During the Umayyad caliphate of Cordoba (929-1031), the Umayyad power and the Christian Kingdoms of Leon and Pamplona maintained complex relationships, with moments of strife, but also of peaceful co-existence. The prevailing historiography so far has understood the institutional development and the strengthening of these Christian powers as a result of their belligerency against al- Andalus. However, by bringing together Arabic and Latin sources, one may suggest that, for most of the caliphal period, the Umayyads were able to impose their hegemony throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and that there was an increasing commitment of Christian communities to the Umayyad sovereign. This predominance was possible thanks to the ability of the caliph to temporarily integrate some Christian elites into the hierarchy of the Umayyad power, so that the former began acting as regional representatives for the Caliphate.
Dr. Eneko López Martínez de Marigorta is Assistant Professor at the University of the Basque Country. He took his Ph.D. in History from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), obtaining the Extraordinary Doctoral Award 2019. He completed his doctoral training at the Spanish National Research Council (CCHS-CSIC). He has served as visiting scholar at the Universität Hamburg, Université de Sorbonne Paris IV, the Center for Advanced Study RomanIslam, and Denison University.
Part of the Spring 2021 Spanish 8894 Literatures and Cultures Colloquium
