Mozarabic art and architecture
Encyclopedia
Mozarabic Art refers to art of Mozarabs (from musta'rab meaning “Arabized”), Iberian Christian
s living in Al-Andalus
, the Muslim
conquered territories in the period that comprises from the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula
(711) to the end of the 11th century, adopted some Arab customs without converting to Islam, preserving their religion and some ecclesiastical and judicial autonomy. Initially, it can be said that all the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula
professed the Christian religion, because all of them were submitted to the Muslim power, with the exception of some Jewish collectives that existed in the country.
When the living conditions in Muslim Iberia
became less tolerable and the Christian kingdoms of the north of the peninsula initiated an expansion which needed populations to replace the displaced Muslims in the conquered lands, some of these Mozarabs opted to emigrate towards these territories where they were offered land. Their Hispano-Visigothic culture had been mixing with the Muslim and it is to be supposed that this contributed to the emerging cultures of the new Christian kingdoms in all fields. However it is unlikely that they were responsible for all of the artistic innovations brought to maturity in the kingdoms of the north during the 10th century.
Concluding the first phase of the artistic process that are generally comprised in the ample concept of "Pre-Romanesque" and that corresponds with the Hispano-Visigothic art, another stylistic current was initiated in Iberia, inheriting in many aspects of the earlier style, that is known as "Asturian art" and that was identified with the artistic creations that were being produced during the 9th century in the so-called "nucleus of resistance", specifically in the territories that comprised the kingdom of Asturias
. But the artistic activity, in general, and architectural, specially, was not limited to this area nor to this century, however encompassed all the northern peninsula and had continuity during the next century.
The displacement of the Christian-Muslim border to the Douro
basin allowed the construction of new temples (works on which all the artistic capacity available was concentrated) in demand of the necessities of re-settling. The now prosperous Northern kingdoms were in conditions to undertake that task, as they had already been doing, without depending on the hypothetical contributions of the incorporated Mozarabs, by which it could hardly be thought that all the religious buildings and all the artistic creations are owed to these mainly rural immigrants who, on the other hand, arrived in limitation of means and of resources. It does not appear that they were in conditions to bring to completion great artistic achievements those who had barely left any evidence of this in their place of origin.
After the publication in 1897 of the well-informed work in four volumes History of the Mozarabs of Spain (Historia de los mozárabes de España) by Francisco Javier Simonet, the professor and investigator Manuel Gómez Moreno published 20 years later (1917) a monograph about The Mozarabic Churches. And it is here where the Mozarabic character is applied to the churches constructed in Christian territory from the end of the 9th century until the beginning of the 11th, and where the term "Mozarabic" is instituted to designate this architectural form and all of the related art. The denomination had success and it is the one that has been used commonly, although without much rigor.
The Mozarabic character of the temples that Gómez Moreno referred to in his book has been questionad by modern historiography, including by the not so modern, that already José Camón Aznar in his Spanish Architecture of the 10th Century (Arquitectura española del siglo X) showed himself to be against such an interpretation, and after him Isidro Bango Torviso and many others have done so, to the point that the present-day tendency shows a trend towards the abandoning of "Mozarabic Art" denomination and its substitution by "Repopulation Art" (Arte de Repoblación) to refer to that period.
The principal exponent is religious literature: Mozarabic missals, antiphoneries and prayerbooks, created in the scriptorium
of the monasteries. Examples of quality and originality of the miniatures and illuminated manuscripts are the Commentarium in Apocalypsin (Commentary on the Apocalypse) from Beatus of Liébana
, Beatus of Facundus or Beatus of Tábara. Or antiphonaries like the Mozarabic Antiphonary of the Cathedral of León (Antifonario mozárabe de la Catedral de León).
Toledo and Córdoba were the most important Mozarabic centers. From Córdoba was the abbot Speraindeo
, who wrote an Apologetic
against Muhammad. And very important for the history of philosophy studies is the Apologetic of the abbot Sansón (864).
The Mozarabic architecture interpreted strictly in its definition, that is to say, that the Mozarabs in Muslim Iberia brought to completion, would be reduced to two examples:
Nevertheless, at a popular level, including in encyclopedias and books, the denomination that has kept prevailing is Mozarabic Art and among the most important that can be cited in Spain and Portugal, the following can be counted as Mozarabic:
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s living in Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
, the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
conquered territories in the period that comprises from the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula
Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania is the initial Islamic Ummayad Caliphate's conquest, between 711 and 718, of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania, centered in the Iberian Peninsula, which was known to them under the Arabic name al-Andalus....
(711) to the end of the 11th century, adopted some Arab customs without converting to Islam, preserving their religion and some ecclesiastical and judicial autonomy. Initially, it can be said that all the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
professed the Christian religion, because all of them were submitted to the Muslim power, with the exception of some Jewish collectives that existed in the country.
Context
The Mozarabic communities maintained some of the Visigothic churches that were older than the Arab occupation for the practice of their religious rites and were rarely able to build new ones, because, even though a certain religious tolerance existed, the authorizations for building new churches were very limited. When permitted, new churches were always in rural areas or in the cities' suburbs, and of modest size.When the living conditions in Muslim Iberia
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
became less tolerable and the Christian kingdoms of the north of the peninsula initiated an expansion which needed populations to replace the displaced Muslims in the conquered lands, some of these Mozarabs opted to emigrate towards these territories where they were offered land. Their Hispano-Visigothic culture had been mixing with the Muslim and it is to be supposed that this contributed to the emerging cultures of the new Christian kingdoms in all fields. However it is unlikely that they were responsible for all of the artistic innovations brought to maturity in the kingdoms of the north during the 10th century.
Concluding the first phase of the artistic process that are generally comprised in the ample concept of "Pre-Romanesque" and that corresponds with the Hispano-Visigothic art, another stylistic current was initiated in Iberia, inheriting in many aspects of the earlier style, that is known as "Asturian art" and that was identified with the artistic creations that were being produced during the 9th century in the so-called "nucleus of resistance", specifically in the territories that comprised the kingdom of Asturias
Kingdom of Asturias
The Kingdom of Asturias was a Kingdom in the Iberian peninsula founded in 718 by Visigothic nobles under the leadership of Pelagius of Asturias. It was the first Christian political entity established following the collapse of the Visigothic kingdom after Islamic conquest of Hispania...
. But the artistic activity, in general, and architectural, specially, was not limited to this area nor to this century, however encompassed all the northern peninsula and had continuity during the next century.
The displacement of the Christian-Muslim border to the Douro
Douro
The Douro or Duero is one of the major rivers of the Iberian Peninsula, flowing from its source near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province across northern-central Spain and Portugal to its outlet at Porto...
basin allowed the construction of new temples (works on which all the artistic capacity available was concentrated) in demand of the necessities of re-settling. The now prosperous Northern kingdoms were in conditions to undertake that task, as they had already been doing, without depending on the hypothetical contributions of the incorporated Mozarabs, by which it could hardly be thought that all the religious buildings and all the artistic creations are owed to these mainly rural immigrants who, on the other hand, arrived in limitation of means and of resources. It does not appear that they were in conditions to bring to completion great artistic achievements those who had barely left any evidence of this in their place of origin.
After the publication in 1897 of the well-informed work in four volumes History of the Mozarabs of Spain (Historia de los mozárabes de España) by Francisco Javier Simonet, the professor and investigator Manuel Gómez Moreno published 20 years later (1917) a monograph about The Mozarabic Churches. And it is here where the Mozarabic character is applied to the churches constructed in Christian territory from the end of the 9th century until the beginning of the 11th, and where the term "Mozarabic" is instituted to designate this architectural form and all of the related art. The denomination had success and it is the one that has been used commonly, although without much rigor.
The Mozarabic character of the temples that Gómez Moreno referred to in his book has been questionad by modern historiography, including by the not so modern, that already José Camón Aznar in his Spanish Architecture of the 10th Century (Arquitectura española del siglo X) showed himself to be against such an interpretation, and after him Isidro Bango Torviso and many others have done so, to the point that the present-day tendency shows a trend towards the abandoning of "Mozarabic Art" denomination and its substitution by "Repopulation Art" (Arte de Repoblación) to refer to that period.
Literature
History of the book
The history of books follows a suite of technological innovations for books. These improved the quality of text conservation, the access to information, portability, and the cost of production...
of the monasteries. Examples of quality and originality of the miniatures and illuminated manuscripts are the Commentarium in Apocalypsin (Commentary on the Apocalypse) from Beatus of Liébana
Beatus of Liébana
Saint Beatus of Liébana was a monk, theologian and geographer from the Kingdom of Asturias, in modern northern Spain, who worked and lived in the Picos de Europa mountains of the region of Liébana, in what is now Cantabria and his feast day is February 19.-Biography:He created an important...
, Beatus of Facundus or Beatus of Tábara. Or antiphonaries like the Mozarabic Antiphonary of the Cathedral of León (Antifonario mozárabe de la Catedral de León).
Toledo and Córdoba were the most important Mozarabic centers. From Córdoba was the abbot Speraindeo
Speraindeo
Speraindeo was a Córdoban Mozarabic abbott, teacher of Eulogius and Alvarus Paulus.Few details are known about his life. He was the abbot of the Monastery of Santa Clear, near Córdoba, during the era of the caliphate. Apart from his writing, he worked to conserve Latin Christian culture in Muslim...
, who wrote an Apologetic
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
against Muhammad. And very important for the history of philosophy studies is the Apologetic of the abbot Sansón (864).
Architecture
The principal characteristics that define the Mozarabic architecture are the following:- A great command of the technique in construction, employing principally ashlar by length and width.
- Absence or sobriety of exterior decoration.
- Diversity in the floor plans, certainly the majority stand out by the small proportions and discontinuous spaces covered by cupolas (groined, segmented, ribbed of horseshoe transept, etc.).
- Use of the horseshoe archHorseshoe archThe horseshoe arch, also called the Moorish arch and the Keyhole arch, is the emblematic arch of Islamic architecture. They were formerly constructed in Visigothic Spain. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form....
, a very tight arch with the slope being two-thirds of the radius. - Use of the alfizAlfizThe alfiz is an architectonic adornment, consisting of a moulding, usually a rectangular panel, which encloses the outward side of an arch...
. - Use of the columnColumnA column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
as support, crowned by a Corinthian capitalCorinthian orderThe Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
decorated with very stylized vegetable elements. - The eaves extend outwards and rest on top of corbels of lobes.
The Mozarabic architecture interpreted strictly in its definition, that is to say, that the Mozarabs in Muslim Iberia brought to completion, would be reduced to two examples:
- The Church of Bobastro: rock temple located in the place known as Mesas de Villaverde, in ArdalesArdalesArdales is a town and municipality in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. The municipality is situated approximately 62.5 kilometres from Málaga.-Main sights:...
(MálagaMálagaMálaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
), of which only some ruins remain. - The Church of Santa María de MelqueSanta María de MelqueSanta María de Melque is a church in the border municipality of San Martín de Montalbán in the province of Toledo , 30 km south of the capital, and equidistant from the towns of La Puebla de Montalbán and Gálvez, between the brook Ripas and the river Torcón, a tributary of the river Tagus.Of...
: located in proximity to La Puebla de MontalbánLa Puebla de MontalbánLa Puebla de Montalbán is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.Located in a plain of the River Tajo.-Government:...
(ToledoToledo (province)Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila....
). With respect to this temple, its stylistic parentage is in doubt, because it shares Visigothic features with other more proper Mozarabic features, nor its date being clear.
Nevertheless, at a popular level, including in encyclopedias and books, the denomination that has kept prevailing is Mozarabic Art and among the most important that can be cited in Spain and Portugal, the following can be counted as Mozarabic:
- In Castile and LeónCastile and LeónCastile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
:
-
- - San Miguel de Escalada (León)
- - Santiago de PeñalbaSantiago de PeñalbaSantiago de Peñalba church is a Mozarabic church in the Valle del Silencio in the region of El Bierzo, close to Ponferrada, province of León, Community of Castile and León, Spain....
(León) - - Santo Tomás de las OllasSanto Tomás de las OllasThe Santo Tomás de las Ollas hermitage is situated in the town with the same name close to Ponferrada, León .-History:The name of the hermitage, taken from the town Santo Tomás de las Ollas , comes from the main occupation of that locality: pottery...
(León) - - San Baudelio de BerlangaSan Baudelio de BerlangaThe Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga is a church situated at Caltojar, province of Soria, Spain, 80 km south of Berlanga de Duero. It is an example of Mozarabic architecture and was built in the 11th century, in what was then the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands...
(Soria) - - San Cebrián de MazoteSan Cebrián de MazoteSan Cebrián de Mazote is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 200 inhabitants.- External links :*...
(Valladolid) - - Santa María de Wamba (Valladolid)
- - San Salvador de Tabara (Zamora)
- In CantabriaCantabriaCantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
:
-
- - Santa María de Lebeña (Cantabria)
- In AragónAragonAragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
:
-
- - San Juan de la PeñaSan Juan de la PeñaThe monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a religious complex in the town of Santa Cruz de la Serós, at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the...
(Huesca) - - Church of the Serrablo (Huesca), as the Church of San Juan de Busa
- - San Juan de la Peña
- In La RiojaLa Rioja (Spain)La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...
-
- - San Millán de Suso (San Millán de la Cogolla)
- In CataloniaCataloniaCatalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
:
-
- - San Quirce de Pedret (Barcelona)
- - Santa María de Marquet (Barcelona)
- - Church of San Cristóbal (Barcelona), in the municipality of Vilassar de MarVilassar de MarVilassar de Mar is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Premià de Mar and Cabrera de Mar, to the north-east of Barcelona. The town is both a tourist centre and a dormitory town for Barcelona, and is also known for its horticulture...
, at 30 km from BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... - - San Julián de Boada (Gerona), located in the small hamlet of the same name, in the comarca of Baix EmpordàBaix EmpordàBaix Empordà is a comarca in Catalonia, Spain, one of the two into which Empordà was divided in the comarcal division of 1936. It is popularly known as L'Empordanet .- Geography :...
(Gerona) - - Santa María de Matadars (Barcelona), in the municipality of El Pont de Vilomara i Rocafort
- In Galicia:
-
- - San Miguel de Celanova (Orense)
- In PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
:
-
- - São Pedro de Lourosa (Lourosa da Beira)
- - Catedral de Idanha-a-Velha (Idanha-a-VelhaIdanha-a-VelhaIdanha-a-Velha is a parish in the east of Portugal, in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, and in the district Castelo Branco. It covers an area of 20.98 km² and had a population of 79 as of 2001.-History:...
)