[Gocamino] Judging Spanish history from a modern perspective

[Beth Williamson]

It is true that in southern Spain there were times and places where and when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in relative peace and cooperated.  Close examination shows those times and places to be scattered.  One may still see the mosques in Cordoba and Toledo, but they have been Christian churches for quite a long time.

It seems to me that the Muslims, who are currently getting blamed for promoting one single religion for an entire country today [Sharia law] are only following the lead of medieval Catholics who also tried to enforce religious conformity.  The whole Tudor period in England and on into the Stuart period is beset with the same attempts at conformity.  And we know that the early English settlers in New England wanted religious freedom for themselves but did not extend it to the Quakers for example. Religious conservatives in the US are very slow to accept the idea of large contingents of Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims in this country.

Joaquin, one of my colleagues in our foreign language department, is a native of Spain.  He says that the leftists in the Spanish Civil War killed his great aunts, two nuns.

Based on my readings of history, I had been inclined toward the republic and against Franco.  But Joaquin's side of the story reminded me that there was terrible suffering on both sides.  Picasso's Guernica gives us some hints.

Civil wars are always quite uncivil.  The history of the Americans who fought for the republic is interesting.  

The winners want everyone to forget.  The losers cannot forget, or,
in some cases, forgive.  Not knowing where one's parents are buried is sad indeed.

A Spanish book about the discovery of burial places is called Los Fosos de Franco-- don't know if it will come out in English.

I sometimes ask my students if they would have gone with the liberals and communists on one side of that war or the fascists on the other.

Has anyone seen Pan's Labyrinth, which seems to side with the liberals? Joaquin didn't like the film for that reason.

Beth Williamson

> Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 16:34:25 -0700
> From: highbell at sbcglobal.net
> To: gocamino at oakapple.net
> Subject: [Gocamino] Fw: Re:  Matajudios????
> 
> Thanks for the book recommendation, Linda.  I would also like to recommend The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal.  She does not go into detail about the reasons for the persecutions by the Catholic Monarchs, but it is a wonderful book about multicultural Spain.
> And, People of the Book byGeraldine Brooks is a well researched, fictionalized account of the Sarajevo Haggadah that discusses Spain in some detail.
> Happy reading to all of us medieval buffs.
> Bridget  
> 
> --- On Wed, 5/6/09, Linda McInnis <mrfsealah at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> From: Linda McInnis <mrfsealah at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Matajudios????
> To: "robert ward" <robtward99 at yahoo.ca>, "Ultreya" <ultreya at yahoogroups.com>, gocamino at oakapple.net, "Glenn Jilek" <guha2005 at hotmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 12:03 PM
> 
> For an excellent history of this period, I highly recommend "The Dogs of 
> God" by James Reston, Jr.  You'll never think of 1492 the same way. 
> Spain 
> once had a culture where Christians, Muslims and Jews lived in probably the 
> most harmonious society that ever was before or has been since.  What 
> happened?  Read the book!
> 
> Linda in Colorado
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "robert ward" <robtward99 at yahoo.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 12:13 PM
> To: "Ultreya" <ultreya at yahoogroups.com>;
> <gocamino at oakapple.net>; "Glenn 
> Jilek" <guha2005 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Matajudios????
> 
> > According to a local history published under the auspices of the town 
> > council of Castrojeriz, the origins of the name "Castrillo de
> Matajudios" 
> > go back to the 12th century, when 60 Jews of the Castrojeriz Jewish 
> > quarter were slaughtered by their fellow citizens for reasons unexplained.
> 
> > The remainder were obliged to leave the town and resettle in Castrillo. A 
> > premonition of greater dislocations to come.
> >
> >
> >
>  
> 
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