Tag Archives: Alfonso X

Ethnic Polemic in Medieval Spain: Arabiyya, Shu’ubiyya, and Ibraniyya

Posted on October 6, 2011 by David Wacks

Summary: In the Abbasid-era (800s-900s) authors writing in Arabic joined a debate between those who identified as ethnically Arab and those who identified as Persian. This debate was reproduced in al-Andalus (1000s) between Arab and non-Arab Spanish Muslims. Jewish writers … Continue reading →

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[Conference Paper] Recycling the Troubadours in Hebrew: Todros Abulafia, Hebrew Troubadour at the Court of Alfonso X

Posted on February 26, 2011 by David Wacks

In a previous post I discussed two poems of Todros Abulafia in the context of the troubadour poetry of his day. This post is the text of an academic conference paper that grew out of the previous post on Abulafia. … Continue reading →

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A Hebrew Troubadour in Spain?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by David Wacks

Troubadours were Western Europe’s first highbrow poets to sing in the vernacular (French, Portuguese, German, etc.) as opposed to in Latin. Troubadours did not invent vernacular poetry. People have always sung in whatever language they spoke. What has new about … Continue reading →

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Whose Todros is it anyway? A medieval Hebrew poet between Europe and Israel

Posted on January 21, 2011 by David Wacks

Todros Ben Yehudah Halevi Abulafia (1247- ca. 1295) lived and wrote in Toledo in the second half of the thirteenth century. He was active at the court of King Alfonso X “the Learned.” Among Hebrew poets in Christian Spain, Abulafia … Continue reading →

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