David Abulafia

David Abulafia who teaches at Cambridge, is the author of A Mediterranean Emporium: The Catalan Kingdom of Majorca.

Peoplehood

David Abulafia, 31 October 1996

Marranos, Moriscos, Mudejars, Mozarabs, Muwallads; converted Jews, converted Muslims, Muslims under Christian rule, Christians under Muslim rule, Christian converts to Islam: the early history of Spain was to a large extent shaped by the relationship between the adherents of the three monotheistic religions, and in particular by the fierce debates aroused when one group fell under the dominion of another, and members of one or other faith converted to that of their rulers. From the 12th century onwards, rabbis denounced or on occasion sympathised with those who found themselves forced to accept first Islam and then Christianity, while Muslim lawyers expressed contempt for those who sought to continue to practise Islam under the unclean rule of Christian kings.

Like Frogs around a Pond: The Mediterranean

Nigel McGilchrist, 22 March 2012

The title of David Abulafia’s magisterial book comes, as he reminds us, from a Hebrew blessing, to be recited when setting eyes on the Mediterranean: ‘Blessed are you, Lord our God,...

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David Abulafia ends his engaging survey of the first encounters between Europeans and the indigenous peoples of the New World with the words of the prophet Malachi: ‘Have we not all one...

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