The Ornament of the World

Traveling through Cordoba, Granada, Seville and Toledo, we retrace the 800-year period in medieval Spain when Muslims, Christians, and Jews forged a common cultural identity that frequently transcended their religious differences. This remarkable story reveals what made this rare and fruitful collaboration possible, and what ultimately tore it apart.

The leader of the Muslim south, Al-Mansur, conducts raids against the Christian kingdoms of the north. The attacks unite his opponents against him, and prompt him to recruit conservative Berber mercenaries to strengthen his forces. But the Berbers are troubled by the growing materialism around them. When Al-Mansur’s death leads to a succession crisis in Cordoba, they sack the city.

In 750 the long-standing rulers of the Muslim empire, the Umayyads, are overthrown. The Abbasid family, who stage the coup, invite them back to the palace as a gesture of peace. But it’s a ruse. The Abbasids slaughter nearly all the Umayyads except Abd al-Rahman, a young prince, who escapes the onslaught and becomes the most hunted man in the Muslim empire.

Samuel the Nagid, who would become a poet and one of the most influential Jews in Muslim Spain, was discovered by the royal court of Granada as he worked in a spice shop in Malaga. He soon rose to the position of Vizier of Granada, second in power only to the king. His writing commenced the golden age of new Hebrew poetry.

In the mid-14th century, Muhammad V flees the Alhambra in Granada and seeks asylum in Seville at the Alcazar, the palatial home of Pedro I. The two men share an appreciation for each other’s architectural taste and accomplishments. They borrow extensively from each other, resulting in two great monuments that share a common architectural heritage.

Ibn Hazm was one of the most influential Arabic speaking writers and thinkers from the 11th century. He had a polemical relationship with his contemporary, Samuel the Nagid. Both men fled Cordoba after the fall of the caliphate. He is remembered most for a book about love, "The Neck Ring of the Dove."