<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><I>Hi Maura. This is one of those subject that could be approached in different ways. Though I tend to agree with u, largely, this period in Spain is historiaclly known as THE CONVIVENCIA, & even though it wasn't paradise all the time for Moslems/Christians/Jews living together...I don't know, maybe they had a better go at it than we're having right now....Simplistic, I know, but... What do u think?<BR>
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Abrazos de de Xosé Manuel<BR>
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In a message dated 2/25/2003 9:32:02 PM Eastern Standard Time, maurasantangeloaSTNY.RR.COM writes:<BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Actually I share your views, but decided to keep them out of the list<BR>
considering previous blunders into politics, I am always stunned when I<BR>
read in American publications about how the Moors Jews and Christians<BR>
all lived happily together in Andalusia. It is somewhat silly not to<BR>
discuss the true history of the pilgrimage and what it meant and how it<BR>
molded Europeans.<BR>
<BR>
I share a racial memory of fear with other Europeans about Muslims and<BR>
denying that it is there does not make it go away. I am reminded of<BR>
the incursions of the Saraceni every time I see lookout towers on the<BR>
coast of Tuscany. I see the current incursion and the changes that it<BR>
is bringing as being no less problematic than previous ones at the tip<BR>
of a scimitar. On the other hand there probably would have been no<BR>
Italian Renaissance without the Muslims.<BR>
<BR>
After all is said and done my name is Spanish and not Italian, some<BR>
ancestor left Spain sometime around 1492 or so family legend has it,<BR>
and the name might and does suggest a converso,<BR>
<BR>
Maura<BR>
<BR>
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