Perceived boundaries became as important as actual physical boundaries, and the negotiation between religious groups took all this into account.ĢGiven that during the first process of colonization after the Christian conquest massive settlement in urban areas was difficult to achieve, as urbanization required specialized manpower, the Muslim and Jewish minorities were authorized to keep a portion of urban space, as is well known. The issue of borders as such was dealt with on a different scale to that of the extensive borderlands, but it was nevertheless always present. In practice, this complexity needed to be regulated through a complex set of inclusion and exclusion mechanisms, which involved strategies of assimilation, cohabitation and segregation all at the same time. At the same time, they are places where the ‘normative dimension’ of the border is defined 3. Even cities which were geographically remote from a particular borderline could behave as borderland cities in Iberia, subject to multiple factors of borderland life, including a multicultural atmosphere, the impact of migrants from both the Christian and the Muslim borderlines, hybridity in the sphere of material culture, and the presence of multiple and seemingly contradicting identities and negotiations between identity and territorial claims and counter-claims. Given the dynamic nature of the Iberian borders, it could be argued that this in fact is not the case. One of the elements of the first definition of frontier proposed by Gautier Dalché – constant contact with a different culture in densely populated areas – which was particularly intense in the urban environment of Iberian cities and towns raises the question of whether it is necessary for it to be in a strict borderland to enjoy the intercultural, dynamic social experience of border towns 2. It was defined by Gautier Dalché as a combination of three factors: constant contact with a different culture in densely populated areas a material, fortified frontier and the ideology of southward expansion 1. (.)ġThe Iberian “frontier” has often been identified as an ever-evolving landscape of political military frontiers marked by systems of fortifications. Bambrilla, “Exploring the Critical Potential. Gautier Dalché, “Islam et Chrétienté.”, The concept of borderland, was developed in the contex (.) Gautier Dalché, “Islam et chrétienté.”, followed by A. A localização destes bairros fechados contribuiu para a invisibilidade das minorias religiosas e para a sua exclusão da vida urbana. Do mesmo modo, as restrições à visibilidade das minorias nos espaços cristãos incluíram a inauguração de bairros isolados em cidades do norte de Castela. A invisibilidade foi utilizada para marginalizar grupos que foram percebidos como uma possível ameaça, pelo que as mesquitas e sinagogas não podiam ser construídas isoladas das casas circundantes. Os Mudéjares em Castela construíram novas mesquitas contra as leis canónicas e locais, enquanto que as comunidades judaicas aragonesas pagaram pelo seu direito a reconstruir sinagogas. A residência nas cidades podia variar desde habitações contíguas a bairros separados dentro de fronteiras reais ou imaginárias. Os limites físicos e sócio-religiosos urbanos foram continuamente redefinidos. The geographical setting of the closed quarters established after the Castilian Cortes of 1480 contributed to the invisibility of the religious minorities, resulting in the long run in their exclusion from urban life.Ī existência de muçulmanos sob domínio cristão (Mudejares) na Península Ibérica medieval e nos primórdios da moderna gerou fronteiras entre grupos religiosos e sociais. On the other hand, restrictions on minority visibility in Christian spaces included the inauguration of previously inexistent secluded neighbourhoods in northern Castilian towns. Invisibility was a very important tool to marginalize groups that were perceived as a possible threat, so the only requirement for mosques and synagogues was not to be set apart from surrounding houses. Mudejars in Castile had the possibility of building new mosques, thus breaking canon and local laws, whereas in Aragon, Jewish communities paid for their right to rebuild synagogues continuously. Residence in towns in the Iberian kingdoms could vary from contiguous housing to separate neighbourhoods based within real or imagined boundaries. Urban boundaries, both physical and socio-religious, were continuously redefined. The long existence of a Muslim population under Christian rule ( Mudejars) in the kingdoms of medieval and early modern Iberia gave way to the development of a number of boundaries between religious and social groups.
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