Mercedes García-Arenal

The Religious Identity of the Arabic Language and the Affair of the Lead Books of the Sacromonte of Granada

This article deals, in the first place, with the religious identity of the Arabic language as defined by the ongoing debate, in 16th-17th century Spain, about its identification with Islam. Many new Christians of Muslim origin (Moriscos) tried to break this identification in an effort to salvage part of their culture, and specially the language, by separating it from Islam. I will argue that the Morisco forgery known as the Lead Books of the Sacromonte in Granada—an Arabic Evangile dictated by the Virgin Mary to Arabic disciples who came to Spain with the Apostle Saint James—was part of this effort. When the Lead Books were taken to the Vatican to be informed, they were studied by Maronite scholars who decided that they were written in “Muslim Arabic” and therefore could not be authentic Christian texts. The Maronites were engaged in creating and consolidating their own version of Christian Arabic to define and legitimise their own position inside the Roman world. The second part of the essay adresses the theological considerations and the defence of different cultural identities which are implied in these different versions of Arabic.

Interreligious Encounters in Polemics between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Iberia and Beyond

This book discusses the “long fifteenth century” in Iberian history, between the 1391 pogroms and the forced conversions of Aragonese Muslims in 1526, a period characterized by persecutions, conversions and social violence, on the one hand, and cultural exchange, on the other. It was a historical moment of unstable religious ideas and identities, before the rigid turn taken by Spanish Catholicism by the middle of the sixteenth century; a period in which the physical and symbolic borders separating the three religions were transformed and redefined but still remained extraordinarily porous. The collection argues that the aggressive tone of many polemical texts has until now blinded historiography to the interconnected nature of social and cultural intimacy, above all in dialogue and cultural transfer in later medieval Iberia.

2 Granada Conquered: Castilianization and Conversion

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

8 Miguel de Luna: Translator, Apologist, Author

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

9 Jerónimo Román de la Higuera: The False Chronicles and the Sacromonte Lead Books

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

5 Alonso del Castillo’s Friends: Priests, Soldiers, Interpreters

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

7 Miguel de Luna: Historian, Novelist, Physician

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

4 Alonso del Castillo: Translator, Author?

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.

3 The Noble Families

The Spanish Orient offers a study of the Morisco minority in Early Modern Granada through the affair of the forged Arabic gospels found in the city at the end of 16th century. It connects the findings of this gospel with the origins of Orientalism.