#alandalus — Public Fediverse posts

Ornate helmet, Muslim Spain, ~1500 AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/2040273/ornate-helmet-muslim-spain-1500-ad

5/5 🌟 Why He Matters Today
Ibn Daud reminds us that faith doesn't have to be afraid of reason. He was a bridge-builder between the scientific rigor of the Greeks and the spiritual depths of Judaism.
Next time you read Maimonides, remember the man from Toledo who set the stage. A pioneer, a polemicist, and a true intellectual rebel. 🕍✨
#History #JewishPhilosophy #Legacy #Toledo #AlAndalus

5/5 🌟 Why He Matters Today
Ibn Daud reminds us that faith doesn't have to be afraid of reason. He was a bridge-builder between the scientific rigor of the Greeks and the spiritual depths of Judaism.
Next time you read Maimonides, remember the man from Toledo who set the stage. A pioneer, a polemicist, and a true intellectual rebel. 🕍✨
#History #JewishPhilosophy #Legacy #Toledo #AlAndalus

¡Descubre la magia de la Feria Medieval de Silves 2026! 🎉 Viaja en el tiempo y sumérgete en la historia de Al Ándalus 🏯💫 en el sur de Portugal.

#Europa #Viajes #FeriaMedievalDeSilves #Algarve #Portugal #MedievalFestival #ViajesEnEuropa #AlAndalus

https://europa.tips/es/feria-medieval-silves-algarve-portugal-turismo

Adarga shield, leather and silk, Muslim Spain, some time before 1492 AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1991912/adarga-shield-leather-and-silk-muslim-spain-some-time-before-1492-ad

Muslim and Christian fortified towns in medieval Iberia

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/1982725/muslim-and-christian-fortified-towns-in-medieval-iberia

Catch a new post at the intersection of genetics and medieval Iberia. DNA from a man buried in a 6,000-year-old dolmen reveals mixed European, North African & Levantine ancestry — but tells us nothing about his faith. #Archaeogenomics #AlAndalus #Menga https://www.anthropology.net/p/two-men-one-ancient-monument-and

Catch a new post at the intersection of genetics and medieval Iberia. DNA from a man buried in a 6,000-year-old dolmen reveals mixed European, North African & Levantine ancestry — but tells us nothing about his faith. #Archaeogenomics #AlAndalus #Menga https://www.anthropology.net/p/two-men-one-ancient-monument-and

Catch a new post at the intersection of genetics and medieval Iberia. DNA from a man buried in a 6,000-year-old dolmen reveals mixed European, North African & Levantine ancestry — but tells us nothing about his faith. #Archaeogenomics #AlAndalus #Menga https://www.anthropology.net/p/two-men-one-ancient-monument-and

Catch a new post at the intersection of genetics and medieval Iberia. DNA from a man buried in a 6,000-year-old dolmen reveals mixed European, North African & Levantine ancestry — but tells us nothing about his faith. #Archaeogenomics #AlAndalus #Menga https://www.anthropology.net/p/two-men-one-ancient-monument-and

Catch a new post at the intersection of genetics and medieval Iberia. DNA from a man buried in a 6,000-year-old dolmen reveals mixed European, North African & Levantine ancestry — but tells us nothing about his faith. #Archaeogenomics #AlAndalus #Menga https://www.anthropology.net/p/two-men-one-ancient-monument-and

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1890498/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1890498/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1890498/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1888941/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1888941/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Ornate dagger, bone, ivory, steel, and precious metals, Muslim-ruled Granada, Spain, late 15th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyartifacts/p/1888941/ornate-dagger-bone-ivory-steel-and-precious-metals-muslim-ruled-granada-spain-late-15th

Muslim-employed Spanish soldiery of the 12th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/1879023/muslim-employed-spanish-soldiery-of-the-12th-century-ad

Muslim-employed Spanish soldiery of the 12th century AD

Muslim-employed Spanish soldiery of the 12th century AD

Muslim-employed Spanish soldiery of the 12th century AD

Muslim-employed Spanish soldiery of the 12th century AD

https://piefed.social/c/historyart/p/1879023/muslim-employed-spanish-soldiery-of-the-12th-century-ad

:stargif: 𝟏𝟐𝟏𝟐: 𝑳𝒂𝒔 𝑵𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒂, 𝒆𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒐́ 𝒆𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒆 :stargif:

En el verano de 1212 la península ibérica contenía la respiración.
El califa almohade Muhammad al-Nasir había cruzado el Estrecho con un ejército formidable.
Frente a él estaba Alfonso VIII, que no había olvidado la devastadora derrota de Alarcos en 1195.
Castilla sabía que sola no bastaba. León, Aragón y Navarra también.
La rivalidad entre reinos tuvo que ceder ante una realidad evidente: si no había unidad, habría sometimiento.

El papa Inocencio III proclamó cruzada.
Caballeros ultramontanos atravesaron los Pirineos y se concentraron en Toledo.
No todos permanecieron —muchos regresaron antes del choque decisivo—, pero el impulso ideológico fue claro.
El 16 de julio de 1212, en el paraje jienense de Las Navas de Tolosa, se produjo el enfrentamiento que cambiaría el equilibrio peninsular.

El despliegue almohade ocupaba posiciones elevadas y bien defendidas.
La jornada comenzó con dificultad para las fuerzas cristianas.
La vanguardia cedía, el terreno era abrupto y el enemigo resistía con disciplina.
Fue entonces cuando Pedro II de Aragón y Sancho VII de Navarra se unieron a Alfonso VIII en una carga coordinada contra el núcleo del campamento enemigo.
El objetivo era claro: quebrar el centro, donde se hallaba la guardia personal del califa.

Las crónicas hablan de la célebre “guardia negra”, un cuerpo de élite formado por guerreros africanos que protegían la tienda de al-Nasir.
La tradición sostiene que estaban encadenados entre sí para formar un muro humano.
Más allá de la literalidad del detalle —difícil de verificar con precisión—, lo cierto es que romper ese núcleo significó el colapso del dispositivo almohade.
El campamento cayó y el califa huyó hacia Marrakech.
La derrota fue total.

Alrededor de la batalla surgieron elementos que mezclan historia y leyenda.
El llamado “pastor guiador” habría mostrado a los cristianos un paso alternativo por Despeñaperros para sorprender al enemigo.
La tradición navarra atribuye a Sancho VII la ruptura de las cadenas que protegían la tienda del califa, motivo que desde entonces figura en el escudo del antiguo reino.
Son relatos transmitidos por crónicas posteriores, difíciles de separar del simbolismo político que acompañó a la victoria.

Las consecuencias fueron profundas.
No significó el fin inmediato de al-Ándalus, pero sí el principio del declive irreversible del poder almohade en la península.
El imperio norteafricano, que se presentaba como baluarte religioso y militar, entró en una crisis interna tras la derrota.
A la muerte de al-Nasir en 1213 —en circunstancias poco claras— siguió la fragmentación en las llamadas Terceras Taifas.

En el bando cristiano, la victoria tuvo un efecto psicológico decisivo.
Alfonso VIII consolidó su prestigio y murió en 1214 con la reputación restaurada.
Pedro II encontró la muerte un año después, en Muret, combatiendo en Occitania.
Sancho VII se retiró a Tudela; fue el último de su dinastía.
La historia no concede finales simples.

El triunfo abrió el valle del Guadalquivir a la expansión castellana.
Décadas más tarde, Fernando III el Santo culminaría ese impulso con la toma de Córdoba en 1236 y Sevilla en 1248.
Al-Ándalus quedó reducido al reino nazarí de Granada, que sobreviviría hasta 1492.

Conviene matizar algo importante: la victoria fue posible también por la logística y la preparación.
Las órdenes militares —como Santiago, Calatrava y el Temple— desempeñaron un papel decisivo en la disciplina y organización del ejército cristiano.
Además, el desgaste previo del poder almohade en el Magreb influyó en la falta de cohesión interna tras la derrota.
No fue solo una carga heroica; fue estrategia, oportunidad política y contexto internacional.

Las Navas de Tolosa no fueron un desenlace inmediato, sino un punto de inflexión.
Demostraron que la cooperación entre reinos rivales podía alterar el curso de la historia.
A veces, el equilibrio de un continente depende de algo tan frágil como una alianza mantenida a tiempo. ⚔️

/Según la tradición, un pastor local se presentó ante el campamento de Alfonso VIII y le indicó un sendero oculto que atravesaba la sierra por un paso secundario de Despeñaperros.
Gracias a esa ruta, el ejército cristiano habría logrado flanquear la posición almohade y situarse en ventaja estratégica.

No existe confirmación documental contemporánea que pruebe el episodio tal como se narra, y algunos historiadores lo consideran una elaboración simbólica posterior.
En la tradición popular incluso se identificó al pastor con san Isidro.
Sea real o legendario, el relato refleja la importancia del conocimiento del terreno en el resultado de la batalla./

▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣▣

#historia #edadmedia #reconquista #lasnavasdetolosa #alfonsoviii #pedroii #sanchovii #almohades #alandalus #fernandoiii

https://www.europesays.com/uk/666326/ Saudi Arabia Joins Spain, Central Asia, and Canada in Unveiling Groundbreaking Luxury Trains in 2026: Dream of the Desert, Al Andalus, Golden Eagle, and Rocky Mountaineer Set to Redefine Travel! #AlAndalus #Asia #Canada #CanadaTravelNews #CentralAsia #DreamOfTheDesert #EU #Europe #GoldenEagle #LatestTravelNews #RailwayNews #SaudiArabiaTravelNews #Spain #SpainTravelNews

Éclipse

Le distique est tiré du poème « Jadaka al-ṙayṫ » de Lisān al-Ḋīn ibn al-Xatīb et dit :

ضاق عن وجدي بكم رحب الفضا
لا أبالي شرقه من غربـه

Votre absence me fit paraître le cosmos si étroit
Que peu me chaut d’en distinguer l’orient de l’occident.

#art #espace #space #cosmonaut #eclipse #poetry #inspiration #helmet #alandalus #arab #muwachah

Détail de l’ornement.

L’arabesque qui bourgeonne du ṫatwīl est repris d’un element de la mosaïque « Plus ultra » se trouvant dans l’allée du Mexuar dans l’Alambra de Grenade, là où Lisān al-Ḋīn auteur des vers en question, passa le plus clair de son temps.

#art #calligraphy #typography #arab #arabe #finetuning #poesie #poetry #alandalus #andalousie #mosaic #alhambra #granada

Spain’s Luxurious Al Andalus Train Journey from Seville to Madrid Offers Unforgettable UNESCO Sites and Scenic Views – Book Your 2026 Adventure Now https://www.byteseu.com/1323635/ #AlAndalus #LatestTravelNewsOfSpain #RailwayNews #SevilleToMadrid #Spain #SpainTrainJourney #SpainTravelNews #UNESCOWorldHeritageSites

Royalty, Administration, and Antimemetics

I was all of 15 when defenestration was forever implanted in my mind. It means to throw someone out the window. It happened in Prague, 1618. Some important people were defenestrated, fell 70 feet, landed in dung. This led to the thirty years war and the coining of the word ‘defenestration’. Defenestrating happened to important, visible, people held responsible for mismanagement leading to widespread discontent. While the defenestrated may represent the idea, surely we can’t imagine that it was that specific person who was going around causing the suffering. No, they had minions. Here we explore a bit of their story. 

Royalty is meant to be seen. They were either chosen by or were the local gods to lead the people. They were the head of everything and if something were to go wrong it was their responsibility. Royalty also means creating good memes. Whether the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, or Beijing projecting power through architectural memes was the standard.

Administration and bureaucratic structures is the silent clockwork that powers the projection. These guys, are antimemetic. The antimeme is a recent invention and denotes ideas that have high impact but are hard to spread. This is important because when the tax burden gets too high you want the peasants to go for the king not the local tax collector. 

The Mughal emperors were the head of the administrative machinery with final say over all important matters. The administration itself was antimemetic in nature. The provincial officials such as the bakhshi, sadr as-sudr, and finance minister reported directly to the central government rather than the subahdar (provincial governor). Matrix organization, I hear you thinking. This complex, multi-layered reporting structure, while designed for central control, also diffused responsibility and made the precise locus of decision-making less transparent to external observers and even to other officials.

In the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Central Secretariat to assume personal control. However, the volume of letters got so high that he soon appointed a few grand secretaries. They never held a high rank and always merely “recorded imperial decisions”. If merely were a boxer he would be a heavyweight. Can’t blame that guy with the pen if he’s just doing what the king asks him to.

From the al-Andalus through the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals the the ulama shaped legal systems and molded public morality. Of course the monarchs decrees but the ulama interpreted them and applied them as law into daily life. This interpretive authority, operating subtly within the legal and religious bureaucracy, allowed for continuous adaptation and influence without the visible, attributable acts of formal legislation, making it profoundly antimemetic. 

Let me end with the quote from the wonderful, and joyfully mimetic, Yes, Minister:

“Hacker: Humphrey, did you know that 20% of all honours go to civil servants?

Sir Humphrey: A fitting tribute to their devotion to duty, Minister.

Hacker: No, their duty is what they get paid for. The rest of the population has to do something extra to get an honour. Something special. They work for 27 years with mentally handicapped children six nights a week to get an MBE. Your knighthoods simply come up with the rations.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, her Majesty’s civil servants spend their lives working for a modest wage and at the end, they retire into obscurity. Honours are a small reward for a lifetime of loyal, self-effacing discretion and devoted service to Her Majesty, and to the nation.

Hacker: “A modest wage”, did you say?

Sir Humphrey: Alas, yes.

Hacker: Humphrey, you get over £30,000 a year! That’s £7,000 more than I get.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but still relatively the modest wage.

Hacker: Relative to whom?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Elizabeth Taylor, for example.

Hacker: Humphrey, you are not relative to Elizabeth Taylor. There are important differences.

Sir Humphrey: Indeed, yes. She didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Hacker: And you do not retire into obscurity?! You take a massive index-linked pension and go off to become directors of oil companies and banks.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes, but very obscure directors, Minister.

Hacker: You’re in no danger of the sack. In industry if you screw things up, you get the boot. In the civil service, if you screw things up, I get the boot.

Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister, now if you’ve approved the list…”

[Series Two (1981) Episode Two: Doing the Honours]

Sources

Much of the reading and sourcing of material for this was done across books from the Contraptions Book Club and some deep research help.

• Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
• Monkey King: Journey to the West, the abridged Lovell edition
• Islamic Gunpowder Empires by Dougles E. Streusend
• Kingdoms of Faith by Brian A. Catlos
• Zheng He: China And the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward L. Dreyer
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

#alAndalus #Antimemetics #Bureaucracy #Defenestration #Government #HistoricalTheory #history #HistoryMemes #Humor #MingDynasty #MughalEmpire #OttomanEmpire #PoliticalSatire #PoliticalTheory #Politics #PowerStructures #Sociology #YesMinister

Royalty, Administration, and Antimemetics

I was all of 15 when defenestration was forever implanted in my mind. It means to throw someone out the window. It happened in Prague, 1618. Some important people were defenestrated, fell 70 feet, landed in dung. This led to the thirty years war and the coining of the word ‘defenestration’. Defenestrating happened to important, visible, people held responsible for mismanagement leading to widespread discontent. While the defenestrated may represent the idea, surely we can’t imagine that it was that specific person who was going around causing the suffering. No, they had minions. Here we explore a bit of their story. 

Royalty is meant to be seen. They were either chosen by or were the local gods to lead the people. They were the head of everything and if something were to go wrong it was their responsibility. Royalty also means creating good memes. Whether the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, or Beijing projecting power through architectural memes was the standard.

Administration and bureaucratic structures is the silent clockwork that powers the projection. These guys, are antimemetic. The antimeme is a recent invention and denotes ideas that have high impact but are hard to spread. This is important because when the tax burden gets too high you want the peasants to go for the king not the local tax collector. 

The Mughal emperors were the head of the administrative machinery with final say over all important matters. The administration itself was antimemetic in nature. The provincial officials such as the bakhshi, sadr as-sudr, and finance minister reported directly to the central government rather than the subahdar (provincial governor). Matrix organization, I hear you thinking. This complex, multi-layered reporting structure, while designed for central control, also diffused responsibility and made the precise locus of decision-making less transparent to external observers and even to other officials.

In the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Central Secretariat to assume personal control. However, the volume of letters got so high that he soon appointed a few grand secretaries. They never held a high rank and always merely “recorded imperial decisions”. If merely were a boxer he would be a heavyweight. Can’t blame that guy with the pen if he’s just doing what the king asks him to.

From the al-Andalus through the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals the the ulama shaped legal systems and molded public morality. Of course the monarchs decrees but the ulama interpreted them and applied them as law into daily life. This interpretive authority, operating subtly within the legal and religious bureaucracy, allowed for continuous adaptation and influence without the visible, attributable acts of formal legislation, making it profoundly antimemetic. 

Let me end with the quote from the wonderful, and joyfully mimetic, Yes, Minister:

“Hacker: Humphrey, did you know that 20% of all honours go to civil servants?

Sir Humphrey: A fitting tribute to their devotion to duty, Minister.

Hacker: No, their duty is what they get paid for. The rest of the population has to do something extra to get an honour. Something special. They work for 27 years with mentally handicapped children six nights a week to get an MBE. Your knighthoods simply come up with the rations.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, her Majesty’s civil servants spend their lives working for a modest wage and at the end, they retire into obscurity. Honours are a small reward for a lifetime of loyal, self-effacing discretion and devoted service to Her Majesty, and to the nation.

Hacker: “A modest wage”, did you say?

Sir Humphrey: Alas, yes.

Hacker: Humphrey, you get over £30,000 a year! That’s £7,000 more than I get.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but still relatively the modest wage.

Hacker: Relative to whom?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Elizabeth Taylor, for example.

Hacker: Humphrey, you are not relative to Elizabeth Taylor. There are important differences.

Sir Humphrey: Indeed, yes. She didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Hacker: And you do not retire into obscurity?! You take a massive index-linked pension and go off to become directors of oil companies and banks.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes, but very obscure directors, Minister.

Hacker: You’re in no danger of the sack. In industry if you screw things up, you get the boot. In the civil service, if you screw things up, I get the boot.

Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister, now if you’ve approved the list…”

[Series Two (1981) Episode Two: Doing the Honours]

Sources

Much of the reading and sourcing of material for this was done across books from the Contraptions Book Club and some deep research help.

• Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
• Monkey King: Journey to the West, the abridged Lovell edition
• Islamic Gunpowder Empires by Dougles E. Streusend
• Kingdoms of Faith by Brian A. Catlos
• Zheng He: China And the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward L. Dreyer
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

#alAndalus #Antimemetics #Bureaucracy #Defenestration #Government #HistoricalTheory #history #HistoryMemes #Humor #MingDynasty #MughalEmpire #OttomanEmpire #PoliticalSatire #PoliticalTheory #Politics #PowerStructures #Sociology #YesMinister

Royalty, Administration, and Antimemetics

I was all of 15 when defenestration was forever implanted in my mind. It means to throw someone out the window. It happened in Prague, 1618. Some important people were defenestrated, fell 70 feet, landed in dung. This led to the thirty years war and the coining of the word ‘defenestration’. Defenestrating happened to important, visible, people held responsible for mismanagement leading to widespread discontent. While the defenestrated may represent the idea, surely we can’t imagine that it was that specific person who was going around causing the suffering. No, they had minions. Here we explore a bit of their story. 

Royalty is meant to be seen. They were either chosen by or were the local gods to lead the people. They were the head of everything and if something were to go wrong it was their responsibility. Royalty also means creating good memes. Whether the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, or Beijing projecting power through architectural memes was the standard.

Administration and bureaucratic structures is the silent clockwork that powers the projection. These guys, are antimemetic. The antimeme is a recent invention and denotes ideas that have high impact but are hard to spread. This is important because when the tax burden gets too high you want the peasants to go for the king not the local tax collector. 

The Mughal emperors were the head of the administrative machinery with final say over all important matters. The administration itself was antimemetic in nature. The provincial officials such as the bakhshi, sadr as-sudr, and finance minister reported directly to the central government rather than the subahdar (provincial governor). Matrix organization, I hear you thinking. This complex, multi-layered reporting structure, while designed for central control, also diffused responsibility and made the precise locus of decision-making less transparent to external observers and even to other officials.

In the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Central Secretariat to assume personal control. However, the volume of letters got so high that he soon appointed a few grand secretaries. They never held a high rank and always merely “recorded imperial decisions”. If merely were a boxer he would be a heavyweight. Can’t blame that guy with the pen if he’s just doing what the king asks him to.

From the al-Andalus through the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals the the ulama shaped legal systems and molded public morality. Of course the monarchs decrees but the ulama interpreted them and applied them as law into daily life. This interpretive authority, operating subtly within the legal and religious bureaucracy, allowed for continuous adaptation and influence without the visible, attributable acts of formal legislation, making it profoundly antimemetic. 

Let me end with the quote from the wonderful, and joyfully mimetic, Yes, Minister:

“Hacker: Humphrey, did you know that 20% of all honours go to civil servants?

Sir Humphrey: A fitting tribute to their devotion to duty, Minister.

Hacker: No, their duty is what they get paid for. The rest of the population has to do something extra to get an honour. Something special. They work for 27 years with mentally handicapped children six nights a week to get an MBE. Your knighthoods simply come up with the rations.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, her Majesty’s civil servants spend their lives working for a modest wage and at the end, they retire into obscurity. Honours are a small reward for a lifetime of loyal, self-effacing discretion and devoted service to Her Majesty, and to the nation.

Hacker: “A modest wage”, did you say?

Sir Humphrey: Alas, yes.

Hacker: Humphrey, you get over £30,000 a year! That’s £7,000 more than I get.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but still relatively the modest wage.

Hacker: Relative to whom?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Elizabeth Taylor, for example.

Hacker: Humphrey, you are not relative to Elizabeth Taylor. There are important differences.

Sir Humphrey: Indeed, yes. She didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Hacker: And you do not retire into obscurity?! You take a massive index-linked pension and go off to become directors of oil companies and banks.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes, but very obscure directors, Minister.

Hacker: You’re in no danger of the sack. In industry if you screw things up, you get the boot. In the civil service, if you screw things up, I get the boot.

Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister, now if you’ve approved the list…”

[Series Two (1981) Episode Two: Doing the Honours]

Sources

Much of the reading and sourcing of material for this was done across books from the Contraptions Book Club and some deep research help.

• Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
• Monkey King: Journey to the West, the abridged Lovell edition
• Islamic Gunpowder Empires by Dougles E. Streusend
• Kingdoms of Faith by Brian A. Catlos
• Zheng He: China And the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward L. Dreyer
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

#alAndalus #Antimemetics #Bureaucracy #Defenestration #Government #HistoricalTheory #history #HistoryMemes #Humor #MingDynasty #MughalEmpire #OttomanEmpire #PoliticalSatire #PoliticalTheory #Politics #PowerStructures #Sociology #YesMinister

Royalty, Administration, and Antimemetics

I was all of 15 when defenestration was forever implanted in my mind. It means to throw someone out the window. It happened in Prague, 1618. Some important people were defenestrated, fell 70 feet, landed in dung. This led to the thirty years war and the coining of the word ‘defenestration’. Defenestrating happened to important, visible, people held responsible for mismanagement leading to widespread discontent. While the defenestrated may represent the idea, surely we can’t imagine that it was that specific person who was going around causing the suffering. No, they had minions. Here we explore a bit of their story. 

Royalty is meant to be seen. They were either chosen by or were the local gods to lead the people. They were the head of everything and if something were to go wrong it was their responsibility. Royalty also means creating good memes. Whether the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, or Beijing projecting power through architectural memes was the standard.

Administration and bureaucratic structures is the silent clockwork that powers the projection. These guys, are antimemetic. The antimeme is a recent invention and denotes ideas that have high impact but are hard to spread. This is important because when the tax burden gets too high you want the peasants to go for the king not the local tax collector. 

The Mughal emperors were the head of the administrative machinery with final say over all important matters. The administration itself was antimemetic in nature. The provincial officials such as the bakhshi, sadr as-sudr, and finance minister reported directly to the central government rather than the subahdar (provincial governor). Matrix organization, I hear you thinking. This complex, multi-layered reporting structure, while designed for central control, also diffused responsibility and made the precise locus of decision-making less transparent to external observers and even to other officials.

In the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Central Secretariat to assume personal control. However, the volume of letters got so high that he soon appointed a few grand secretaries. They never held a high rank and always merely “recorded imperial decisions”. If merely were a boxer he would be a heavyweight. Can’t blame that guy with the pen if he’s just doing what the king asks him to.

From the al-Andalus through the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals the the ulama shaped legal systems and molded public morality. Of course the monarchs decrees but the ulama interpreted them and applied them as law into daily life. This interpretive authority, operating subtly within the legal and religious bureaucracy, allowed for continuous adaptation and influence without the visible, attributable acts of formal legislation, making it profoundly antimemetic. 

Let me end with the quote from the wonderful, and joyfully mimetic, Yes, Minister:

“Hacker: Humphrey, did you know that 20% of all honours go to civil servants?

Sir Humphrey: A fitting tribute to their devotion to duty, Minister.

Hacker: No, their duty is what they get paid for. The rest of the population has to do something extra to get an honour. Something special. They work for 27 years with mentally handicapped children six nights a week to get an MBE. Your knighthoods simply come up with the rations.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, her Majesty’s civil servants spend their lives working for a modest wage and at the end, they retire into obscurity. Honours are a small reward for a lifetime of loyal, self-effacing discretion and devoted service to Her Majesty, and to the nation.

Hacker: “A modest wage”, did you say?

Sir Humphrey: Alas, yes.

Hacker: Humphrey, you get over £30,000 a year! That’s £7,000 more than I get.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but still relatively the modest wage.

Hacker: Relative to whom?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Elizabeth Taylor, for example.

Hacker: Humphrey, you are not relative to Elizabeth Taylor. There are important differences.

Sir Humphrey: Indeed, yes. She didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Hacker: And you do not retire into obscurity?! You take a massive index-linked pension and go off to become directors of oil companies and banks.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes, but very obscure directors, Minister.

Hacker: You’re in no danger of the sack. In industry if you screw things up, you get the boot. In the civil service, if you screw things up, I get the boot.

Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister, now if you’ve approved the list…”

[Series Two (1981) Episode Two: Doing the Honours]

Sources

Much of the reading and sourcing of material for this was done across books from the Contraptions Book Club and some deep research help.

• Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
• Monkey King: Journey to the West, the abridged Lovell edition
• Islamic Gunpowder Empires by Dougles E. Streusend
• Kingdoms of Faith by Brian A. Catlos
• Zheng He: China And the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward L. Dreyer
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

#alAndalus #Antimemetics #Bureaucracy #Defenestration #Government #HistoricalTheory #history #HistoryMemes #Humor #MingDynasty #MughalEmpire #OttomanEmpire #PoliticalSatire #PoliticalTheory #Politics #PowerStructures #Sociology #YesMinister

Royalty, Administration, and Antimemetics

I was all of 15 when defenestration was forever implanted in my mind. It means to throw someone out the window. It happened in Prague, 1618. Some important people were defenestrated, fell 70 feet, landed in dung. This led to the thirty years war and the coining of the word ‘defenestration’. Defenestrating happened to important, visible, people held responsible for mismanagement leading to widespread discontent. While the defenestrated may represent the idea, surely we can’t imagine that it was that specific person who was going around causing the suffering. No, they had minions. Here we explore a bit of their story. 

Royalty is meant to be seen. They were either chosen by or were the local gods to lead the people. They were the head of everything and if something were to go wrong it was their responsibility. Royalty also means creating good memes. Whether the Alhambra, Taj Mahal, or Beijing projecting power through architectural memes was the standard.

Administration and bureaucratic structures is the silent clockwork that powers the projection. These guys, are antimemetic. The antimeme is a recent invention and denotes ideas that have high impact but are hard to spread. This is important because when the tax burden gets too high you want the peasants to go for the king not the local tax collector. 

The Mughal emperors were the head of the administrative machinery with final say over all important matters. The administration itself was antimemetic in nature. The provincial officials such as the bakhshi, sadr as-sudr, and finance minister reported directly to the central government rather than the subahdar (provincial governor). Matrix organization, I hear you thinking. This complex, multi-layered reporting structure, while designed for central control, also diffused responsibility and made the precise locus of decision-making less transparent to external observers and even to other officials.

In the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor abolished the Central Secretariat to assume personal control. However, the volume of letters got so high that he soon appointed a few grand secretaries. They never held a high rank and always merely “recorded imperial decisions”. If merely were a boxer he would be a heavyweight. Can’t blame that guy with the pen if he’s just doing what the king asks him to.

From the al-Andalus through the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals the the ulama shaped legal systems and molded public morality. Of course the monarchs decrees but the ulama interpreted them and applied them as law into daily life. This interpretive authority, operating subtly within the legal and religious bureaucracy, allowed for continuous adaptation and influence without the visible, attributable acts of formal legislation, making it profoundly antimemetic. 

Let me end with the quote from the wonderful, and joyfully mimetic, Yes, Minister:

“Hacker: Humphrey, did you know that 20% of all honours go to civil servants?

Sir Humphrey: A fitting tribute to their devotion to duty, Minister.

Hacker: No, their duty is what they get paid for. The rest of the population has to do something extra to get an honour. Something special. They work for 27 years with mentally handicapped children six nights a week to get an MBE. Your knighthoods simply come up with the rations.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, her Majesty’s civil servants spend their lives working for a modest wage and at the end, they retire into obscurity. Honours are a small reward for a lifetime of loyal, self-effacing discretion and devoted service to Her Majesty, and to the nation.

Hacker: “A modest wage”, did you say?

Sir Humphrey: Alas, yes.

Hacker: Humphrey, you get over £30,000 a year! That’s £7,000 more than I get.

Sir Humphrey: Yes, but still relatively the modest wage.

Hacker: Relative to whom?

Sir Humphrey: Well, Elizabeth Taylor, for example.

Hacker: Humphrey, you are not relative to Elizabeth Taylor. There are important differences.

Sir Humphrey: Indeed, yes. She didn’t get a first at Oxford.

Hacker: And you do not retire into obscurity?! You take a massive index-linked pension and go off to become directors of oil companies and banks.

Sir Humphrey: Oh, yes, but very obscure directors, Minister.

Hacker: You’re in no danger of the sack. In industry if you screw things up, you get the boot. In the civil service, if you screw things up, I get the boot.

Sir Humphrey: Very droll, Minister, now if you’ve approved the list…”

[Series Two (1981) Episode Two: Doing the Honours]

Sources

Much of the reading and sourcing of material for this was done across books from the Contraptions Book Club and some deep research help.

• Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography by Robert Irwin
• Monkey King: Journey to the West, the abridged Lovell edition
• Islamic Gunpowder Empires by Dougles E. Streusend
• Kingdoms of Faith by Brian A. Catlos
• Zheng He: China And the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward L. Dreyer
• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

#alAndalus #Antimemetics #Bureaucracy #Defenestration #Government #HistoricalTheory #history #HistoryMemes #Humor #MingDynasty #MughalEmpire #OttomanEmpire #PoliticalSatire #PoliticalTheory #Politics #PowerStructures #Sociology #YesMinister

Reedició de la meua novel·la històrica valenciana favorita.

La resistència de dos valencians, un cristià i una musulmana, front als exèrcits imperials i inquisitorials.

Un clàssic d'aventures per a xiquets, joves i tot el món.

Imprescindible per entendre el nostre país.

https://www.bullent.net/libro/2757-El_cavall_verd

#Literatura #PaísValencià #Valencià #Català #AlAndalus #Àrab #Morisc

En la pel·lícula 'El nom de la rosa' es llegeix un fragment d'un llibre escrit fa mil anys a Xàtiva.

El text elegit critica l'amor romàntic com un amor malaltís i destructiu.

El llibre és 'El collar de la coloma' d'Ibn Hazm. Possiblement el més famós tractat sobre l'amor de la història.

Us havíeu fixat mai?

#Xàtiva #AlÀndalus #IbnHazm

Hoy me quedé sorprendido al descubrir cómo una sublevación en un arrabal de #Cordoba contra el emir #AlhakenII del emirato Omeya, provocó la expulsión de las familias del arrabal, algunas se instalaron en #Fez otras se dedicaron a la piratería un tiempo llegando a #Sicilia primero y luego ocupando #Alejandría hasta que, cuando fueron expulsados, fundaron el Emirato de #Creta que durante más de un siglo hizo frente al Imperio Bizantino y desarrolló un gobierno próspero en la zona #Andalusies #Alandalus #Historia https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirato_de_Creta

Set coses que no saps de les arrels àrabs de Catalunya i del País Valencià.

Entre el 713 i el 1610, els territoris valencià i català van viure un dels períodes més importants i silenciats de la història: nou segles de cultura nativa andalusina de llengua àrab. Què en queda, de tot allò?

Ja està en obert!
Llegeix-lo i parlem-ne!

:senyera:

https://t.co/cI2tF2D5Xy

#PaísValencià #Catalunya #Àrab #Història #AlAndalus #Història #Arrels

Programa En Guàrdia!

Balaguer, una ciutat catalana d'origen àrab.

Fundada en època d'al-Àndalus, a través de Medina Balaguí els historiadors expliquen com va nàixer la cultura nativa andalusina, que viurà nou segles a terres del que avui és Catalunya.

:senyera:

https://www.3cat.cat/3cat/la-balaguer-andalusina/audio/1242759/

#Catalunya #Àrab #Història #Balaguer #AlAndalus

Meravellós mapa del Xarq Al Àndalus.

El Sud és a dalt.

Es poden llegir les viles de Mallorca, Eivissa, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, Fraga, Peníscola, València, Xàtiva, Dénia, Bocairent, Alacant, Elx, Cartagena i Conca.

Any 1152. Del geògraf Al Idrisi.

La majoria d'aquest territori seria conquerit per tropes feudals catòliques, i s'incorporaria a la corona d'Aragó.

:senyera:

https://t.co/bYoGM4qIgR

#Catalunya #València #PaísValencià #Balansiya #Mallorca #Balears #AlÀndalus #CoronaAragó

https://www.alandalusylahistoria.com/?p=4679

The Expulsion of the Moriscos (Al-Andalus y la Historia, 2024-03-20)
by Mercedes García-Arenal & Gerard Wiegers
------

"Between 1609 and 1614 about 300,000 #Moriscos were forcibly expelled from Spain, chiefly through the Mediterranean ports, and sent to North Africa. This mass deportation was accomplished with the help of galleys and ships of the royal navy, and was strictly organized by the bureacracy of the Crown. With it the monarchy hoped to end more than a century of what was called “the Morisco question.” In this article we will analyze the positions of the political and religious authorities, and the factors that led to the solution that was finally found: the forced displacement of an entire religious and social group"

#AlAndalus #diaspora
@histodons

https://www.alandalusylahistoria.com/?p=4679

The Expulsion of the Moriscos (Al-Andalus y la Historia, 2024-03-20)
by Mercedes García-Arenal & Gerard Wiegers
------

"Between 1609 and 1614 about 300,000 #Moriscos were forcibly expelled from Spain, chiefly through the Mediterranean ports, and sent to North Africa. This mass deportation was accomplished with the help of galleys and ships of the royal navy, and was strictly organized by the bureacracy of the Crown. With it the monarchy hoped to end more than a century of what was called “the Morisco question.” In this article we will analyze the positions of the political and religious authorities, and the factors that led to the solution that was finally found: the forced displacement of an entire religious and social group"

#AlAndalus #diaspora
@histodons

https://www.alandalusylahistoria.com/?p=4679

The Expulsion of the Moriscos (Al-Andalus y la Historia, 2024-03-20)
by Mercedes García-Arenal & Gerard Wiegers
------

"Between 1609 and 1614 about 300,000 #Moriscos were forcibly expelled from Spain, chiefly through the Mediterranean ports, and sent to North Africa. This mass deportation was accomplished with the help of galleys and ships of the royal navy, and was strictly organized by the bureacracy of the Crown. With it the monarchy hoped to end more than a century of what was called “the Morisco question.” In this article we will analyze the positions of the political and religious authorities, and the factors that led to the solution that was finally found: the forced displacement of an entire religious and social group"

#AlAndalus #diaspora
@histodons

https://www.alandalusylahistoria.com/?p=4679

The Expulsion of the Moriscos (Al-Andalus y la Historia, 2024-03-20)
by Mercedes García-Arenal & Gerard Wiegers
------

"Between 1609 and 1614 about 300,000 #Moriscos were forcibly expelled from Spain, chiefly through the Mediterranean ports, and sent to North Africa. This mass deportation was accomplished with the help of galleys and ships of the royal navy, and was strictly organized by the bureacracy of the Crown. With it the monarchy hoped to end more than a century of what was called “the Morisco question.” In this article we will analyze the positions of the political and religious authorities, and the factors that led to the solution that was finally found: the forced displacement of an entire religious and social group"

#AlAndalus #diaspora
@histodons

https://www.alandalusylahistoria.com/?p=4679

The Expulsion of the Moriscos (Al-Andalus y la Historia, 2024-03-20)
by Mercedes García-Arenal & Gerard Wiegers
------

"Between 1609 and 1614 about 300,000 #Moriscos were forcibly expelled from Spain, chiefly through the Mediterranean ports, and sent to North Africa. This mass deportation was accomplished with the help of galleys and ships of the royal navy, and was strictly organized by the bureacracy of the Crown. With it the monarchy hoped to end more than a century of what was called “the Morisco question.” In this article we will analyze the positions of the political and religious authorities, and the factors that led to the solution that was finally found: the forced displacement of an entire religious and social group"

#AlAndalus #diaspora
@histodons

@TiciaVerveer New article about this amazing astrolabe & some of the well-deserved attention since publication by Dr Federica Gigante: https://www.medievalists.net/2024/03/medieval-astrolabe-reveals-cross-cultural-scientific-exchange/
#11thCentury #astrolabe #Cordoba #Toledo #Verona #AlAndalus @medievalists @medievodons

VerdCel musica als poetes valencians Josep Piera i Ibn Khafaja.

https://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/verdcel-estrena-el-riu-segon-senzill-nou-disc-petricor/

#Poesia #PaísValencià #Balansiya #Piera #IbnKhafaja #Xarq #AlAndalus #VerdCel

Set coses que no saps de les arrels àrabs de Catalunya i del País Valencià. :senyera:

Ha estat un mes només per a subscriptors. I ha acumulat milers i milers de lectures. Sembla que el tema interessa!🔥

Ja està en obert!
Llegeix-lo i parlem-ne!

https://t.co/cI2tF2D5Xy

#Catalunya #PaísValencià #Arrels #Àrab #AlÀndalus #Xarq #Balansiya #Història #Identitat #Periodisme #Valencià #Català #Història #Sobirania

Set coses que no saps de les arrels àrabs de Catalunya i del País Valencià. :senyera:

Ha estat un mes només per a subscriptors. I ha acumulat milers i milers de lectures. Sembla que el tema interessa!🔥

Ja està en obert!
Llegeix-lo i parlem-ne!

https://t.co/cI2tF2D5Xy

#Catalunya #PaísValencià #Arrels #Àrab #AlÀndalus #Xarq #Balansiya #Història #Identitat #Periodisme #Valencià #Català #Història #Sobirania

I recently came to the conclusion that if I really want to understand my country's #history I'll likely need to study some #Arabic.

Yes, #Brazil never had a huge Arabic speaking population but:

1) We inherited a lot of #AlAndalus influence through Portugal. (just look at all out words beginning in al- or ar-)

2) We had an important #muslin #slave #revolt in 1835: the #MalêRevolt.

And yes, records by the rebels were in Arabic.

I do wonder if we have today any complete translation of their writings. I don't think so but I hope I'm wrong.