Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain. The commercial realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500 0521430755

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Citation preview

This volume surveys Iberian international trade from the tenth to the fifteenth century, with particular emphasis on commerce in the Muslim period and on changes brought by the Christian conquest of much of Muslim Spain (al­ Andalus) in the thirteenth century. From the tenth to the thirteenth century, markets in the Iberian peninsula were closely linked to markets elsewhere in the Islamic world, and a strong east-west Mediterranean trading network linked Cairo with Cordoba. Follow­ ing routes along the North African coa,st, Muslim and Jewish merchants carried eastern goods to Muslim Spain, returning eastwards with Andalusi exports. Situated at the edge of the Islamic west, Andalusi markets were also emporia for the transfer of commodities between the Islamic world and Christian Europe. After the thirteenth century the Iberian peninsula became part of the European economic sphere, its commercial realignment aided by the opening of the Straits of Gibraltar to Christian trade, and by the contemporary demise of the Muslim trading network in the Mediterranean.

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought

TRADE AND TRADERS IN MUSLIM SPAIN

Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought Fourth series General Editor: D. E. LUSCOMBE

Professor of Medieval History, University of Sheffield

Advisory Editors: R. B. DOBSON

Professor of Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Christ's College ROSAMOND MCKITTERICK

Reader in Early Medieval European History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Newnham College

The series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought was inaugurated by G. G. Coulton in 1920. Professor D. E. Luscombe now act as General Editor of the Fourth Series, with Professor R. B. Dobson and Dr Rosamond McKitterick as Advisory Editors. The series brings together outstanding work by medieval scholars over a wide range of human endeavour extending from political economy to the history of ideas. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book.

TRADE AND TRADERS IN MUSLIM SPAIN The commercial realignment of the Iberian peninsula, 900-1500 OLIVIA REMIE CONST ABLE

, )\,,, CAMBRIDGE :::

UNIVERSITY PRESS

Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 !RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY IOOI 1-4211, USA IO Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1994 First published 1994 Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue recordfor this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data

Constable, Olivia Remie. Trade and traders in Muslim Spain: the commercial realignment of the Iberian peninsula, 900-1500 / Olivia Remie Constable. cm. - (Cambridge studies in medieval life and thought: p. 4th ser., 24) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-521-43075-5 r. Spain - Commerce -History. 2. Muslims - Spain -History. 3. Merchants - Spain -History. 4. Spain -History -711-1516. I. Title. II. Series. HF3685.C66 1994 380.1'0946--ogo2 - dc20 93-15165 CIP ISBN o 521 43075 5 hardback

DX

For Evhy and Owen

CONTENTS

List of illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Maps Preface

page xi Xll XlV XVl XlX

1

I

The market at the edge of the west

2

Al-Andalus within the Mediterranean network: geo­ graphy, routes and communications before the thirteenth century Andalusi geography and ports Andalusi shipping Al-Andalus and the Muslim Mediterranean commercial network Al-Andalus and the Christian commercial network

29 38

The merchant profession in Muslim Spain and the medieval Mediterranean Merchant typology and association Merchant partnerships

52 52 67

3

4

16 16 23

78 79

The merchants in Andalusi trade Merchants in Andalusi trade until ca. 1150 Merchants in the Peninsula 1150-1250: the Christian commercial conquest

98

5

Merchant business and Andalusi government authority Ports and port officials Shipping and transportation Taxes and tolls Prices and availability of goods

112 114 121 126 133

6

Commodities and patterns of trade m the medieval Mediterranean world

138

lX

Contents Patterns of commodity production and problems of interpretation Mediterranean commodities and Andalusi imports

13 8 149

7

Andalusi exports before 1212 Commodities of Andalusi production and export Al-Andalus as a transfer zone: furs, gold and slaves

169 170 198

8

Continuities and changes in Iberian exports after 1212 Continuities in Exports The decline of Andalusi silk New Iberian exports Discontinuities and prohibitions

209 213 223 227 233

9

Spain, northern Europe, and the Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages Atlantic and Mediterranean trade The new role of Iberian ports The new structure of merchant power Late medieval Iberia and the world commercial system Bibliography Index

240 240 242 247

255 259 307

X

ILLUSTRATIONS

Maps Map I Map 2

page

xxn xxin

Plates

1

Dish showing three-masted Muslim ship, probably from the Balearics, eleventh century (Soprintendenza ai Beni Ambientale, Architettonici, Artistici e Storici di Pisa) 2 Dish showing three-masted Muslim ship, probably from the Balearics, eleventh century (Soprintendenza ai Beni Ambientale, Architettonici, Artistici e Storici ill� 3 Drawing of the two Bacini ships (courtesy of D. Nicolle, The American Neptune 49 (1989), p. 172) 4 Thirteenth-century Castilian merchant ship from the Cantigas de Santa Marfa, CLXXII (courtesy of the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid) 5 Plan and Elevation of the Corral del Carbon, a fourteenth-century funduq m Granada (L. Torres Balbas, Al-Anda/us 11 (1946), facing p. 464) 6 Merchant weighing spices, thirteenth-century Castilian miniature ( Cantigas de Santa Marfa, cv, courtesy of the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid) 7 Merchants trading textiles and other goods ( Cantigas de Santa Maria, CLXXII, courtesy of the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid) 8 Merchant selling ceramics or goods in ceramic jars ( Cantigas de Santa Maria, cvm, courtesy of the Patrimonio N acional, Madrid) 9 Merchants buying bales of wool and loading them on a ship (Cantigas de Santa Maria, xxv, courtesy of the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid) XI

25

�

27 28 120 150 151 1 52

153

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many people have helped with this project, some with a timely word and others with their constant presence and support. Special thanks are due to Avram Udovitch and Mark Cohen, who encouraged me to use the Geniza and who were among those who read, re-read, or commented on my manuscript. Also to David Abulafia, Jonathan Berkey, Thomas Glick, Martha Howell, William Jordan, David Luscombe, David Nirenberg, Teofila Ruiz, Amy Singer, and Christopher Taylor whose advice, expertise, suggestions, and editorial good sense have saved me from many pitfalls. My thanks are also due to many others for their erudition, ideas, hospitality, encouragement, and friendship. Among these are Margaret Alexander, Caterina Baglietto, Derek and Dorothy Bell, Muhammad Benaboud, Corinne Blake, John Boswell, Robert Burns, Caroline Bynum, Mounira Chapoutot, Bill and Lynn Courtney, Heath Dillard, Elizabeth and Muhammad El­ Khattabi, Mercedes Garcia-Arena!, Eduardo Grendi, Francisco Hernandez, Jonathan Katz, Hilmar C. Krueger, Bernard Lewis, Victoria Lord, David Nicholle, Catherine Otten-Froux, Wim Phillips, Vito Piergiovanni, Geo Pistarino, John Pryor, Adeline Rucquoi, Robert Somerville, Wim Smit, Alan Stahl, Muham­ mad Talbi, Joaquin Vallve, and David Wasserstein. Special thanks, also, to William Davies and Anne Rix at Cambridge University Press, and to Eliza McClennen who drew the maps for this volume. My thanks go likewise to the archives and libraries where I have worked, and whose staff assisted me in my research. In Genoa, the Archivio di Stato in Genoa and Societa Ligure della Storia Patria. In Tunis, the National Library. In Madrid, the Real Academia de la Historia; the Instituto Miguel de Asin, CSIC; the Real Biblioteca del Escorial; the Biblioteca Nacional; the Casa de Velasquez; and the Instituto Hispano-arabe. In Xll

Rabat, the National Library. In the United States, the Columbia University Library, Princeton University Library, Yale Univer-:­ sity Library, and University of Wisconsin Library, Madison. Also the S.D. Goitein Geniza Research Laboratory at Princeton University and the American Numismatics Society in New York City. I am grateful for generous financial support from Princeton University and from the Council on Research and Faculty Development in the Social Sciences at Columbia University, and for fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Josephine De Karman Foundation, and the Mrs Giles Whiting Foundation. Finally, my special love and thanks to Giles and Matthew.

Xlll

ABB RE VIA TIO NS

AHDE AHR Annales: ESC Antonin ASG ASLSP BAH BGA BM Bodl BRABLB BRAH BSOAS DK Dropsie ENA Firkovitch Gottheil-Worrell JAOS JESHO Mosseri Madrid: MDI MGH

Anuario de la historia del derecho espaiiol American Historical Review Annales: economies, societes, civilisations Antonin Collection, St. Petersburg(*) Archivio di Stato, Genoa Atti della Societa ligure di storia patria Bibliotheca arabigo-hispana (ed. F. Codera) Bibliotheca geographorum arabicorum (ed. M. J. de Goeje) British Museum, London(*) Bodleian Library, Oxford(*) Boletin de la real academia de bellas letras de Barcelona Boletin de la real academia de la historia [Madrid] Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies David Kaufman Collection, Budapest(*) Dropsie College, Philadelphia(*) Elkan N. Adler Collection,Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York(*) Firkovitch Collection, St. Petersburg(*) Fragments from the Cairo Genizah in the Freer Collection. ed. R. Gottheil and W.H. Worrell, New York, 1927(*) Journal of the American Oriental Society Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient Jack Mosseri Collection(*) Ma' had al-dirasiit al-islamiyya [Madrid] Monumenta germaniae historica XIV

ROMM

Revue de ['Occident musulman et de la Mediterranee

Sassoon

David S. Sassoon Collection, Letchworth(*) Taylor-Schechter Collection in the University Library, Cambridge(*) University Library Collection, Cambridge(*) Westminster College Collection, Cambridge(*)

TS ULC Westminster College

(*) indicates collections of Geniza manuscripts cited according to the standard system used by Goitein and others. The shelf­ mark indicates their collection, and sometimes their size, volume, and folio. Thus, a document cited as TS IO J 12.7 comes from the Taylor-Schechter collection in the Univer­ sity Library, Cambridge, England. It is folio seven in volume twelve of the series of volumes ten inches long. TS manu­ scripts kept in glasses are catalogued differently (TS 12.251 designates number 251 of the series of glasses twelve inches long). Each collection uses a different system of shelfmarks for Geniza manuscripts. For further explanation and descrip­ tion, see S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society. [Berkeley, 1967-88], I, pp.xix-xxvi.

xv

Baghdad•

•

Marrakesh

Maghrib

i

N • Awdaghost Gao

0 o

400 Mi. 400 Km E.McC. '93

•Taheri

.

Marrakesh

Ifriqiya Maghrib • Sijilmasa

E.McC. '93

i

N

�uargla 0 0

200Mi. 200 Km

Prejace

Legal materials present a different array of complications, particularly since books of Islamic law, handbooks of formulae for writing contracts (wathii'iq), and manuals for the instruction and guidance of market inspectors (�isba books) tend to be prescriptive. Nevertheless, they contain many valuable details relating to commercial practice. Collections of juridical rulings {fatwas) addressed specific legal queries, with the answer attrib­ uted to a particular legal scholar (thus indicating the period and place of delivery). Many fatwas appear to record real commercial situations and merchant disputes. Biographical dictionaries de­ scribing the lives and travels of Muslim scholars are also of service because they mention scholars who were also merchants. These merchant-scholars may not be representative of all Muslim merchants, but they are virtually the only Muslim traders for whom we have any personal information. The Judeo-Arabic documents in the Cairo Geniza collection have been among the most important sources for this study. This cache of materials, including thousands of medieval letters and other papers, were preserved in a sealed room of a synagogue in Old Cairo where they were discovered in the late nineteenth century. Written in Arabic, but using Hebrew characters, many Geniza letters pertain to the affairs of Jewish merchants trading to and from Egypt during the eleventh and twelth centuries. Over two hundred of them contain references to Andalusis, Andalusi goods, and travel to Andalusi ports. The Geniza also includes Hebrew responsa and Jewish court records that show Andalusi Jewish merchants and their partners involved in suits which parallel those detailed in Muslimfatwas. Although there is some question as to the degree to which Geniza materials represent general trading patterns in the contemporary Mediter­ ranean, or merely Jewish trading patterns, at the very least they provide data on the movement of Jewish traders and their goods to and from Andalusi ports. I have had access to Geniza materials not only through published editions and translations, but also through the unpublished notes, transcriptions, photographs, and microfilms donated to Princeton University by the late S.D. Goitein, whose pioneering work demonstrated the value of this source. Latin and vernacular documents fill in the picture of Andalusi commercial contact with Christian Spain and other areas of Europe. Town charters {fueros) from Castile, Aragon, and Portuxx

Preface gal often include tariff schedules, demonstrating the kinds of goods (Andalusi and otherwise) that were traded in northern markets. Similar lists of commercial tolls are available from Italian and Provern;al cities, and later from ports in northern Europe. Notarial registers are also of value, since they record contracts for merchant voyages to Iberian ports or sales of Andalusi commodities. The earliest surviving registers, dating back to the I 1 50s, are preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Genoa, and later contracts are available in Marseilles, Savona, Vich, and other cities. Christian chronicles, legal and royal decrees, diplomatic materials, records of ecclesiastical donations, and secular literature also provide data on Andalusi commercial activity. Physical evidence from the fields of archeology, art history, and numismatics also yields clues about Andalusi international commerce and economic contacts. For example, the Pisan bacini (ceramic dishes or fragments used in architectural decoration) demonstrate the diffusion of Andalusi and Christian Spanish ceramics to Italy from the eleventh to fifteenth centuries. The nature of their material strongly suggests that these items arrived in Italy through commerce. In contrast, the wide diffusion of Andalusi coinage may result from economic and commercial contact or from some other means of transfer. It is difficult to evaluate and use these disparate pieces of informa­ tion. On the one hand, it can be argued that the relative scarcity of data relating to Andalusi trade indicates that commercial exchange was neither important nor widespread. I believe other­ wise. Although it is impossible to quantify precisely the numbers of merchants, size and value of cargoes, or frequency of commer­ cial voyages in any given year, there is much to be gained from looking at a variety of documentation. Even a few references to trade, if scattered, are likely to reflect a larger reality. There is little source material attesting to trade between Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) and Pisa, for instance, yet its existence is proved in the diverse bits of information that survive. There is a Pisan tariff schedule from the second half of the twelth century noting levies on vessels arriving from Andalusi ports, and there are contemporary diplomatic documents drawn up between Almo­ had rulers and Pisa that refer to commercial matters. Chronicles likewise note Pisan maritime expeditions in Andalusi waters, XXJ

Preface while the Pisan bacini mutely testify to the transfer of ceramics between Spain and Italy. No notarial contracts survive to record Pisan mercantile expeditions to Andalusi ports, but here we may extrapolate from the Genoese notarial data. Since Genoa and Pisa had similar commercial aspirations (creating competition between the two cities) and because Genoese records parallel those cited above for Pisa, it is probable that Pisan merchants formed partnerships and made voyages very like those shown in the Genoese contracts. By examining the network of commercial routes to and from Iberian ports, the different types of merchants, and the variety of commodities exported from the peninsula, it is possible to reconstruct the quality of international trade, even without being able to quantify the volume of trade in any given period. Nevertheless, the patch-work of data does allow an educated guess as to changes in volume of trade between periods. Al­ though lack of evidence does not necessarily prove that some­ thing did not exist, a sharp decrease or sudden increase in material may well signal a real change. This is particularly true in cases where there is external evidence supporting an observed variation in data. The scarcity of Geniza records after the middle of the twelth century, for example, gives the impression of a decline in Jewish activity in Andalusi trade. It would be difficult to accept this evidence alone as indicative of a real phenomenon without the accounts of contemporary persecution of Jews in al­ Andalus and the concurrent appearance of Italian merchants in Andalusi trade. Likewise, when sources documenting Andalusi trade with Muslim ports decline in the second half of the thirteenth century, this probably reflects a true shift in trade because at the same period quantities of data suddenly appear showing traffic between the Iberian peninsula and Europe. This book is concerned primarily with international trade, not with the internal Andalusi economy. To some extent, the distinc­ tion between international commerce and internal economy is artificial, since the former was an extension of the latter and dependent in many respects on local markets and regional produc­ tion. International commerce is set apart by the fact that it formed its own profession, however, and the merchants who handled this trade specialized in buying and selling goods over long distances rather than at the local level. International trade xxn

Preface may thus be considered independently as an instrument of contact between the internal Andalusi economy and the wider European­ Mediterranean sphere. The terms long distance, international, and cross cultural, all carry their own particular connotations and associations. For the purposes of this study, long-distance trade is the most general term since it applies to virtually all of the commercial activity under consideration whether between Iberian cities only a few days journey apart or between al-Andalus and the Near East. International trade is used for external Andalusi commerce with both Europe and other regions of the Islamic world (diir al­ Isliim). Because medieval frontiers were not perceived in the same way as modern national borders, the term international here applies not only to trade between regions under different political regimes, such as two kingdoms within the peninsula, but also to trade between traditional geographical regions such as the Iberian peninsula, North Africa, Egypt, and Europe. Cross cultural, on the other hand, is used for trade across a multiple frontier of language, religion, cultural heritage, and ethnicity. 1 Andalusi trade was cross cultural when it involved traffic with northern Spain, Europe, or Byzantium. In contrast, trade with other areas of the Islamic world was often long distance and international without being cross cultural. The diversity of the Iberian peninsula, with its heritage of multiple religions, cultures, and languages, poses terminological difficul­ ties. These begin with the name Spain itself, which is used here for reasons of simplicity and convenience to mean the entire Iberian peninsula, unless modified as Christian or Muslim (or Islamic). The preferable term for Muslim Spain, however, is the Arabic al­ Andalus. Al-Andalus is used in contrast to Andalusia (southern Castile in the later middle ages), and Andalusi (pertaining to al­ Andalus) in contrast to Andalusian (pertaining to Andalusia). A number of conventional geographical designations (Europe, the Near East, the Mediterranean world, and the Muslim world) are used, even though their borders are vague or variable. Wherever possible, however, I have favored more specific designations, such as Castile, Aragon, Portugal, or Granada. 1

This is similar to the definition laid out by P. Curtin in History (Cambridge, 1984). XXlll

Cross-Cultural Trade in World

Preface Other terms also present difficulties, particularly when reli­ gious, ethnic, or linguistic designations are stretched to apply to political or geographical entities. The Muslim world, for exam­ ple, encompasses all regions under the administration of Muslim rulers, although Christians and Jews lived within its borders. Similarly, Muslim trade generally means trade carried out by Muslims as opposed to trade in the Muslim world (which had many participants). Arab trade likewise means commerce among Arabs, whereas Arabic trade is conducted in Arabic (thus includ­ ing many non-Arabs and non-Muslims). Analogous problems may arise with the terms Christian and Latin. It is almost impossible to be entirely consistent in the use of place names and personal names, but where an English form exists I have almost always chosen to use it. Thus, I prefer Castile over Castilla; Old Cairo or Fustat over Fustat; Almeria over both Almeria and al-Mariyya. Despite this general rule, some names are used in their original language for the sake either of specificity or variety. Most personal names have likewise been anglicized where there is a common equivalent. Iberian monarchs have become James (thus avoiding the confusions of Jaime/Jaume), Peter, and Ferdinand, but Alfonso retains its Castil­ ian spelling. Latin first names have also generally - but not invariably - been rendered in English. Names in Arabic and Hebrew present a slightly different problem, and most have retained their original spellings following the system of translitera­ tion laid out in the International Journal of Middle East Studies. Thus, I use Mul?.ammad (rather than Mohammed), 'Ali, and so forth. Names like Ibrahim, Yusuf, or Ya'qiib are given in their Arabic forms, whether they belonged to Muslims or Jews, if references come from Arabic or Judeo-Arabic texts. A few eccentricities persist, nonetheless, as with such well-known names as Moses b. Maimon (or Maimonides) or Benjamin of Tudela. Where a nisba (that part of an Arabic name that denotes a person's place of origin, such as Andalusi, Baghdadi, etc.) is used, it is written without the final long i (thus, Andalusi and Baghdadi) unless the full name is given. Except for the place names al-Andalus and al-Mahdiyya, the initial al- (the definite article) has been dropped, so that al-Idrisi becomes merely Idrisi, al-Maqqari becomes Maqqari, al-Razi becomes Razi, and so forth. The definite article has been retained however, but not elided, when it appears in the middle of a XXIV

Preface name (i.e., 'Abd al-Ral).man, not 'Abd ar-Ral).man). The use, or abuse, of the definite article presents a special problem in the context of names such as Almoravid (from al-Murabit) and Almohad (al-Muwahid) in which the Arabic definite article has been incorporated into the English form of the name. Techni­ cally, it is redundant to refer to the Almoravids or the Almohads, but it usually sounds odd to use these names in English without the article. Likewise, there is the nicety that, in Arabic, a term such as dar al-Islam or Sharq al-Andalus (eastern al-Andalus) should not be preceded by the definite article because this is already implied. Again, for the sake of English grammar, I write of the dar al-Islam and the Sharq al-Andalus. In the interests of familiarity, I have as a rule favored the Christian system of dating, but in a few cases a Muslim date is also given to reflect a citation from an Arabic text.

Chapter 1

THE MARKET AT THE EDGE OF THE WEST

For most of the medieval period, the Iberian peninsula experi­ enced the paradox of an existence between two worlds. Situ­ ated at the western edge of the Muslim Mediterranean and the southern edge of Christian Europe, it was part of both yet not fully part of either. Distance continually accentuated the peninsula's liminality, while at the same time the region remained an accepted element within both Muslim and Christ­ ian views of the world. From the eighth to the fifteenth centu­ ries, the peninsula belonged to two spheres, Christian in the north and Muslim in the south, with a border which shifted southward over the centuries. As a frontier, Spain (by which I intend the entire peninsula) provided a gateway between Christ­ ian and Muslim worlds, giving passage to diplomats, scholars, refugees, soldiers, and merchants. This book will concentrate on the passage of merchants and their goods to and from Muslim Spain (al-Anda/us in Arabic) from the tenth through the twelfth century. International trade and traders helped to preserve ties between al-Andalus and other reg­ ions of the Mediterranean world, both Muslim and Christian. During these three centuries, the peninsula formed a distinct political, cultural, and economic entity incorporated within the larger Muslim world (diir al-Islam). Although geographically dis­ tant from Cairo and Baghdad, Mecca and Jerusalem, Andalusi cities remained in close contact with the Muslim east, and al­ Andalus was very much part of the Islamic Mediterranean mental, religious, and commercial sphere. Even in times of political dis­ cord between Muslim regimes in east and west, communications remained open as travelers, letters, and commodities passed back and forth with ease and regularity. Merchant ships and their car­ goes traveled across the Mediterranean between east and west with sufficient frequency to render a commercial voyage from

Trade and traders in Muslim Spain Egypt to al-Andalus something of "a humdrum experience".1 In most respects, Andalusi international trade during these three centuries matched wider patterns in the medieval Mediter­ ranean economy. The structure of Andalusi commerce was similar to contemporary trade elsewhere, and there was nothing particularly unusual in Iberian commercial techniques, merchant relations, shipping, governmental attitude toward trade, or market forces. As Braudel has observed, over the long term there were "identical or near-identical worlds . . . on the borders of such countries as far apart and in general terms as different as Greece, Spain, Italy, North Africa ... [worlds which could] live at the same rhythm ... [with] men and goods ... able to move from one to another without any need for acclimatization". 2 For all these similarities, however, al-Andalus differed from other Muslim regions. The Iberian peninsula was on the border between Muslim and Christian spheres, and it was the only region of the Mediterranean world to remain a frontier for eight centuries. Al-Andalus played a unique role in western Mediter­ ranean commerce, serving as an economic transit zone and an emporium through which commercial connections stretched across the border between the Muslim world and the Latin west. From an Islamic Mediterranean viewpoint, al-Andalus was the market at the edge of the west: a consumer of eastern imports, an exporter of Andalusi goods, and a way-station for commodi­ ties coming southward from Europe into the diir al-Islam. From a Christian European perspective, al-Andalus was a point of contact with the Islamic trading domain and one of the channels through which desirable luxuries - eastern spices, precious metals, textiles, paper, and other items - might be obtained. Before the expansion of European commercial horizons and mercantile activity in the central middle ages, nearby Andalusi markets could supply many of the good things in Latin Christian life. This unique commercial function disintegrated in the first half of the thirteenth century, when the progress of Spanish Christian victories, together with parallel trends toward Christian military and commercial expansion elsewhere in the Mediterranean ' S.D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society. The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza. [Berkeley. 1967-88) 1, p. 42. ' F. Braudel, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. [New York, 1966) 1, p. 231. 2

The market at the edge of the west world, permanently realigned power in the peninsula. Economic changes went hand in hand with territorial conquest, as the peninsula reoriented its trade northward to Christian Europe and away from the Muslim world. A brief survey of Andalusi history is necessary in order to demonstrate the repercussions of political and economic events on the structure of Andalusi international trade. Al-Andalus became part of the Islamic world in 711, when a Muslim army crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, conquered the Visigoths, and established most of the peninsula as a western province under the rule of the Umayyad caliph in Damascus. When the Umay­ yads were ousted by the Abbasids in the middle of the next century, the center of eastern Muslim political, cultural, and economic power shifted to Iraq and al-Andalus became marginal­ ized. Perched at the edge of the Islamic west, al-Andalus took on an autonomous existence under the rule of its first amir, 'Abd al­ Ra}:iman I (756-88), one of the few surviving members of the Umayyad family. Despite the new independence of his realm, 'Abd al-Ra}:iman did not claim the title of caliph (though the 'Abbasids were not acknowledged in Andalusi Friday prayers) and the peninsula remained culturally aligned with the larger diir al-Islam. For two centuries, intellectual and religious developments in al-Andalus closely followed trends set in the east. Baghdadi poets and scholars were read and admired in the peninsula, though eastern readers paid little attention to western writings. Likewise, the inhabitants of ninth-century Cordoba, the Umayyad capital, were renowned for their slavish adherence to the fashions and manners of Baghdad, while Andalusi merchants, scholars, and pilgrims journeyed eastward seeking profit, learning, and reli­ gious fulfillment. During the eighth and ninth centuries, al-Andalus also commu­ nicated with Christian territories, both within the peninsula and beyond. Andalusi borders (thughur) with Christian Spain re­ mained fairly stable in this period, but Muslim armies held the upper hand. Although the Christian idea of reconquest (or recon­ quista, a crusade to win back territories lost to the Muslims in 711) may have taken root as early as the eighth century, it would not come to fruition for two centuries. Outside the peninsula, Umayyad interests extended as far as Byzantium, as shown by diplomatic contact between Cordoba and Constantinople

Trade and traders in Muslim Spain in the ninth century, but there is more evidence for relations between Cordoba and Aachen at this period. After Carolingian expansion into the Spanish March and their rout by Basques at Roncevalles (commemorated indelibly, if inaccurately, in the Song of Roland), embassies were exchanged between the Umayyad and Carolingian courts. Later diplomacy is also re­ corded between Umayyad and Ottonian rulers. 3 Commerce came along with other contacts, and Andalusi markets began to serve as channels through which Muslim commodities, from the peninsula and further east, found their way to consumers in northern Spain and elsewhere in the Latin west. In commercial terms, al-Andalus could take a more domi­ nant role in its relations with Christian regions than with the diir al-Islam. A skilled Andalusi workforce, with well-developed industries and sophisticated agriculture, had much to offer to the rural and less technologically developed northern kingdoms. Political developments in the tenth century brought an end to the somewhat subservient status of al-Andalus in relation to the eastern Islamic world. When the Umayyad ruler 'Abd al­ Ral).man III declared himself caliph in 929, Muslim Spain became a major player on the stage of Mediterranean politics and commerce. The declaration of an Andalusi caliphate was sparked by the contemporary decline (though not disappearance) of Abbasid power in Iraq and the rise of the Fatimids, a Shi'ite dynasty that had taken the unprecedented step of establishing the first rival caliphate in Tunisia in 909 (and in Egypt after 969). In assuming the title of caliph, 'Abd al-Rai).man positioned al-Andalus as an influential entity within the Muslim Mediter­ ranean, and he backed his claim with military and diplomatic force. During the 920s and 930s, Umayyad armies captured several ports along the North African coast, which served as buffers against the Fatimids, provided termini for Andalusi trade, and gave access to the gold-producing regions of West Africa. When Andalusi mints began to produce gold dinars for the first time in 929, these coins served to proclaim Umayyad economic and political power both at home and abroad. With the declaration of an Umayyad caliphate in al-Andalus, the appearance of a Fatimid caliphate in Tunisia and Egypt, and ' E. Levi-Provenpl, "Un echange d'ambassades entre Cordoue et Byzance au 1xe siecle," Byzantion 12(1937), pp. 1-24; A.A. el-Ha_iji, Andalusian Diplomatic Relations with Western Europe during the Umayyad Period. [Beirut, 1970].

4

The market at the edge of the west the decline of the