ALSO BY MARIA ROSA MENOCAL The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History A Forgotten Heritage Writing in Dantes Cult of Truth {rom Borges to Boccaccio Shards of Love: Exile and the Origins of the Lyric The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Al-Andalus (CozpttoR) (iMRER aE USAR TN TPT TIES The Ornament of the World HOW MUSLIMS, JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS CREATED A CULTURE OF TOLERANCE IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN Maria Rosa Menocal BACK| Bpay [BOOKS| LUTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY NEW YORK BosToNFor un hombre sincero de donde crece ta palma ‘my father, the intrepid Enrique Menocal, ‘who has lived in lifelong exile from his own land of the palm trees Copyright © 2002 by Maria Rosa Menocal All rights reserved, No part ofthis book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by 4 teviewer who may quote brief passages ina review, Back Bay Books / Lite, Brown and Company ‘Time Wamer Book Group 12771 Avenue ofthe Americas, New Yorks, NY 10020 Visit our Website at wwwwwbookmark com Originally published in hardcover by Lil, Brown and Company, May 2002 First Back Bay paperback edition, April 2002 ISBN 0-316-56688-8 (he) / 0-316-16871-8 (pb) LEC 2002000675 w98765 Que “Text design by Meryl Sussman Levavi/Digitext, Maps by Jefleey L, Ward Printed in che United States of America Contents FOREWORD BY HAROLD BLOOM xi BEGINNINGS 3 A BRIEF HISTORY OF A FIRST-RATE PLACE 15 THE PALACES OF MEMORY 51 THE MOSQUE AND THE PALM TREE 53 Cordoba, 786viii B contents contents Bix MOTHER TONGUES 66 GIFTS 189 Cordoba, 855 Sicily, 1236 Cordoba, 1236 A GRAND VIZIER, A GRAND CITY 79 Granada, 1236 Cordoba, 949 BANNED IN PARIS. 201 ‘THE GARDENS OF MEMORY 91 Parts, 1277 Madinat al-Zahra, South of Cordoba, 1008 VISIONS OF OTHER WORLDS 216 VICTORIOUS IN EXILE 101 Avila, 1305 The Battlefield at Argona, Between Cordoba and Granada, 1041 FOREIGN DIGNITARIES AT THE COURTS OF CASTILE 229 Seville, 1364 LOVE AND ITS SONGS 112 Toledo, 1364 Niebla, Just West of Seville, on che Road to Huelva, August 1064 Barbastro, in the Foothtils af the Pyrenees on the Road to Saragossa, August 1064 IN THE ALHAMBRA 244 Granada, 1492 SOMEWHERE IN LA MANCHA 253 1605 THE CHURCH AT THE TOP OF THE HILL 130 Toledo, 1085 EPILOGUE: ANDALUSIAN SHARDS. 266 AN ANDALUSIAN IN LONDON 147 rosrsemier 282 Huesca, 1106 OTHER READINGS 284 SAILING AWAY, RIDING AWAY 158 Alexandria, 1140 Hanns 293 IxpEx 299 THE ABBOT AND THE QURAN 174 Cluny, 1142