Home

Since the start of the semester, we have explored the high degree of religious, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of medieval Iberia.  At that time, from the 8th C to the 14th c, there were Christians, Jews, and Muslims living together in complex relationships with one another.  These groups came from a diversity of places as well: Arabia, the Middle East, eastern Europe, Iberia itself, and north Africa.  We have also explored the later historical phenomenon of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).  Here, as well, there was a plurality of religions, political ideologies, ethnic groups, and national communities vying for power and participating in territorial and cultural endeavors.   
We have, and will continue to explore a number of distinct themes comparing medieval examples to 20th century ones, including art (painting, mosaics, sculpture, etc.), architecture, gardens and public spaces, diplomacy and propaganda, gender and identity, famous characters, music and literature, and food and feasting.  We have but touched upon these themes in class, but in each theme there exist many specific examples that might be compared.  For example Picasso’s Guernica might be compared to the medieval frescoes in the palace of Berenger de Aguilar, which also depict a conflict.  There are other themes that you might have an interest in, such as technology; some of you have spoken about astrolabes in the museums we’ve visited, and perhaps these might be compared to technologies of warfare introduced during the Spanish Civil War.  
In this essay, we ask you to choose a topic that interests you and compare and contrast it between the medieval and modern periods.  ( my topic is  Islamic technology and civil tactics being used compared to the civil war)
Make an argument in your essay that clearly articulates one strong point of comparison about this topic across these two time periods.  Your essay should include the following:
Introduction:
with a strong thesis (argument) and
explanation of how you will make (organize) your argument, summarizing your claims (steps in making your argument)
Body paragraphs:
Well organized with topic sentences announcing your claims, 
followed by specific evidence taken from your sources (see below).  
Inclusion of specific evidence, well articulated through descriptive analysis.  This evidence must be of TWO types:
Secondary sources (ideas explained by scholars in articles or books)
Primary sources (texts and/or images/works of art from the periods you are discussing)
Conclusion
Citations/Bibliography
Sources must be both primary and secondary
Use at least 6 primary sources
Use at least 8 secondary sources
You must cite your sources throughout the essay and in a final list of sources (bibliography), using at the very least both Brann and Ramirez. (Feel free to use Chicago or MLA styles, but be sure to be consistent.)
Your essay should be 1750-2250 words, in 12 pt. font
these are some sources i got and it can be used but it can change
Southey, Robert, V. S. Pritchett, and René Ben Sussan. The Chronicle of the Cid. Heritage Press, 1958.
Thabet, Slim. “The Circuit in the History of Economic Thought: The Contribution of Ibn Khaldûn.” International Journal of Political Economy 52
Burgess, Glyn S., ed. The Song of Roland. Penguin Classics. Penguin Books, 1990. 
Hanning, Robert W. 2015. “Inescapable History: Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain and Arthurian Romances of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.” In Romance and History: Imagining Time from the Medieval to the Early Modern Period, edited by Jon Whitman, 55–73. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature: 92. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, John. 2000. “The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision Kamen Henry.” The Journal of Modern History 72 (2): 549–50. 
García-Arenal, Mercedes. 2004. “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain María Rosa Menocal.” Speculum 79 (3): 801–4. 
Fletcher, R. A. 1990. The Quest for El Cid. Knopf.
Glick, Thomas F. 1977. “Islam under the Crusaders: Colonial Survival in the Thirteenth-Century Kingdom of Valencia Robert Ignatius Burns.” Speculum 52 (1): 128–30. doi:10.2307/2856903.
Howson, Gerald. 2006. “The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939/The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge.” History Today 56
Vidal, Clara Almagro. 2017. “Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c. 1050–1614 Catlos Brian A.” Speculum 92 (4): 1171–72.
Gordon, Matthew S., and Mathew S. Gordon. 2011. “The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance, The Middle Ages Series Christopher MacEvitt.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 43 (1): 150–52.
Cohen, Mark R. 2018. “The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain Darío Fernández-Morera.”
 Deegan, Heather. 2001. “North Africa in Transition: State, Society and Economic Transformation in the 1990s Yahia H. Zoubir.” Africa Today 48 (4): 156–58.