Spain of three cultures
Speaking of the Spain of three cultures is to conflict with the national historical narrative. History tells us that first came the Phoenicians, then the Greeks, then the Romans. But curiously, the whole Semitic element, both Arab and Jewish, is left out. Spanish identity was established after the Reconquest, the victory over the Arabs and the expulsion of the Jews.
However, despite the conflicts, there were exchanges, dialogues and reciprocal influences between the three cultures.
The "sepharad"
The term "Sefarad" traditionally refers to Spain and Spanish Jews. By extension, it came to apply to all Jews in communities around the Mediterranean.
Since the end of the 8th century, the status of Jews in Spain has evolved considerably.
Under the Romans, Jews had the same status as in the rest of the Empire. Under the Aryan Visigoth kings, Jews were tolerated and made a living from agriculture.
From 586, when King Récarède converted to Christianity, they suffered persecution and forced conversions (the Marranos) for almost a century. King Egica even considered enslaving them.
When the Arabs arrived in 711, the Jews put themselves at their service. The Arabs were few in number and sought loyal allies.
The two communities found it in their interest to get along, especially as many Jews from the Maghreb reinforced the presence of the Moors and Jews from Sefarad. Indeed, some Arab geographers were quick to refer to Granada, Tarragona and Lucena as "Jewish cities", to underline the importance of this minority.
The development of urban life required merchants and administrators, functions that Arabs and Berbers were reluctant to perform.
Jews in Muslim Spain
From the establishment of the Cordoba caliphate in 929, a golden age of Judaism began in the land of Islam. Abderahman III (912-971) took Hasday ibn Saprut, a Jew from Jaen, as his physician, entrusting him with numerous diplomatic missions in addition to his own health: contact with the abbot of Gorze, negotiations with the nascent kingdoms of León and Navarre.
He had numerous scientific works translated from Greek into Arabic, and contributed greatly to the cultural development of his community. In contact with Arabic poetry, the Jews composed beautiful poems and engaged in grammatical studies; all this intellectual effervescence fostered the emergence of a rich Hebrew culture.
By the 11th century, Granada was the capital of the Arab world in Spain. Samuel haNaguid, or the Naguid (993-1056), was the key figure of this period. A merchant from Malaga, he quickly became the leader of Granada's politics, leading Arab troops into battle against Seville and Almeria. Also a poet and rabbi, he was a great scholar, promoting the arts and poetry in particular.
Les sept siècles de présence musulmane en Espagne, de 711 à 1492, ont profondément marqué la réalité historique et culturelle de la Péninsule ibérique en rendant possible l'émergence d'une civilisation, celle d'al-Andalus – terme utilisé par les auteurs arabes du Moyen Âge pour désigner l'Espagne musulmane. Les grandes réalisations architecturales, comme la mosquée de Cordoue et l'Alhambra de Grenade, mais aussi l'art mudéjar et, dans le domaine intellectuel, la pensée d'Averroès et celle de Maïmonide, constituent des oeuvres essentielles de l'héritage d’al-Andalus.
Jews in Christian Spain
The Christian Reconquest, culminating in the capture of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, ushered in a dark period marked by politico-religious unification, which tended to wipe out the evidence and contributions of this heritage and to subjugate, through violence and forced conversion, the communities (that of Jewish converts and Moriscos) integral to what has been known since the mid-20th century as the Spain of "three cultures".
The limited coexistence between Moors, Jews and Christians during the medieval period, marked by fruitful collaboration and reciprocal influences, was followed, from the end of the 14th century, by a long phase of persecution of minorities (expulsion of the Jews from 1492 and of the Moriscos in 1609) and deliberate sidelining of the cultural legacy and identity of the Spain of the three religions.
Artistic cross-fertilization demonstrates the vitality of this heritage on both shores of the Mediterranean, as witnessed, for example, by the renewal of Arabo-Andalusian music.
Ever since the Romantics rediscovered the vestiges and symbols of this often idealized medieval Spain in the 19th century, and the lively historiographical debates that began in the middle of the same century among Arabists and medievalists, who would later emphasize the "orientalization" or, depending on their position, the "westernization" of al-Andalus, the question of the heritage of the "three cultures" in Spain has, to varying degrees, always been part of ideological and political strategies and issues.
The latter are present not only in the discussions sparked by the restoration of architecture from this period, but also in the various uses made of archaeological research, which sometimes supports the work of historians in establishing certain facts, while opposing the erasure of this past.
The Spain of the "three cultures" is an inheritance of contrasts, obscured, rediscovered and reappropriated. It is inextricably linked to a history of conflict, but a better understanding of this history can redefine the dividing lines and highlight the role and influence of this plural heritage as a place of dialogue and socio-cultural exchange in the Euro-Mediterranean area.
