History of Europe

the three cultures

On a visit to Frigiliana (Málaga) we discovered this tribute to the three cultures, represented by the Star of David ( Jewish), the cross (Christian) and the crescent (Muslim). It seems to me a good representation of the society that in our history was able to coexist and enrich itself from the mixture of cultures (Mozarabic, Moorish, Muladí, etc). Although there are writer-journalists such as César Vidal (I think that after Lope Vega he is the most prolific author in this country) who believe that this life together did not exist from a perspective of respect and permissiveness, I personally agree with Alfonso VI in the taking of Toledo (1085) in which both Mozarabic and Jewish tradition and culture are respected, including some of its advisers, doctors, etc., were Jews or Mozarabic. We have another example in 1212 when Alfonso VIII decides to dispense with the European knights who came to fight against the Almohads; They had attacked the Mozarabs and Jews in Toledo and had massacred Calatrava's defenders after his surrender. Finally, remember that Muslims in Al-Andalus respected Christians and Jews as people of the book (Ahl al-Kitab) and recognized Abraham and Jesus as prophets, although Muhammad is the last and the perfect.