Voltz - 1 Jordan Voltz Reflection Piece #1 9/25/13 Prof.

Garceau Group D

The major themes that I found in the reading are factionalism, construction of interborder power matrices, and the question of Who actually holds the power now that the central state is gone? This is presented in contrast to the previous readings weve been assigned as well as the previous state of the Iberian Peninsula, which has largely existed with a clearly unified and well-constructed power structure in the south. There has always been the Christian resistance in the north, but it hasnt been until Chapter 5 of Fletchers Moorish Spain that theyve actually had a significant amount of power in Southern Muslim politics. Furthermore, the dismantling of the Crdoban Caliphate and the dispersal of the ruled territory into numerous kingdoms increased the amount of factionalism within the area. This lead to the serious amount of racketeering between provinces and established incredibly complex networks of influence throughout the peninsula. Since it was likely kept secret which provinces another province was protecting, an incredible amount of intrigue and guess work likely went into understanding these structures of power with no one party truly trusting the other. However, this also extends into inter-religious issues, as the position and conflicts of the Spanish Jewry is given significant attention. The conflict between Jewish advisors and Islamic nobility/ peasantry was addressed from both sides within the reading. From this, it was very clear that each side views itself as the victim of the political/religious machinations of the other. To this end, each side attempted to call upon their mutual authority in an effort to support them. This further demonstrates the theme that there is a collective questioning of the position of power structures within the system, local or otherwise.

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The factionalism witnessed throughout this reading emerges in the disputes between Sulaymann, Hisham II, and Muahmmed II, who all announce their claim for caliph-dom and continuously war with each other over Al-Andulas. This creates a clear rift in the power structure of Cordoba and is highly reminiscent of the fall of Rome. However, this prompts the reemergence of the Christian North as a continental power, containing untapped resources for each Muslim party to use. The resulting effect of this is the cooling of tensions between the two religions, as indicated in the Tibyan where the Amir instructs him to mend his relationships with his enemies- an interesting and practical step to take during all of this internal strife and intrigue. The construction of inter-border power matrices is also something that is relatively new to the 11th century. There was typically a clear divide between factions in the previous years, usually based upon religion. However, once the monolithic Al-Andulas has two fiercely competitive and eventually desperate leaders vying for control over it, the Christian north becomes a legitimately considered faction, even if there are religious differences. To this end, both Islam and Christianity forge alliances with each other and against each other. After AlAndulas dissolves, its clear that there was a clear questioning of authority, since these newly founded Taifa states had never been independently ruled before. The main question that I think can be derived from this is With the dissolution of AlAndulas, the rise of secularized factions, and the deeper concern for political intrigue can it be said that the because of resulting secular strife between political factions, the region was the closest that it ever came to religious tolerance?