Abstract
What was the perception of the capture of Muslim Granada by the Catholic Kings in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century, at a time when Spain present and past was being opened up to the English and to the American scholar and tourist? To what extent were those who related these events concerned with historical accuracy, and how much were their accounts coloured by other considerations, be they political, religious or nationalistic?
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Bourke, Thomas: A Concise History of the Moors in Spain, London: Rivington (1811). Has the appearance of a scholarly work, but although there are some instructive notes in an appendix, no sources at all seem to be listed; pp.255–7.
Bowring, John: Observations on the State of Religion and Literature in Spain, made during a Journey through the Peninsula in 1819, in New Voyages and Travels, ed. Sir Richard Phillips, London, 1820–23, vol. 3.
Bowring, Lewin B: Autobiographical Recollections of Sir John Bowring, with a Brief Memoir, London: Henry S. King (1877).
Brabazon, E.J.: Historical Tales from the History of the Muslim in Spain, London: Jarrold (n.d. [1853]), Ch. 31, pp. 310–32.
Carrasco Urgoiti, MarÃa Soledad: El Moro de Granada en la literatura (Del siglo XV al XX), Madrid: Revista del Occidente (1956).
Conde, José Antonio: Historia de la dominación de los árabes en España, Madrid: GarcÃa (1820–21), 3 vols, vol. III, Chs 42 and 43, pp.251–65; also, Paris: Baudry (1840), pp.662–7, and translated into English by Mrs Jonathan Foster, London: Bohn (1854–55), 3 vols, vol. III, pp.396–403. The translation is often free and embellished.
Coppée, Henry: History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors, Boston: Little, Brown (1881), 2 vols, vol. II, 269–73. Coppée’s preface dated Lehigh University, 1 December 1880, indicates an erudite and critical approach to his sources; he is aware of Prescott and Irving (XV); severely critical of Gayangos, ‘an elegant and critical Arabic scholar’, for not having written a history of Muslims in Spain; notices that Maqqari’s work is ‘collated’ rather than written by him (XVII); understanding of Conde’s work: ‘owing to untoward circumstances, it is full of mistakes and repetitions’ (XVIII); dismissive of Cardonne (many errors, much carelessness); uses Abulfeda, Espana Sagrada, Nicolas Antonio (1783 edition), Mariana, Masdeu ‘the first critical history of Spain ever written’, and above all, Modesto La Fuente’s ten volume Historia General de España.
[Dunham, Samuel Astley]: The History of Spain and Portugal, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman, and John Taylor (1832–33), 5 vols. Being vols 29, 30, 32, 35 and 38 of The Cabinet Cyclopaedia,conducted by Rev. Dionysius Lardner; vol. II (1832) Book III, pp.116–19. Dunham’s account contains the unusual feature of a conversion table for the Muslim and Christian calendars, with vehement accompanying ‘observations’, claiming ‘scrupulous accuracy’, and insisting that ‘all [his italics] historians previous to Pagi and Masdeu have committed considerable errors, — none more than those of Spain’, (pp.XV-XXV). The date of the Granadan attempt to ‘procure favourable terms of capitulation from the Castilian’ is put at 25 November 1491 (the 22nd day of Muharram, 897) (p.117), and the date of the surrender by Abu Abdalla of the city itself on 4 January 1492 (the 4th day of the moon Rabia I) (p.118). His computation for the latter is:
Ford, Richard: A Hand-Book for Travellers in Spain, and Readers at Home, London: John Murray (1845), 2 vols, and ed. Ian Robertson, Fontwell, Sussex: Centaur Press (1966) and Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press (1966), 3 vols, vol. II, pp. 539–43.
[Gayangos, Pascual de]: ‘Moors’ in The Penny Cyclopaedia for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. XC, London: Charles Knight (1839), pp.384–90. The first work in English using al-Maqqari as a source. Acknowledges also Conde, Casiri, Masdeu and Cardonne.
Gayangos, Pascual de: The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain; by Ahmed Ibn Mohammed al-Makkari, London: Oriental Translation Fund (1843), 2 vols, II, pp.387–90. Chapter VII, pp. 368–92, in which the war of Granada is related, purports to be taken by Makkari from Abu Abdillah Muhammad Ibn al-Haddad ‘Al-Wadi-Ashi’ (from Gaudix).
Harvey, L.P.: Islamic Spain, 1250–1500, Chicago: University Press (1990), pp.310–23. This account is noteworthy for its inclusion of translations of forty-eight clauses in the treaties of 1491, some given in full and some, for reasons of space, abbreviated (pp.315–21).
Hitchcock, Richard: ‘Hispano-Arabic Historiography: the Legacy of J.A. Conde’, in Arabia and the Gulf from Traditional Society to Modern States. Essays in Honour of M.A. Shaban s 60th Birthday, ed. Ian Richard Netton, London: Croom Helm (1986), pp. 57–71.
Hoffman, Louise M.: ‘Irving’s Use of Spanish Sources in The Conquest of Granada’, Hispania, XXVIII (1945), 483–98.
Irving, Washington: A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada from the MSS. of Fray Antonio Agapida, London: John Murray (1829), 2 vols, and ed. Miriam J. Shillingsburg, Boston: Twayne (1988), vol. 13 of The Complete Works; pp.361–81 of the 1829 edition
see also Sylvia L. Hilton, Washington Irving: un romántico entre Europa y América, Madrid: C.S.I.C. (1986).
La Fuente, Modesto: Historia General de España desde los tiempos primitivos hasta la muerte de Fernando VII, continuada desde dicha época hasta nuestros dÃas por Don Juan Valera, Barcelona: Muntaner y Simon (1877–85), 6 vols: vol. II (1883), pp.301–3. This work was originally published 1850–59 in 30 vols. Makes good defect in Prescott’s history ‘el ultimo historiador que sepamos del reinado de los Reyes Catolicos’ by giving the texts of the capitulations from the ‘original’ in Simancas (pp.616–21). Claims to be the first to reproduce them in their entirety. Comments on the lack of historical documentation for Muza, whose ‘discurso no parece inverosÃmil’ but believes Conde to have translated his version from an Arabic historian who had made it up ‘para mostrar que aun habÃa fe y patriotismo en aquel crÃtico trance’ (302). Uses earlier Spanish sources, and trusts Conde.
Lane-Poole, Stanley: The Moors in Spain, with the collaboration of Arthur Gilman, London: Putnam (1888). Quotations are from the fifth edition, London: Fisher Unwin (1893), Ch. 13, pp.245–68. In his introduction, Lane-Poole acknowledges his deep indebtedness to two authorities, Dozy’s Histoire des Musulmans d’Espagne and AlMaqqari’s History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. Gayangos’s notes to the latter are singled out for particular praise. They ‘present a mass of valuable material which can be obtained nowhere else’ (p.x). Lane-Poole draws a veil over the ‘many Arabic historians, whose works have been consulted in the composition of the present volume, but who can hardly be recommended to the general student, as very few of them have found translators.’ (p.xi). By all appearance, however, Lane-Poole’s was not an original narrative.
Manzanares de Cirre, Manuela: Arabistas españoles del siglo XIX, Madrid: Instituto Hispano Arabe de Cultura ([1971]).
Mariana, Juan de: Historia General de España, Compuesta primero en LatÃn, después buelta en Castellano, Tomo Primero, Madrid: viuda de Alonso MartÃn (1617); Tomo Segundo, Madrid: Juan de la Cuesta (1616). This contains brief additions up to the year 1612. The Spanish edition was first brought out in 1601.
Mariana, John de: The General History of Spain, trans. Capt. John Stevens, London: Richard Sare (1699), Book 25, Chs 9 and 10, pp. 456–9.
Marmol Carvajal, Luis de: Rebelion i castigo de los moriscos de Granada, Granada (1600).
Monroe, James T.: Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship, Leiden: Brill (1970).
Oliver Hurtado, José y Manuel: Granada y sus monumentos árabes, Málaga: Oliver Navarro (1875), pp. 158–62. ‘Por último, se ajustaron varios pactos y conciertos en el pueblo de Churriana por los comisionados de ambas partes, y se trataron las capitulaciones públicas con otras secretas convenidas con Abu Abdillab [sic], para asegurar a él, a su familia y descendientes la posesión de sus respectivos bienes patrimoniales y de varios lugares en la Alpujarra’, (p.159).
Pescador del Hoyo, Ma. Del Carmen: ‘Cómo fué de verdad la toma de Granada, a la luz de un documento inédito’, Al-Andalus, XX (1955), 283–344.
George Power, Esq., Surgeon to His Majesty’s Forces: The History of the Empire of the Musulmans in Spain and Portugal, London: Stockdale (1815), pp.372–5. Dedicated to the Duke of Wellington. Sources mentioned include Florian, Marigny, and Cardonne. Introduction is dated ‘Coimbra, 1812’. Not derivative of Bourke, but there seems to be a common source or sources.
Prescott, William H.: History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, London: Richard Bentley (1838), Vol. II, pp. 174–81.
Roscoe, Thomas: The Tourist in Spain. Granada, illustrated from drawings by David Roberts, London: Robert Jennings (1835), 288pp., devoted almost wholly to ‘the circumstances of the fall of the Moors’ (p. VIII ), pp. 260–9.
Sargant, E.B. and Whishaw, Bernhard: A Guide-Book to Books, London: Henry Frowde (1891), pp. 286–90.
Soons, Alan: Juan de Mariana, Boston: Twayne (1982).
Starkie, Walter: Grand Inquisitor, being an Account of Cardinal Ximenez and His Time, London: Hodder and Stoughton (1939), pp. 170–82.
Swinburne, Henry: Travels through Spain in the Years 1775 and 1776, 2nd edn, London: Elmsley (1787), pp. 234–7.
Yonge, Charlotte M.: The Story of the Christians and Moors of Spain, London: Macmillan (1878), Chapter 26, pp.284–99. ‘The only popular history of this period in English of which I have heard’, according to Lane-Poole.
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Hitchcock, R. (2002). The Conquest of Granada in Nineteenth-Century English and American Historiography. In: Collins, R., Goodman, A. (eds) Medieval Spain. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403919779_13
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