Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | Page 81

Conditions of Civil Peace and al-Andalus’: Does Al-Andalus qualify as a peaceful Kingdom
Mario Garcia Nieto • MA in History, Keele University
Al-Andalus, the Muslim kingdom of Spain (711 - 1031), exists in the public imaginary
as a lost paradise and a model of peaceful coexistence between religions. Nevertheless,
Al-Andalus was troubled by endemic civil wars and hostility within society. This essay
aims to analyze peace in al-Andalus from the internal policies perspective, society and
foreign affairs. In turn it argues that only during the reign of Abd al-Rahman III was the
kingdom internally pacified. Furthermore, it continued to wage external wars against
the Christian realms and the emergent Fatimid Caliphate. Therefore the concept of
‘peacefulness’ must be qualified.
Keywords: Peace Studies, Al-Andalus, Medieval Iberian History, Muslim Kingdoms
Foundations
Primary sources ideally constitute the main foundation for any historical essay. Unfortunately, this project
was only able to use two primary sources due to the limited number pertaining to al-Andalus; those that
exist were not open-source. Nevertheless, as this piece will hope to evidence, secondary sources are
sufficient to answer the question as to whether peace occurred in al-Andalus. Here, peace is understood
as the absence of violence: violence here is defined as external conflict (wars) or internal conflict
(rebellions, civil wars or repressions). Two primary sources have been used in writing this essay: "The
History of Ibn al-Qutiya" and “The history of the Judges of Cordoba”. Unfortunately, “The History of Ibn
al-Qutiya" mainly focused upon military campaigns and praises the goodness and justness of Emirs. While
these praises can indicate Emirs’ inclination towards peace, they could also simply relate to the envisioned
goal that Emirs ought to attain rather than to their real practice.
“The history of the Judges of Cordoba” is more illuminating. It is a contemporary text based upon
first-hand stories, although in many cases these stories were passed from person to person and could
have been altered, especially those that happened decades prior to their writing. The text describes the
life of the judges of Cordoba over the course of at least two centuries, from which accounts both the daily
life of the city and how jurists specifically contributed to social stability can be deduced; social stability is
here understood as the absence of conflict such as revolts or feuds. Al-Jonaxi, the author, gives
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