FOURTEENTH-CENTURY SPANISH JEWS
One of the features of Islamic Spain was the relationship
between Muslims and Jews. Islam, Christianity and Judaism all shared very
similar religious traditions. Consequently, Muslim rulers in Spain and elsewhere
provided a certain amount of tolerance for followers of these other religions.
Spanish Jews were subject to a head tax but then allowed to pursue their lives
without molestation. There were only a few limitations to this toleration; they
were not permitted, for example, to own Muslim slaves. The Jews in Spain would
act as a liason between Islamic and Christian intellectuals. They even
translated many Arabic texts into Latin which contributed greatly to the
development of European philosophy and science.
Points to Ponder:
-- What are all these Jewish men (notice the beards) doing?
-- Being Jews, what book do you think they are all looking at?
-- How are they all dressed? Can you tell what kind of a structure they are in?
-- It is very faint, but note the Hebrew script in the upper right-hand corner of the image.