Illuminates the career and method of one of thirteenth-century Spain's most important religious, military, and political figures
In an age famous for its powerful "princes of the Church," Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was instrumental in turning back the tide of Muslim attacks on Christian Spain and restarting Christian conquests in the peninsula. He was a prolific writer whose History of the Affairs of Spain or Gothic History established a historical narrative of the peninsula that remained largely accepted until the last century. As archbishop, he faced the challenge of maintaining peace and prosperity in a polyglot, multiethnic Toledo where Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived side-by-side -- and religious hostility and political and economic pressures constantly threatened stability.
By examining Archbishop Rodrigo's military activities, historical and theological studies, scholarly patronage, and literary creation, Pick illuminates the ways in which he created a political and theological accommodation for the religious groups under his rule that allowed Jews and Muslims to live in subordinate positions alongside Christians. Drawing together the history, religion, and literature of medieval Spain, this book sheds new light on the transmission of learning from the Muslim to the Christian world and the intellectual life of medieval Europe.
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