instance in 529 a.d the

christian emperor justinian closed down the athenian schools of philosophy [Music]

set against this vibrant islamic culture europe can appear an introspective and intellectually cautious place

it was certainly a continent in crisis after the fall of rome there was a power vacuum in europe

with rival tribes squabbling for territories it was the start of what later christian

scholars would describe as the dark ages [Music]

while europe lay unprotected and vulnerable islam was consolidating land and power

by the beginning of the eighth century the arabs had converted the berber tribes at the very tip of north africa

and before long troops were gathered on the coast their eyes fixed on europe

this little stretch of water between spain and morocco is only nine miles wide

but it's come to represent some kind of cultural chasm between europe and africa but in the

eighth century when sea travel was the way to get around that wasn't a barrier

it was a highway [Music] in july 7-eleven seven thousand berber

tribesmen stormed across the straits of gibraltar and invaded europe

[Music] the muslims then began an incredible process of expansion

in just four years they'd colonised almost the whole of spain had crossed the pyrenees and were only

halted at poitiers in france were it not for this reverse an army which had swept across two continents

might easily have crossed the english channel and occupied britain the muslims called the country they came

to al andalus the land of the vandals this refers to the germanic tribe who ruled spain at

the time the visigoths spanish historians have traditionally

seen the muslim invasion of spain as a terrible and violent attack an assault

on christian europe [Music] in fact here at the visigothic site of

rocopolis near madrid archaeologists have found evidence which offers a rather different explanation

the city of rocopolis in fact was the royal city founded by the vici gods

in order to demonstrate the power of the new state dimensions were spectacular for this period

and this complex is the the most important discovery in western europe what was it

at the time that the the muslims were invading but what was the state of the city then

they founded not only here in this part of liberia but in everywhere of the

alandalus they funded a cities in crisis social crisis of urban crisis

the traditional explanation is this idea that when the arabs came the society collapses and the

citical asset is not is not true the collapse of the city

started during the division period [Music] if you read the orthodox spanish

histories then you'll learn that predatory muslim hordes forcibly appropriated visigothic spain

and there certainly were some invasion battles but at many places like here at recopolis it seems the

newcomers were actually welcomed with open arms we even have treaties where the

visigoths enthusiastically hand over their land in return for effective muslim protection

when you're excavating did you find any evidence of violence at the time of the arab invasion we

don't have evidence of violence not not at all in in this area was a peaceful

and archaeology in showing another landscape no an explanation

the muslims started to build a new society the enthusiasm for learning that the

islamic world had spent years nurturing was about to be transmitted to europe we went into spain

not to fight against the people there but to save them from the tyranny of the latins

and others that govern them at the time they found a paradise on earth when the arabs changed location change

geography from their inhospitable barren homeland and move to a rich and fertile country

this was to transform the arab mind this is the secret of how such a great civilization

came to be born [Music] the foundations of a new society had

been laid a self-confident progressive and sophisticated civilization

had arrived among the failing states of europe and the continent's history was about to

be transformed the muslim invasion of spain had been swift and effective

but it lacked a strong leadership the first wave of invaders were north african tribesmen

only recently converted to islam and without connections to the power base of arabia

but this was about to change [Music] in the capital of the muslim world a

political coup left all the members of the ruling dynasty massacred all that is

except for one a prince called abdal rahman abdul rahman was in his late teens when

his family was massacred he managed to escape the slaughter and fled to the hills west of damascus

[Music] his mother had been from north africa and abdar akhman must have grown up

hearing tales of al andalus and so he made a dangerous journey

across the nile and the deserts of egypt heading for those distant lands [Music]

abdar rahman brought culture and learning from the center of the islamic world straight to the heart

of al-andalus when abdar rahman arrived in spain he came here to cordoba

where the city was in complete disarray that roman bridge had collapsed into the river

but abdal rahman said to rebuilding the city you have to remember that it's in this

context that the arabs arrive not as marauding destroyers but sometimes as saviors

abdar rahman brought cutting-edge technology for irrigation to spain almost immediately the landscape was

[Music] transformed [Applause]

palm trees lemon and orange groves avocados artichokes and pomegranates none of which had been seen in europe

because of abdar rahman's sophisticated trade network this new agriculture created huge wealth

[Applause] [Music] and these riches were used to build one

of the greatest cities in the world while the inhabitants of london were

still living in wooden houses the people of cordoba had built a cosmopolitan city with a population

of over 100 000 the largest settlement in europe reports from european visitors to

cordoba describe a city with 70 libraries and over 300 public baths

the accounts tell of houses with running water and roads illuminated by streetlights

you often have to take medieval sources with a fairly substantial punch of salt because then chroniclers

were extremely fond of exaggeration but in fact the new excavations here at cordoba are actually revealing a city

that was just as rich as the one that they described these monumental palace walls

belong to a muslim aristocrat and this channel over here is part of the water system that brought

cordoba its famously effective sewage works as well as the fountains and the baths

that so impressed all those european visitors [Music]

cordoba was described by a 10th century german visitor as the ornament of the world

one of the reasons it's been so difficult to investigate islamic cordoba is that the city's been built up on

itself like a kind of layer cake but here the archaeologists have taken away the modern level

to reveal that islamic layer there and then down at the bottom a roman mosaic

abdal rahman built quarterback on top of what had been one of the largest cities in rome and spain

outshining all that went before and his greatest achievement was this the great mosque of cordoba

[Music] [Music] [Music]

with a floor space the size of four football peaches this is the largest mosque in western

islam the forest of 600 marble columns disappear into the distance

creating a mesmeric infinity effect on the columns arches balance on top of one another

its shell-shaped prayer niche has an extraordinary acoustic making any words spoken inside audible

to the entire congregation [Music] when the mosque was first built these

archways would have been opened to allow people and light to stream in and out and this courtyard was a central

part of the complex people would come here to richly purify themselves before they worshipped or

just to gossip and do business abdar rahman's original mosque was only a fraction of the size of the building

that stands today over a period of 200 years rulers would extend the mosque

three times it's been suggested that the mosque was enlarged because each new ruler of the city wanted to

stamp his authority on the building but there's also a more straightforward explanation

the kaudaba mosque had to accommodate the burgeoning number of worshippers the muslim population of spain was

growing fast [Music]

modern spain has been reluctant to acknowledge that its indigenous population converted to islam

in droves standard history books present the muslim occupation of spain as something

it was superficial just a surface colonization by an arab elite not a presence that had any kind of

lasting impact on the bulk of the population [Music]

new archaeological evidence is turning that idea on its head [Applause]

[Music] all over spain cities like cordoba were established

[Music] even madrid was founded by muslims the original arab walls still stand

behind the royal palace how far did muslim communities spread through spain

we see remains dating from the time of the landlords almost everywhere not only in the south of spain but also

in other parts of spain they are emerging lots of sites fortresses

villages and cities almost everywhere people were arabians losing the form of latin they were

speaking unto them and they were islamized in the sense that they dropped christianity

and converted to islam in massive numbers really were these forced conversions or was the

idea of islam particularly attractive it's always very difficult to say why someone

converts to another religiousness but uh i think there's no evidence of any force force forced conversion at

all in a way the uh islamization and analyzation of

territories like landlords is very similar to what happened to the roman empire when people wanted to

convert to the values and to the cultural values to the religious values and to the way of

living of what seemed to be a civilization which have lots of advantages i think

it's very easy to forget that that at this moment in time islam is a culture of innovation isn't

it you said it's drawing in ideas from the east it's a culture of uh phenomenal

innovation the opportunities of living because of the market because of the trade

relations and so on which were much more interesting the islamization of spain did more than

change the name of the god that people worshipped people converted because this was a

religion which had something to offer them it had wealth it had social structure

and it had intellectual power [Music] the arabs brought in one innovation that

did more than any other to change the cultural makeup of europe

and it's this paper the idea almost certainly came from the chinese via trade exchange

and it is revolutionary technology unlike parchment and vellum it's cheap and it's easy to mass produce

and when the arabs come to spain they start to open paper making factories paper allows you to do three things very

effectively you can gather information you can analyze and develop ideas in a very

precise way and then you can disseminate your newfound knowledge to a wider world

and in the 10th century that was a potent mix cordoba's love of books became legendary

whilst the royal library of france contained 900 books in this period just one of

cordoba's 70 libraries amassed over half a million these books contain some of the most

sophisticated studies of astronomy in the world in northern europe at this time there is

nothing but there is nothing that can be considered

the result of sophisticated astronomy why do you think muslim scholars were particularly interested in in the

heavens and the revolution of the stars i think they were interested in science in general

terms for example calculating the sacred direction if you have to say your prayers

you must face towards mecca calculating the direction of mecca from a given place is not so easy

it is a complicated mathematical problem for which the arabs had exact solutions from the 9th century one of the ways in

which the muslims solved these problems was by developing a greek instrument called the astrolabe

this is a calculator for telling the time of night or day if it's lined up on a star above the

horizon the angle could be registered with a movable needle the measurement is then transferred to

the reverse side of the astrolabe where a base plate represents the geographical location

and a star grid like a map of the heavens shows the position of the stars by aligning the needle to the grid using

the measurements the time can be read off the face of the astrolave just like a clog

the astrolabe enables nighttime navigation which helped to advance sea travel

and this in turn set the stage for the coming era of worldwide exploration and discovery

[Music] cordoba and scientists were streets ahead of the rest of europe

especially when it came to medicine this account comes from an islamic physician who encountered a christian

doctor at work they brought me a knight who had an abscess on his leg and a woman

suffering from consumption i made a plaster for the night and the swelling opened and improved

for the woman i prescribed a diet to revive her consumption but then the frankish doctor arrived and

objected bring me a strong night with a well-sharpened battle axe he said

the night struck a blow the marrow of the leg spurted out and the wounded man died on the spot

as for the woman their doctor affirmed the devil must have entered her head then he grasped a razor and cut an

incision in the shape of a cross exposing the bone of the skull and rubbing salt into the wound

the woman died in the instant i returned home having learned much about the medicine

of the christians [Music] the hospitals of cordoba were performing

operations which wouldn't be seen in the rest of europe for hundreds of years

the city's most famous surgeon was a man called abu kassis he spent 40 years compiling a hugely

influential medical compendium chapter 30 dealt with surgery and these are just

some of the instruments that were illustrated in that chapter this is a specialist device used by eye

surgeons for the relief of hypertension and these two over here were employed to perform successful tracheotomies and

in fact the ibukasis method was still popular well into the 20th century as well as large scientific collections

more everyday documents have survived from islamic cordoba these give a detailed insight to the

society that was created here what kinds of things are being recorded on these bits of paper in this document

it was written everything absolutely everything so does that mean that people in the

lower classes of society could read yes there are poor people with a very good education

education is a way to be a better muslim so being a better muslim is means that you know the quran

and you know everything of the law the law is not a king law it is the god

law divine law divine law have you got any physical examples of these yes i have i

have one well it is a contract about plowing the lands

for two years we have to plant it with wheat and food and he gets from this this proportion of the

production the muslims give a new thing the land is mine

i rent user land and you give me a part of the production people are interested not in having

hunting lands like lord or squire in england the landlord

rent his land and it's empowering as well because if you're the lowest run of society

and yet you have some rights to your own land and you can keep a lot of the produce

yes [Music] [Applause]

every piece of evidence from cordoba adds to the picture of a civilized and highly sophisticated city

it had medical centers an organized legal system and libraries full of academics and

scientists working on ideas which were light years ahead of anything else in europe

by the 10th century cordoba had become the official capital of al andalus

[Music] people flocked here to work either in the city's shops and markets

or on rented land outside in the year 912 a new ruler came to power

he was to take cordoba to even greater heights [Music]

abdar rahman iii was only 21 when he became ruler of cordoba with a resounding statement of

self-confidence he declared himself the khalif the commander-in-chief of the faithful

with that title he claimed to be the supreme leader of the islamic world [Music]

at a stroke he repositioned muslim spain so it was no longer a western outpost but instead a key

power in islam and to complement his role as khalif abdal rahman iii

built himself one of the biggest royal palaces in the world

[Music] while the english kings of the same period were living in modest wooden

halls abdar rahman iii needed 000 workmen to construct this enormous

palace complex which was decorated with african white [Music]

marble the alabaster palace surrounded by acres of date palms was described

as a concubine lying in the arms of a black eunuch it was called madina al-zakhra after

the caliph's favorite archaeologists have reconstructed barely 10 percent of the original site

the idea here is that the caliph dominates what he's really doing with the

landscape is demonstrating that medina alfara is the strongest territory in the

peninsula excavations reveal the city to be at the cutting edge of technical architectural and scientific development

now to do this on such an enormous scale requires incredible sophistication nothing like this existed in the world

at the center of the complex lies abdal rahman's throne room [Music]

what do you think drove abdar rahman to build such an opulent place [Music]

built during the last year of his life it was a symbol of consolidation of its economic and political power

seated in this throne the caliph must have felt himself master of all lalandalos destiny

visitors from all over europe were received here a monk from germany called john of course

left a record of his trip you have to try and imagine the impression this place would have made on don of course

the walls were studded with tiles made of silver and gold and on the roof there was a massive

representation of the heavens mechanical lions roared in the corridors and in the rafters there were mechanical

birds that twittered away here in the center of the room there were two bowls filled with mercury

that would catch the light and then send it shattering back out to dazzle the visitors

this is what was written about the climax of his visit when john arrived at the dais where the

caliph was seated alone almost like a god head he saw everything draped with rare and costly coverings

they do not use thrones or chairs as other people do but recline on demands or couches when conversing or eating

their legs crossed over one another there is actually one detail at this account misses out the caliph

did have a throne a mechanical throne that raised and then descended as if he was levitating among his

subjects [Applause] a refined court culture developed in the

palace of madina al-zaja and this was to have an unexpected influence on the rest of europe

what would the soundscapes of the palaces have been in the 10th century perhaps the most basic level would be

the sounds of all the different fountains and small running currents artificial

rivers running from room to room [Music] on top of that we could have heard layer

upon layer of different types of music and singing

a variety of different professional instrumentalists we could easily have heard a loot player

sitting in a corner or in any of the various different entryways [Music]

there would be a slightly more formal presentation of a singing girl

what were these singers expected to do were they concubines as well well in some sense we're doing an

injustice by just referring to them as singers these women were entertainers at every

level they had to be able to converse they had to be able to discuss intelligent

subjects they had to be able to compose poetry recite poetry for arabs poetry is the single

most important art of their culture if we look at a picture of the entire world there are

only three cultures that we know of that had developed end rhyme by the 7th century

china india and the arabs this early arabic love poetry directly influenced the development of literature

in the rest of europe one of the primary characteristics of this poetry

is a constant focus on the feelings of the lover the poet is always complaining of the

pangs of love and the distance of the beloved and we quite frankly almost never hear

from the beloved love is a welcome malady those who are free of it want not to be

immune and those who are stricken want not to be cured

[Music] the pain of separation and unrequited love are concepts that are very familiar

to us and there is a direct connection to that early arab poetry

[Music] in england some of our earliest and most enduring stories

are romantic tales of knights and damsels a courtly love tradition brought here by travelling french poets

called troubadours [Music] and those troubadours were inspired by

the singing slave girls of al andalus the courtly love tradition has long been seen as something european

it came to form the basis of the western concept of romantic love but this cornerstone of our culture

originated in islamic spain perhaps one of the most exciting moments the transfer if you

will of arab music and poetry from the south to the north happens in the year 1064 in

the city of barbastro [Music] neighbouring french knights besiege the

city which falls its booty includes hundreds of singing girls who go to the second in command

william viii of aquitaine [Music] he already received a large number of

moorish singing girls which he then took back with him to france

he died at a fairly young age and his heir william the ninth inherited this

household at age 15 and william ix is known to us in literary history

as the first troubadour [Music] so it's almost positive that william ix

would not only have grown up as a child in a household in which there were arab singing girls

at the age of 15 he actually became their master it's one of the few moments where we can

say that there's a transfer of singing girls from this point to that point and then

the point of reception is precisely where the first flourishing of troubadour poetry emerges

[Music] but the glorious court of madina al-zakra was not to last forever

[Music] within the palace was sown the very seeds of its destruction

[Music] abdal rahman iii had invested much of his money and interest in art and

culture and had paid very little attention to the military

there were no generals at court and citizens didn't have to serve in the army

this is important the mere fact that the army can't recruit from its own citizens means that it has to recruit more and

more foreigners effectively mercenaries this is part of the reason for the conflict

which led to the ultimate collapse of the caliphate when an ambitious courtier usurped the

caliphate the court split into factions once the 300 year old dynasty cracked it didn't take long for the palace to

come under attack [Applause] madina al-zakra was quickly smashed and

plundered [Music] these are the telltale signs that the

palace was violently destroyed their scorch marks on the marble made when the molten lead that supported the

joists in the roof melted as the palace was burnt to the ground

of course the history of spain would have been very different [Music]

if medina had continued unique dynasty had come to a terrible end

and in the north of the country another religious power was eyeing up the rich lands of al andalus

its name was christendom [Music] arlandalus's golden age was over by the

beginning of the 11th century abdal rahman's dynasty in cordoba had collapsed into chaos and disorder

but what happened next was even more devastating [Applause]

in 1095 pope urban ii made a call to arms he ordered a war to remove islam from

the holy lands [Music] popeurban speech is ajit prop at its

finest when an armed attack is made against an enemy let there be

one resounding cry from the soldiers of god it is the will of god it is the will of

god the crusades had begun it didn't take long for this

zealous warrior mentality to rouse the christians of northern spain and what followed was as treacherous as

any of the crusades in the holy lands [Music] the christians had always held on to the

far north of the country and now they were gaining ground al-andalus had fragmented into a

hodgepodge of isolated city-states suddenly muslim spain found herself under attack

her palaces were raided and her cities laid to siege between the 11th and the 13th centuries

an army of christian kings took over the lands of al andalus

every year this conflict is re-enacted in towns across spain this the victor's version of history

glamorizes what was actually a dishonorable and dirty war when the christian comes they break

everything they come in summer when it is almost dry

they put it fire after that they cut the trees the agriculture of alandalus was very

sophisticated the more sophisticated something the more

fragile is so the more easy is to break it irrigation if you break the canal

there's no more water so for some years people are starving so it's a scorched earth policy soon

a brutal system of protection rackets emerged there is an alternative you pay me

i don't destroy i don't burn your house how much you give me i don't cut your trees uh how much do

you give me this one it is a it is a way of the mafia in chicago

for one century all the 11th century all the christians spain lives at the expense of muslim spain

one by one the fragmented city-states of landaloos were terrorized

their solution was to fight fire with fire by bringing in troops from morocco

this is the capital from the top of a column in cordoba it's a buzzing little scene you've got

four musicians two who are playing pipes and two who are playing the loot but at some point the faces of the

musicians have been smashed in this wasn't perpetrated by christian raiders

but by the new muslim power who had come to help al andalus the troops who came as military support

were strict fundamentalists with a fierce and fighting reputation they were called the amaravids

the amaravids were a tribe of nomads from the sahara they had black skin and wore veils that

covered everything apart from their eyes when they went into battle they rode light-footed versatile little horses and

took with them camels and elephants but they were fiercest of all when it came to religion

they preached a return to basic muslim values and when they came to al-andalus they

were shocked by what they found there are people from the desert there is people newborn

to the religion so they have a hard feeling of it evangelical islam yeah absolutely not

accustomed to civilization yeah what did they think had gone wrong with islam here

they felt they have to purify things they said this is people very accustomed to

civilization to science they're talking with christians with jews this is a mix that we don't like it

we we want purified people with the barbaric christian raiders on

one side and these new fundamentalist muslims on the other al andalus was crushed it descended into

corruption a christian king would provide military aid to a weak

muslim king in return for a substantial payment of gold coin

the whole of al-andalus was subjected to this system of extortion the trouble is modern spain chooses to

remember this war rather differently la reconquista the re-conquest is presented as a valiant crusade

in which spain is returned to its rightful christian owners this pantomime version of history is

personified in many of spain's national heroes the greatest of whom is a knight called

guzman el bueno every town in spain has a street named

after guzman albueno he's one of the country's best-loved historical figures

the story of when guzman defended the town of tarifa from muslim raids is well known in spain

guzman's descendants the medina cedonia family became one of the richest landowners in the country

the duchess of medina cedonia has discovered something remarkable about her illustrious

ancestor is the first of the guzman family we know about he is the founder of the

family he came here and lived in this very [Music]

house this is a family archive although it's more than that

it is a rich source of documents from the medieval period and later was it right that one of your ancestors

was involved in the spanish armada the seventh duke was involved in that campaign

[Music] this document dates from 1288 we know my ancestor was in al-andalus

a year before because he bought a farm and this document mentions it it's a permit for him to export 300

bushels of wheat look you can see the word weed and what it says is that he is allowed

to take this overseas to where he is from so because of the grammar you can tell

that he comes from overseas not that he was just visiting from overseas

yes probably it refers to a place which was part of morocco much larger than than now a place where

neither wheat nor hay could grow [Music] the duchess had discovered that her

ancestor the great christian knight guzman albueno was actually a muslim

[Music] this is really a piece of human history it dates to 1297.

the king refers to guzman as my vassal because he is a foreigner if it wasn't written here i wouldn't

believe it [Music] it was very common for muslims to ally

themselves with christian factions especially when christians were warring with each other

it must have been quite a surprise to discover that your your ancestor was a muslim

see he was something yes a great surprise this is because there had been a

chronicle which dated back to the 16th century in which the guzman family had cleaned

up its political and ethnic past man was said to have been born in leon

they didn't just do this with the goodman family but with all the families that had

doubtful ancestors ancestors of doubtful race they cleaned it all up

have a whole load of documents here from the spanish register and they turn everything we know about

spanish history upside down the spanish are simply inventing history

they have turned history into a fable the idea that the christians and the muslims were fighting a holy war

was created in spain long after the reconquest actually took place

even spain's most famous hero the swashbuckling el cid is caught up in this fantasy

in films and books el cid is celebrated as a kind of christian pinup

a crusader in the fight against the terrible moor but el cid spent his life like albueno

as a mercenary fighting for whomsoever would pay him the name

sid means the master in arabic so else it's an arabic name yes in fact he was the king of valencia when

valencia was an islamic city and he didn't change anything there

so he had muslim allies let's see that's not the story you hear is that no i think the the history is much more

interesting that the history you hear so he was a christian king but he didn't force

the muslims that he controlled to convert no no he it was in fact we cannot see

the reconquist as a processive of conversion this is a process of trial and error of

people gaining lands and people gaining prestige it's just

real politics it's all about getting that's it we are painting now everything with an um religious ideology

but it's not so religion's a kind of convenient excuse rather than the driving force

absolutely religion is always an excuse elsie and guzman al bueno weren't simply christian soldiers

fighting a muslim enemy if anything this was a civil war with both sides desperately scrabbling

for land and wealth the idea that the reconquest was something cut and dried

black and white something that cleaned up society is absurd i don't know who came up with that idea

the spanish historian palencia who said that the reconquista was nothing but a civil war between

spaniards of two different faiths [Music]

spain is full of dazzling reminders of how the righteous christians won the country back from the diabolical

war the country's most popular saint is called santiago matamoros

st james the moore slayer but this romanticized version of history distorts the true nature of this

conflict this was not a holy war al andalus was destroyed in a dirty grab

for land which lasted for over 300 years and in this conflict the more refined

society was the one least equipped for war it was the christians who had little to

lose and most to gain and what happened when the christians began to take over exposes a curious

respect for muslim culture when the christian king peter took

control of seville in 1248 this is what he had made [Music]

it is a beautiful building it was built for a christian and yet in every way it resembles

an islamic palace [Music] on the walls there are inscriptions from

the quran and above the door there are dedications to its owner calling him

khalif rather than king the conqueror has been conquered by the culture

it's a tiny bit unexpected that when this christian king rebuilt this palace he made it appear so

arabic it feels as if we're in the alambra here well this

palace has many relations with the alambra especially with the court of lions both builders king

muhammad v of granada and king peter the first of castile were friends