Place · Iberian Peninsula
Granada
Ancient names: Iliberri
Taifa kingdom where Samuel ha-Nagid was chief minister and where, in 1066, a mob killed his son Joseph and many Jews. The coordinate is that of the Pleiades record Iliberri, the ancient predecessor of the site.
37.1765°N 3.5979°W · representative coordinate · approximate · Pleiades 265921 ↗
Statements linked to this place
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Despite the changed political circumstances, the 'golden age' of Jewish culture continued. Like Hasdai under the caliphate, other Jewish scholar-leaders served the taifa kings' courts, Samuel ha-Nagid foremost among them, the Muslim ruler of Granada's trusted counselor and chief minister. In several poems he hints at having commanded troops in Granada's campaigns, and his achievements arguably mark the peak of what a dhimmi could attain in medieval Islam.
In 1066 a violent mob rose against Joseph and killed him along with many members of Granada's Jewish community. The episode, pogrom-like, shows that even in the 'golden age' a whole community could pay for the real or alleged misdeeds of one leader, and that medieval coexistence could turn into violence. Curiously, it is hardly known from Jewish sources and is described in contemporary Muslim Arabic ones.
Two Berber dynasties from North Africa intervened to hold back the Reconquista. The Almoravids came first, entering al-Andalus in 1086 after Toledo fell and imposing a severe religious regime: on taking Granada in 1090 they destroyed and scattered its Jewish community, which had barely recovered from the violence of 1066.
Community: Jews of Granada
Despite the changed political circumstances, the 'golden age' of Jewish culture continued. Like Hasdai under the caliphate, other Jewish scholar-leaders served the taifa kings' courts, Samuel ha-Nagid foremost among them, the Muslim ruler of Granada's trusted counselor and chief minister. In several poems he hints at having commanded troops in Granada's campaigns, and his achievements arguably mark the peak of what a dhimmi could attain in medieval Islam.
In 1066 a violent mob rose against Joseph and killed him along with many members of Granada's Jewish community. The episode, pogrom-like, shows that even in the 'golden age' a whole community could pay for the real or alleged misdeeds of one leader, and that medieval coexistence could turn into violence. Curiously, it is hardly known from Jewish sources and is described in contemporary Muslim Arabic ones.
Two Berber dynasties from North Africa intervened to hold back the Reconquista. The Almoravids came first, entering al-Andalus in 1086 after Toledo fell and imposing a severe religious regime: on taking Granada in 1090 they destroyed and scattered its Jewish community, which had barely recovered from the violence of 1066.