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Reviewed by:
  • Conflict and Coexistence: Archbishop Rodrigo and the Muslims and Jews of Medieval Spain
  • Anna Sapir Abulafia
Conflict and Coexistence: Archbishop Rodrigo and the Muslims and Jews of Medieval Spain, by Lucy K. Pick. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004. 239 pp. $65.00.

Lucy Pick uses the figure of Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, who was archbishop of Toledo from 1209 to 1247, to convey a rich understanding of the meaning of convivencia in thirteenth-century Spain. Archbishop Rodrigo is ideally suited for this purpose. Not only was he an administrator, actively contributing to the Christian victory at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, he did everything he could to enhance the position of the see of Toledo, which had a sizeable Jewish population. As a scholar he penned numerous histories, including the De Rebus Hispanie and a History of the Arabs, and he was the author of a remarkable Christian-Jewish disputation, the Dialogus libri vite. [End Page 181]

Rodrigo saw Christian success in 1212 as part of his grander plan of unifying Spain under Christian rule. Pick argues convincingly that by Christian rule he meant not so much the temporal rule of Castile as the rule of the archbishop of Toledo, whom the pope had designated primate of Spain. Rodrigo's views on Christianizing Spain marks a shift in emphasis in casting the reconquest of Spain into crusading activity. The fact that he talked about Las Navas de Tolosa in these terms in his historical writings encouraged others to see it in a crusading light as well. But his crusading interests did not mean he could not envisage space for Muslims and Jews. Just as all temporal power should be subject to the Church, so should all non-Christians be under Church rule. This would provide a modus vivendi for a situation which he considered far from ideal. Theologically he thought human diversity entered onto the human scene after God shattered the Tower of Babel. Diversity between nations and tongues was highly regrettable because it took mankind away from the ideal of unity under God, unity itself. But although uniformity was not on the cards for fallen man, unity under Christian rule could and should be striven for. This is the framework for Rodrigo's understanding of convivencia, which Pick defines as "a cultural situation in which potential cooperation and interdependence in economic, social, cultural, and intellectual spheres coexist with the continued threat of conflict and violence" (p. 1). In other words, convivencia should not be seen as a goal in itself. That would be far too modern. It should be seen as a pragmatic solution for the realities of human diversity.

Pick sees this understanding of convivencia as underlying Rodrigo's activities as a theologian and, in particular, as a writer of polemics. Pick places Rodrigo at the center of the cultural activities in thirteenth-century Toledo. There Arabic texts concerning science, philosophy, and theology were being translated from Arabic into Latin through the collaborative efforts of Christians and Jews. Of especial interest is the evidence presented by Pick to show how Rodrigo and others in Toledo developed a school of thought that owed much to the thinking of Gilbert of Poitiers and those who built on his theological ideas, the so-called Porretani, in particular Alan of Lille. Pick explains how the assimilation of non-Christian knowledge, which could contribute to a better understanding of truth, was seen by Rodrigo as part of an overall effort to work towards greater Christian unity. The function of Christian-Jewish polemics, in her view, was not so much to convert the other as to underline the error of the Jews. The purpose was to bring about Christian conversion, in the sense of intensifying Christian religiosity, as well to reaffirm the superior position of Christians and to make plain what separated Christianity from Judaism. In this way it could be argued that polemics were a tool to hold the conflicting dynamics of convivencia in balance. It meant everyone knew where they [End Page 182] stood. These ideas could be disseminated through vernacular plays like the Auto de los Reyes Magos, which Pick places in...

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