Document Type

Article

Department

History (Pomona)

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Keywords

History-Religious aspects, Kings and rulers, Muhammad, Islamic Empire

Abstract

This curious Latin chronicle was written in April 883 by an anonymous Christian historian close to the court of Alfonso III of Asturias (Spain). It contains lists of Christian and Muslim rulers in Spain, a highly pejorative "life of Muhammad"* that depicts him as a quintessential false prophet, and lots of speculation about the End of Time, which the author sees as intimately tied to the demise of the Islamic emirate of Córdoba. The fact that Asturian armies at the time were taking advantage of Umayyad weakness and raiding deep into Muslim territory accounts for the overly optimistic estimates of the imminent Christian domination of the peninsula. A generation later, the tables would be turned with the accession of Abd ar-Rahman III, the greatest of the Andalusian rulers.

Comments

Previously linked to as: http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/u?/irw,322

Rights Information

© 2008 Kenneth Baxter Wolf

Terms of Use & License Information

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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