The Jews and the Muslim Conquest of Spain

by Norman Roth

In the spring or summer of 711, Tariq ibn Ziyad landed with a Berber force
on the shores of Al-Andalus and began the invasion that was to result, in a
few short months, in the conquest of most of Spain and the end of the tot-
tering Visigothic kingdom. It is scarcely possible to ascertain with complete
accuracy the details of this invasion. The Arabic sources disagree as to the
exact date, as well as to the number of troops involved-with most author-
ities stating 7,000, but others saying 12,000.1 Most sources agree that the
invading force was composed mostly of Berber troops, newly converted to
Islam after the conquest of North Africa, with only a few Arabs participating.
Much has been written about this invasion which was destined to change
the course, not only of Spanish but, to a great extent, of all medieval Euro-
pean history. In spite of the availability of excellent translations and studies
of the Muslim sources, however, many writers have concentrated their atten-
tion almost exclusively on the far less detailed and less reliable Christian
sources written, for the most part, many centuries after the event. As a result
a good deal of mythology has grown up concerning the Muslim conquest of
Spain. Not the least interesting part of that mythology is the role allegedly
played by the Jews in that conquest. Jewish and non-Jewish historians alike
have asserted that the Jews were involved in a "conspiracy" that led directly
to the Muslim invasion and that they then eagerly lent their aid in the con-
quest.
The "Father of Jewish History," Heinrich Graetz, already mentioned the
plot of the Jews of Visigothic Spain, noting that in 694 they purportedly
"entered into an alliance with their more fortunate brethren in Africa, with
the intention of overthrowing the Visigothic empire," and were "probably"
aided in this attempt by the Muslims. The plot was discovered and, according
to Graetz, all the Jews of Spain, Septimania, and Narbonne were made
slaves.2
Nahum Slouschz, following Graetz, wrote that in 589 a "large number"

A detailed account, synthesizing earlier sources, is given in al-Maqqari (al-Makkari), The History
of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, trans. Pascual de Gayangos (London, 1840-43), I, 250-51.
Cf. the accounts of Ibn Hayyan, ibid., p. 267; Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Khatib, ibid., p. 268. Cf. also the
account of the Akhbar Majmu'a (the "Anonymous of Paris," or "Anonymous of Cordoba"), Ajbar
Machmua ... ed. and trans. Emilio Lafuente y Alcantara (Madrid, 1867), pp. 20-21.
2 Geschichte der Juden (Leipzig, 1895), V, 140; English trans., History of the Jews (Philadelphia,
1894), III, 108. See also Graetz, "Die westgothische Gesetzgebung in Betreff der Juden," Jahresbericht
des jidisch-theologischen Seminars. 'Fraenckelscher Stiftung' (Breslau, 1858), pp. 17, 29.

145
 146 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

of Jewish refugees fled th

Morocco, and that the Jew
emigrated from Spain, mad
Slouschz goes so far as to sug
in 711 were "everywhere s
confided for safekeeping "ev
ing force (under the Berbe
Muslim and Jewish Berber
suming that there were "J
The Jews of the Maghrib "
with the aid of their Berber
authors believe."3
In an interesting article entitled "The Fall of the Visigothic Power in
Spain," R. Dykes Shaw noted the Visigothic persecution of Jews and the
attempt to "uproot them entirely from Spanish soil .... And yet the race
irrepressibly persisted. Everywhere bands of Jews were to be found secretly
nursing feelings of hatred against their oppressors, and ready to hold out the
hand in any direction that promised revenge. They thus added a real peril
of conspiracy and sedition to the whole tottering fabric of society, and much
alarm was created at the seventeenth council of Toledo (694) by the dis-
covery of their intrigues with their brethren in North Africa, and with the
Berber tribes who had given these brethren asylum."4 Referring to the con-
quest of Toledo, he says: "The Jews . . . gave him [Tariq] access to the city,
and indeed the leading inhabitants had already deserted it." Again, he refers
to the "ever-willing Jews" as providing garrisons for the conquered cities.5
This myth was not without its followers in Spain. Enrique Florez, the
eminent eighteenth-century scholar who was, in part, the editor of the im-
portant collection of sources entitled Espana sagrada, wrote in his dedication
to Ferdinand VI: "De V. Mag. es la gloria de la pureza de la Fe que la Iglesia
conserva en sus Dominios, contradecida desde el tiempo de los Godos la
perfidia Judayca .... 6 A more contemporary scholar, the eminent Arabist,
Pascual de Gayangos, wrote:
The practice so universally observed by the invaders of intrusting to the Jews the
defense of the cities and fortresses taken from the Christians, would, in the absence
of any other fact, show that a previous understanding must have long existed between
them and the Berbers under the orders of Tarik. . . . That the Jews of the Peninsula
had at different times been suspected of holding communication with those of
Africa,- that in the reign of Egica they had actually been accused, and to all appear-
ances convicted, of inviting the Arabs to make a conquest of Spain,-is sufficiently
attested by the national writers. I have shown elsewhere on the authority of Ibn

3 "Hebreo-Pheniciens et Judeo-Berberes," Archives Marocaines, 14 (1908), 324, 388, 395-96; and

"Judeo-Hellenes et Judeo Berberes," ibid., pp. 412 and 409.
4 English Historical Review, 21 (1906), 214.
s Ibid., pp. 226-27.
6 EspafIa Sagrada (Madrid, 1754-), IV, f. 5 (unnumbered).
Muslim Conquest of Spain 147
Khaldun, that most of the Berber tribes inhabiti
fessed the Jewish religion .... Hence, on the inv
Jews, who expected to be delivered by them fr
they lived, every where made common cause wit

In the place to which Gayangos referred

sunk in the grossest ignorance; a few onl
siderable proportion still worshipped idol
fessed Judaism, a circumstance which t
it will be found to have powerfully cont
quest of Spain by the Mohammedans"
not cite Ibn Khaldun at all in the note her
he apparently refers is in Ibn Khaldun's H
Paris, 1925-56, 4 vols., I, 177): "There wer
who professed the Jewish religion; others w
.... " On the other hand, Ibn Khaldun rejec
that all Berbers were descendants of Abra
of "a part of the Berbers" who professed
question of the "Jewishness" of some of
dealt with more fully.
Dozy seems merely to have repeated thes
in 694 the Jews of Spain planned a "gener
gionists" in Africa, "where several Berber tr
Jews exiled from Spain had found a refu
the conflicting views of those, like Jules Tai
alone initiated the conquest and the others
and Eduardo Saavedra, who argued a "Wit
throne, but without any discussion of th
Jewish participation in this presumed conspi
Among contemporary scholars who len
Stanley Payne says that Jews "eagerly col
states matter-of-factly that "Jews sometim
tachment of Jewish soldiers (perhaps rela
Maghreb) accompanied the invaders."12 We
the degree of Jewish "collaboration" afte
open to debate, we are aware of no single

7 al-Maqqari, History, I, 531, n. 18.

a Ibid., p. 511, n. 15.
9 Reinhardt Dozy, Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagn
Levi-Provencal (Leiden, 1932), II, 35-36.
10 Antonio Ballesteros, Historia de Espafia (Barcelona,
1 On the views of the historians mentioned, see Solom
Frankish Kingdoms of Spain and Gaul (Cambridge, Ma
Cf. especially Eduardo Saavedra, Estudio sobre la inva
pp. 57-58; Aureliano Ferandez-Guerra, Caida y ruina del
12 Stanley Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal (Ma
 148 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

terpreted to suggest that

invaders.
Somewhat more cautiously, Gabriel Jackson merely suggests that the in-
vading troops were "welcomed" by a "large proportion of the ruling aristo-
cracy [?] and the Jews."13 S. M. Imamuddin states that the Jews planned a
rebellion and invasion with the Berbers in 694.14 Perhaps the most inter-
esting, because of its originality, is the account of Albert Bagby:

When King Witiza, who favored tolerance for the Jews, was deposed in favor of the
warrior-noble Rodrigo, the sympathizers of King Witiza-mainly the entire Jewish
population, but also a few Christian noblemen-conspired to rid the kingdom of
Rodrigo's rule. Count Julian, a Jew, hated Rodrigo.... Although Rodrigo's troops
numbered 100,000, his army was routed because of rampant treachery on the part of
his Jewish troops and followers of Witiza. In a single, decisive battle, Visigothic Spain
became the Moorish Spain of Al-Andalus, and the course of Spanish history was
changed completely-largely due to the treachery of one well-placed Jew and his fel-
lows. (Italics added.)15

Indeed, the "treachery" must have been of enormous magnitude to result in

the defeat of an army of no less than "100,000 troops" facing, even if we
accept the largest figure, only 12,000 Muslims! Of course, these figures are
enormously exaggerated-as is common in most medieval chronicles. The
legend of Witiza "favoring tolerance" for the Jews originates (significantly
enough, in view of what we shall discover with regard to this source) in the
thirteenth-century Chronicon Mundi of Lucas of Tuy, and of course it has
long been recognized that "his testimony has no value on this point.16 It has
already been stated that there is no evidence of any Jewish participation in
the invading Muslim forces, and there is certainly no evidence of "Jewish
troops" among Roderick's forces. The claim of Count Julian's Jewishness
must join Slouschz's equally dubious claim for the Jewishness of Tariq. (Not
everyone in history is Jewish.) In spite of the relatively large amount of
material that has been written about Julian we are still uncertain of his ori-
gins. Called variously in the Arabic sources "Julian" or "Ilyan" (even "Wul-
yan"? or "Ulyan"?, and "Bilyan" in the Fath al-Andalus), he is invariably
referred to as ar-Rumi (literally, "The Byzantine"-but in Arabic terminol-
ogy of the period, this could designate a Christian generally). He was count
or governor of Ceuta and by no means, of course, Jewish. 7

13 Gabriel Jackson, The Making of Medieval Spain (New York, 1972), p. 10.
14 S. M. Imamuddin, Some Aspects of the Socio-Economic and Cultural History of Muslim Spain
(Leiden, 1965), p. 14.
1 s "The Jew in the Cantigas of Alfonso X, El Sabio," Speculum 46 (1971), 685 n. 37.
16 Katz, pp. 21-22 and n. 1.
17 Cf. the bibliography on Julian cited by Miquel Barcelo in Islamic Studies 9 (1970), 189 n. 27;
and also John Harris Jones, trans., The History of the Conquest of Spain (Gottingen and London,
1858; rpt. New York, 1969), pp. 47-56. In referring to de Slane, trans., Histoire des Berberes, I, Ap-
pendix II, 346, Jones neglected to mention the most important information there: that Julian and his
son "Melka-Bitro" (Pedro) were Christians "of Gothic origin." (Cf. also A. Gateau in Revue Tuni-
sienne, 25 [1936], 77-83).
Muslim Conquest of Spain 149
Before undertaking an examination of the
it is necessary at this point to examine bri
Jews in 694.18 It would appear that the po
not entirely one of unrelieved persecutio
(even if, according to Katz, it "aggravated th
was considerably more liberal than that of
that the subject of this king's relation to t
hausted and could well profit from a fresh
excessively portrayed Egica as "benign and g
ungrateful to their benefactor [sic], faith
given, and conspiring with their coreligionis
and existence of the Visigothic nation, ob
measures which warded off for some time the
In his introductory statement to the X
Egica accused the Jews of conspiring with
against the kingdom. The Jews at that tim
or sold into slavery as a result of the Cou
be noted carefully that in the absence of
the condition of the Jews at the time, we
or to what extent, this decree was in fac
Katz and others do not seem justified in c
evidence available that the Jews conspire
tolerant Moors."21 In fact, a number of th
face value the evidence of the speech wh
the first place there is the fact that Egica
somewhat more tolerant attitude to the J
law requiring forced baptism of all the Jews
assurance in fact did the Jews of that tim
any more tolerant of them than their Visigo
of the treatment of Jews by conquering Mu
"protected status" as ahl al-Qitab, "people
"protected people" living in accord with p
favorable treatment. Muhammad himself
of the Jews and demand their expulsion fro
of the Byzantine countries, Egypt, and Af
they had reason to welcome their "liberat

18 Cf. briefly Katz, pp. 20-21. Ballesteros, I, 497, and

gesting that the legislation of Egica and the XVIth Counc
converted, Jews only. On similar errors that have been m
pendix II, pp. 157-58.
19 Ballesteros I, 497. Fortunately, current Spanish hist
of this kind of polemic.
20 Concilium Toletanum XVII, in Gian Domenico Ma
1903-27), XI, col. 94; cf. tit. VIII, cols. 101-02. See also
politica y religiosa de losjudios de Espana (rpt. Madrid, 1
21 Katz, p. 21. Katz cites as his source Shaw's article (m
 150 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

ceived tolerant treatment d

to the Berber nature of th
were Jews but because they
there is no solid evidence ot
and other late Muslim writ
in fact Jewish; and there is
gothic Spain had any conta
advocate a "Jewish conspira
the fact that all of the Jew
under the Visigoths before t
Perhaps most consequentia
part, that there was already
of Al-Andalus by Muslim
uncertain. This invasion or a
sources but apparently in C
doubt on any "Jewish con
which would now appear to
We turn now to an analys
order to see what they hav
mary, and by far the most
the process of historical trad
ficial. Muslim scholarship
(matn)-a series of "relators
sources of information recited to them. The isnad was thus the line of tradi-
tion set forth by the historian on which he based his account and by whi
he claimed not only authenticity but authority (hadit).24 The whole syste
resulted in a superior historiography the likes of which is not to be found in
Christian Europe until the modern era. Each authority is cited by name, a
as far as possible his "relation," or account of the events, is recorded ve
batim. The early Muslim historians knew to distinguish hearsay evidenc
from eyewitness accounts and, where there is a difference of opinion as
the facts related, we often find a statement, "Allah knows what is the tr
account," or the like.

22 For a brief general account of the treatment of Jews in the Arab conquests of the sevent
century, see Salo W. Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York, 1957-), III,
ff. Cf. also the Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam, s.v. "Ahl al-Kitab," and the bibliography cited there.
23 M. Saghir Hasan al-Ma'sumi, "The Earliest Muslim Invasion of Spain," Islamic Studies, 3 (1964
97-102; Miquel Barcelo, "Some Commentaries [sic] on 'The Earliest Muslim Invasion of Spain'," ibid
9 (1970), 183-90. Note especially the remarks in n. 17 of the latter article, on traditions of prophec
which circulated in Egypt regarding the conquest of Spain. The fact that the initiators of such tra
tions may have included Jews converted to Islam does not, nevertheless, suggest any support for
"Jewish conspiracy" theory.
24 Cf. the description of this process in Rhuvon Guest, Introduction to al-Kindi, The Govern
and Judges of Egypt (Leiden and London, 1912), p. 15; also Charles Torrey, Introduction to
Haqam, The History of the Conquest of Egypt, North Africa and Spain (New Haven, 1922). Cf. als
sections ii and iii of the article "Hadith" in the Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam.
 Muslim Conquest of Spain 151
The major Muslim sources from which
concerning the invasion and the part playe

1. Akhbar Majmu'a, an anonymous collectio

form in the second decade of the eleventh cen
eighth and ninth centuries.25
2. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd al-Haqam (Egyptia
known chronicle of the invasion.26
3. Abu Baqr Muhammad Ibn al-Qutiyah (Cordoba, d. 977).27
4. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Musa Abu Baqr ar-Razi (ca. 977).28
5. 'Isz al-Din Ibn al-Atir (ca. 1160-1233).29
6. Ibn 'Idari.30
7. Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406).31
8. al-Maqqari (d. 1631-32).32

A detailed analysis of these sources results in a remarkably coherent and

generally consistent account of the invasion and conquest of Spain. This is
not to deny that there are obvious mythical elements and embellishments in
this account, but for the most part these are readily apparent and they by no
means approach the kind of wild stories and polemic which mar the later his-
tories of the Almohade and Almoravid periods and make many of them vir-
tually unreliable as sources of the Spanish Reconquest.
25 Ed. and trans. Lafuente (op. cit.). Cf. R. Dozy, Recherches, 2nd ed. (Leiden, 1860), I, 40-57;
and especially the indispensable work of C. Sanchez-Albornoz, El "Ajbar Maymu'a" (Buenos Aires,
1944). (The "errors" to which Sanchez refers, p. 42, do not at all effect the account of the conquest.)
In spite of the thorough work on dating done by Sanchez-Albornoz and by Julian Ribera, Fuat Sezgin,
Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums (Leiden, 1967), I, 363, No. 5, continues to follow Carl Brockel-
mann in dating the work as a whole in the tenth century!
26 (Jones, ed. and trans., Conquest of Spain). The Arabic text was also edited by Torrey, op. cit.
There is a recent Spanish translation by Eliseo Vidal Beltran, Conquista de Africa del Norte y de
Espana (Valencia, 1966).
27 Julian Ribera y Tarrago, trans., Historia de la conquista de Espania de Aben al-Cotia (Madrid,
1926) and a partial French translation by A. Cherbonneau in Journal Asiatique, ser. 8, 5 (1856),
428-82.
28 Cf. Pascual de Gayangos, "Memoria sobre la autenticidad de la Cronica denominada del moro
Rasis," Memorias de la Real Academia de la Historia, 8 (1852). The text exists in a thirteenth-century
Portuguese translation, and the part dealing with the conquest is translated in Apendice II of Gayangos.
The importance of this chronicle has become increasingly apparent, and Sanchez-Albornoz, especially
has contributed numerous significant studies on it. It is inexcusable to find Imamuddin stating; "An
other history, The Moor Rasio or Ruzif [sic], based on the Christian chronicles and some other un-
important works [sic] is full of ridiculous stories and mentions only the names of some Muslim king
of Cordova." "Sources of Muslim History of Spain," Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society,
(1953), 370-a generally worthless article.
29 Edmond Fagan, trans., Annales du Maghreb et de l'Espagne (Algiers, 1898; 2nd ed., 1901).
30 The indispensable al-Bayan al-Mugrib (Histoire de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne) was first edited
(not translated, as sometimes stated) by Dozy and Levi-Provencal (Leiden, 1848-51) in two volumes,
followed by a third volume (Paris, 1930). It was re-edited and revised by G. S. Colin and Levi-ProvenS
(Leiden, 1948). The French translation by Fagnan appeared in Alger in 1901.
31 Histoire des Berberes, trans. M. de Slane (Paris, 1925-56, 4 vols.). A Spanish translation wa
begun but not completed by Osvaldo Machado, "Historia de los Arabes de Espafa," Cuadernos d
Historia de Espana, IV (Buenos Aires, 1946), which I have not seen. On Ibn Khaldun, see the excellen
study by M. Mahdi, Ibn Khaldun's Philosophy of History (London, 1957).
32 Gayangos, trans. History of the Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain.
 152 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

The first thing to be noted

by al-Maqqari (the chief sour
cause of the invasion is attr
"Every historian that we ha
less explicitly to a certain qua
invasion of the Arabs."33 Th
it is probable that in any ev
invasion force, perhaps in co
which landed in 710. Al-Maq
being in any way involved eit
in the invading force; nor d
other early Arab sources mak
The sequence of events after
even more difficult to recon
al-Haqam differs here substa
Nusayr, the governor of Nor
the invasion were carried ou
14 April-14 May 711) with t
the leaders of the Berbers."
ers," he states that Tariq lan
came to meet him but were routed. Roderic came to their rescue from To-
ledo and the Christian and Muslim forces fought a decisive battle
Shedunia.35 Mugheyth (Mugit) ar-Rumi is first mentioned as the comman
of Tariq's cavalry. Mugit is said to have proceeded to Cordoba while Ta
advanced on Toledo.

The Akhbar Majmu'a first mentions Mugit in regard to the conque

Cordoba which he is said to have captured with 700 cavalrymen. After
Tariq sent a detachment to capture Granada and this force "found th
many Jews." They gathered all the Jews of the capital (i.e., Granada, c
of Elvira), and "left them with a detachment of Muslims, the bulk o
troops continuing their march. The Muslims were accustomed, when
they conquered any district, to gather all of them in the capital city
they did in Granada, capital of Elvira, and not in Malaga, capital of R
because there they did not encounter Jews nor (other) inhabitants . .
residents having fled the city.36

33 Ibid., pp. 250, 255, 265, 268. Gayangos suggests that the statement about the quarrel i
of Arab historians after the eleventh century, but earlier historians "if they mention Ilyan (
at all, say nothing about his misunderstanding with Roderic" (p. 513, n. 29). However
incorrect, as Ibn Qutiyah mentions it (Ribera's translation, p. 5, and cf. p. 435), as do the
Majmu'a and other early sources.
34 Jones, History of the Conquest, p. 21. Beltran, Conquista, p. 45, and Gateau, Revue Tun
(1935), 250, more correctly translate "clients and Berber chiefs"-i.e., converts to Islam.
35 More correctly, Shidunah. Jones, History, tentatively identified it (correctly) as "Med
Sidoniah," capital of the district Kurah Shidunah (p. 58, n. 13). The "Othman" who is nam
as the source for al-Haqam's account is 'Utman ibn Salih, an Egyptian (761-835).
36 Lafuente, Ajbar Machmua, pp. 23 and 25. Cf. also Gayangos, "Cr6nica del moro Rasi
Muslim Conquest of Spain 153
Having captured Cordoba, Mugit gathered
he had entrusted the custody of the city."
in the conquest of Toledo. Musa ibn Nusayr
dan 93 (12 June-11 July 712) with 18,00
Seville after several months' siege. He, too,
to the Jews," and proceeded to Merida.37
Ibn al-Atir agrees with his sources in stat
dan and, following the route of Tariq, too
marched to Carmona, "the most fortified
proceeded to Seville, "one of the most popu
the most remarkable for its antiquity," w
months of siege, "and installed in it Jews in
who had fled." There is no mention of Jew
when Tariq found Toledo abandoned, "he
with a certain number of his soldiers," whil
The Portuguese translation of the chroni
ence to the Jews in the capture of Seville; a
Akhbar Majmu'a, which utilized the origina
tainly mentioned in the original source. How
that when "Tarif" (sic, i.e., Tariq, a conf
sources) came to Toledo, all the Christians h
foot of the mountains, named Medinat al-
the "table of Solomon" which was found th
begged him (!) to give them a place to live,
them Toledo.39 Sanchez-Albornoz has sugg
not in the Akhbar Majmu'a, "its presence i
conclude" that Ibn al-Atir had taken his ac
from ar-Razi, directly or indirectly.40 Nev
to conclude" anything of the sort since th
account of Ibn al-Atir and that based on ar
deserted, a fact substantiated by other sou
clear that the Portuguese translator of ar-
fanciful reconstruction (though the myth
course common to all the Muslim chronicles
Al-Maqqari, too, relates that after captur
all the Jews in the city and left them in char
ence to the Christians, on account of their h

28-30. As Lafuente notes, by the names of the capitals giv

Akhbar Majmu'a in the eleventh century, the time at whic
tive provinces.
37 Ibid., pp. 27 and 29. The source is undoubtedly the ch
38 Fagnan, Annales, p. 47.
39 Gayangos, "Cronica del moro Rasis," pp. 76, 72 (emph
of Toledo cited ibid., p. 76, n. 1.
40 "Rasis fuente de Aben Alatir," Bulletin Hispanique 41
154 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

latter." The Muslim force

latter place they intrusted
almost general in the succ
a town, it was left in custo
of the army proceeding t
proportionately greater b
equally adopted with reg
Malaga belonged." (It is no
on the Akhbar Majmu'a,
Tariq, according to Ibn H
Tariq "collected together t
his troops in charge of the
fugitives."41
When Musa himself arri
al-Maqqari may betray her
alone (?) gives the latter d
lected the Jews in the citad
the place, he himself passin
Turning now to the Chr
if we expect them to shed
noted earlier, Christian h
proached that of the Muslim
ate. The very early medieva
with only a few essential ev
year.43 It is not until the e
source of importance fo
(Jimenez) de Rada, arch
Arabic and utilized as a so
original. His history survi
teenth-century translation
Following his Arabic sou
Roderic, and that "Muca
Averencara" ("Rafet" app

41 History of the Mohammedan D

not Mugit captured Cordoba, is un
42 Ibid., pp. 280-82 (conquest of
43 See, e.g., Rafael Ballester y Ca
edad media (Palma de Mallorca, 19
44 Latin text in A. Schott(us), H
translation attributed to Gonzalo
de documentos ineditos para la h
lenged de la Hinojosa's authorship
Melia, ibid, 88 (1887), was publish
with identical pagination. Only th
icle. This version contains much m
 Muslim Conquest of Spain 155
is "Abu Zora'ah" in al-Maqqari; cf. Pseudo-
Julian and a force of 100 horsemen and 4,0
"Moieyatrom" (Mugit ar-Rumi) to attack Co
Malaga and Granada.46 "Mogeyt then left in
who lived there, with the Moors who remained t
guard the place." Rodrigo then describes the a
troops of "Tarif" (Tariq) "fought a long time,
fied it with Moors and Jews who lived there."47
We will reserve for the present one final C
attention for comparison to an interesting Jewis
tian historiography was poor in comparison to th
for the most part are considerably worse tha
possess no Jewish source whatever, not even t
contemporary with the conquest that even me
Spanish Jewish chronicle, that of Abraham i
mention the conquest at all. His silence is all th
was self-consciously an "historian" and knew
tion, he would have had access to the archives
Toledo.48 It is not until the fifteenth century
from Spain, that we find a Jewish chronicle t
quest of Spain, the Emek ha-Bakhah [Vale of T
Although of no intrinsic value as a source of t
see the account which he gives. He repeats the
Roderic, which results in Julian's joining forc
expression coined, as Rodrigo of Toledo tells
invasion of Spain in 718, the year given also
course not in the Arabic chronicles. Joseph con

And the king Roderic died and did not leave after hi
Ismaelites fought against Toledo many days. And on
the people of the city went out to pray and the besi
came in haste to the city and captured it, and many
the rest of the people and the Jews who were foun
captivity by the enemy at that time; and a garrison
Muslims] went out and fell upon the people in the f
the rest taken captive. Only the 'riders of the hors

45 Isidore Pacensis, Chronicon, sec. 34, (Espana sagrada,

I, 265; Gayangos discusses the errors associated with this nam
46 "Estoria de los Godos," ed. and trans. Paz y Melia, pp. 51
47 Translation of de la Hinojosa, pp. 204-05.
48 See the scholarly edition and translation by Gerson Co
Tradition (Philadelphia, 1967).
49 Hebrew text ed. M. Letteris (Cracow, 1895); German tra
1858). On the author, cf. Steinschneider, Die Geschichtsliterat
ff.
156 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

and the heads of the city escap

king would be angry with them
Roderic died without heirs], an
and gave us into the hands of
Jews, and the people were arou

This account is of interest in

and after the time of the Ch
of the details (such as the C
day, and the accusation that
rigo's account, taken from
whether the author actually
haps of the Primera Cronic
traditions that still circulat
account has a definitely apo
We come finally to the Ch
monastery of San Isidoro d
to the earlier date).52 As it
interpolations and corruptio
icles as partial sources, had
ing facts and inserting his
text, there exists also an e
tance.53
Lucas says nothing of any J
throw the Visigoths, nor do
Granada or Seville which, a
sources. Lucas knew no Arab
Lucas is the conquest of the c

Urbs quoque Toletana multarum

per proditionem Iudaeorum, qu
die ramis palmarum ad ecclesiam
tante solemnitatis ad audiendum
signum dederant Sarracenis, Ch
fidelis Toletanus populus inerm

50 Ed. Letteris, p. 20; Wiener, p. 7.

51 Cf. Primera cronica general, ed
The account of the Jewish garrisons i
icleof Rodrigo.
52 The chronicle was written at th
were married in 1197 or 1198 (cf. E
(Madrid, 1935), II, 148, n. 1; but se
Madrid, 1960 I, 725). The marriage w
earlier date; cf. also Julio Puyol, ed.
53 Puyol, ed., Cronica. In spite of t
concludes on linguistic grounds that it
54 Chronicon mundi, end of Bk. III
 Muslim Conquest of Spain 157
The Spanish text is roughly equivalent:

Y tanbien la cibdad de Toledo, vencedora de m

vencimentos de los ysmaelitas por la traycion de l
reuelde auia seydo. Y mientre los christianos e
yglesia de Sancta Leocadia, fuera de la cibdad, por
para oyr las palabras del Senor, los judios, que
moros, cerraron las puertas a los christianos e ab
toledano, fiel a Dios, fallado sin armas fuera de l
cuchillo.55

This account was quoted in the name of Lucas in the chronicle of Rodrigo of
Toledo, and from there it was taken almost verbatim into the Primera Cronica
General. 6
What remains to be considered is the extent to which this story of the
Jewish "treachery" at Toledo may be accepted as authentic. It has certainly
been accepted as such by some, among whom are the well-known writer of
Toledo, Gustavo Becquer, and-somewhat more suprisingly-no less an au-
thority than Salo Baron.57 Baer, on the other hand, rejects it as medieval
"anti-Jewish propaganda," while Katz only mentions Lucas of Tuy and Rod-
rigo in a general manner and correctly points out that such charges of Jewish
"betrayal" and treachery were by no means unique or limited to Spain.58
Ashtor (E. Strauss) rejects the story completely. Among other reasons, he
points out that according to Ibn al-Atir, Toledo was conquered in the year
92 A.H., the last day of which corresponds to 18 October 711, and therefore
could hardly have taken place anywhere near Palm Sunday. On similar
grounds, Saavedra rejected the story, noting that it would have required a
siege of many month's duration, which is incompatible with the other histor-
ical evidence.59

55 Puyol, Cronica, p. 270. "And also the city of Toledo, conqueror of many peoples, fell under
the conquests of the Ismaelites because of the treason of the Jews, and because it had been stronger
and more rebellious. And while the Christians were coming together on Palm Sunday at the church
of San Locadia, outside the city, for an observance of great solemnity, in order to hear the word of
the Lord, the Jews, who had given a signal of treason to the Moors, closed the gates to the Christians
and opened them to the Saracens; and the people of Toledo, faithful to God, found unarmed outside
the city, were destroyed by the sword."
56 Ed. Menendez Pidal, I, 316; cf. the translation of de la Hinojosa, p. 206. The version of the
Primera crdnica was probably an independent translation from the Latin, of course.
57 Gustavo A. Becquer, Historia de los templos de Espana. Toledo (Avila, 1933), pp. 69-70.
Baron, Social and Religious History, III, 92, apparently relates the account of the capture of Toledo
from the Christian sources; but adds that "such active revenge of decimated Spanish Jewry on their
Visigothic oppressors need not be doubted," while correctly warning against the "legendary accretions
and gross exaggerations" of later Christian chroniclers. But as we have demonstrated here, the entire
story is an exaggeration of later Christian chroniclers-more precisely, of Lucas of Tuy.
5s Yitzhak Baer, A History of the Jews in Christian Spain, trans. Louis Schoffman (Philadelphia,
1966), I, 23; Katz, Jews in Visigothic Spain, p. 117.
59 E. Ashtor, Korot ha-Yehudim be-Sefarad ha-Muslamit (Jerusalem, 1966), I, 11, 270 n. 5. (An
English translation of Ashtor, The Jews of Moslem Spain, is currently being published by the Jewish
Publication Society; vol. I appeared in 1973). Ashtor summarizes some of the sources and older
 158 JEWISH SOCIAL STUDIES

Most telling of all, of cou

over 400 years after the
source mentions it. In fact,
was already abandoned by
arrived. It is certainly not t
Lucas's chronicle. We may
pure invention on the part
earlier source which has come down to us.

It is not difficult to detect the reason for his fabrication. Lucas of T

was a notorious antisemite who lost no opportunity, either in his chron
or in his other writings, to make any attack he could against the Jews,
matter how absurd. In addition to a few other falsified charges against the
Jews that are to be found in his chronicle, Lucas condemned the Jews severe
ly in his anti-Albigensian tract, De Altera Vita. (It would seem, in fact, th
in some places in this work he confused the Jews-deliberately?-with th
Albigensians.60 )
Further work must be done on the question of the Albigensian influen
in Spain, the general anti-Jewish polemic of Lucas's writings and the act
situation of the Jews during the reconquest before we will be in a position to
attempt even a guess at the reasons for his position which is virtually unique
for the Spain of his time in the bitterness of its polemic.
However, it is hoped that this brief analysis will serve to correct some of
the misinformation and inaccuracies concerning the role of the Jews in t
Muslin conquest of Spain.

scholarly views, but adds nothing of importance to the discussion. Cf. also Saavedra, Estudio sobr
invasion, p. 79.
60 There is an English translation of a brief passage from this work in Baron, Social and Relig
History, IX, 57-58 (where read "thirteenth-century" for "fourteenth").