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"Was there ever a time in history when religious differences were not essential to an understanding of the daily lives of the individuals and groups who lived in the Iberian Peninsula?" asks Ana Echevarría in this book's introduction. Although many historians would argue that such interfaith harmony did not exist after the 13th century, Echevarría believes that she has found evidence of it 200 years later, among the so-called "Moorish knights" who served as the private guard for the kings of Castile. Her book describes and analyzes the creation, functions, and dissolution of this seemingly anomalous group.
Echevarría opens with a chapter introducing the three main players in her story: the Castilian Christians, the Castilian Muslims (Mudejars), and the Granadans. This chapter traces political developments in 15th-century Spain, including the complex alliances that led to the rise and fall of ten different sultans in Granada during the period coinciding with the reigns of two kings (Juan II and Enrique IV) in Castile. Chapter 1 also argues that a relatively generous Castilian policy toward the Mudejars, combined with turmoil and uncertainty in Granada, contributed to the defection of a steady stream of Muslim knights to Castile from 1410 to 1467.
In Chapter 2, Echevarría discusses conditions along the frontier between Granada and Castile, including the nature of frontier warfare, the use of truces, vassal relationships between Castilian kings and Granadan sultans, and the roles played by frontier nobility and by Muslims who switched sides...