Marriage and Donations in the Arabic Documents from Toledo (1083-1391): A Legal and Social 'Mestizage'

Daga Portillo, Rocio (2022): Marriage and Donations in the Arabic Documents from Toledo (1083-1391): A Legal and Social 'Mestizage'. UEAI 30th Congress: Body, Identity and Society in Islam, Utrecht, Niederlande, 07. - 09. Juli 2022.

Abstract

The people of Toledo continued writing their contracts in Arabic for more than two centuries after the conquest of Toledo in 1085 by Christian forces. The collection of 1,175 documents mirrors a “mestizage” of legal culture and of society as well as the gradual changes of a society in transition. By studying contracts of marriage and donations, the intertwining of Visigothic and Islamic law and customs will be shown, which, at the same time, pictures the idiosyncrasy of the society and people in the city of Toledo. Following the information given by the documents, I will also show their mechanisms directed to the transformation of society. The documents of this collection show the launching of a process that would trigger the formation of the European “nations” and the end of the legal “mestizage” and plural society in Toledo.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Speech)
• Faculties: Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies; Cultural Studies > Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures > Institute for Near and Middle Eastern Studies > Arabic and Islamic Studies
• Subjects: 900 History and geography > 940 History of Europe
• Language: English