62. Hebrew Astrolabe (Spain, AD 1345-1355)

The convivenzia.
The beautiful astrolabe in this podcast, which features writing mostly in Hebrew but a bit in Arabic and also in medieval Spanish, gives MacGregor the opportunity to talk about the convivenzia, that wonderful Golden Age in medieval Spain when the three kindreds—Jews, Moslems, and Christians—lived together in comparative stability. All three groups preserved their own identities. I don’t believe there was much intermarriage, for example. But they also challenged each other to be their best, no monopoly on culture, here, and as a result there was a terrific flourishing of learning and good stuff like art, medicine, sanitation, etc. John Boswell, the great historian of same-sex unions in early modern Europe, had a book on the convivenzia, and gave a guest lecturer spot on it in a history class I took in college, many a long year ago. The astrolabe here is a pretty good example of the kind of learning and science/technology produced by such a forward-looking culture. MacGregor and his experts liken it to a smartphone, such as the one that created this blog (download my pictures and look at the metadata, you’ll probably find they were all taken in June of 2011 in London!) The astrolabe helped you figure out the time, your latitude & longitude, and various other astronomical and astrological calculations, drawn from Greek learning; MacGregor quoted an adorable letter, written by the adorable Geoffrey Chaucer, to accompany the gift of an astrolabe to his ten-year old boy, Louis, which explained how the device was to be used and pointed out that it might be a bit much for an intellect that that of the tender youth. And yet these kids nowadays are so much further along with the iPhones than we old geezers are!

The convivenzia lasted until the Reconquista, the “reconquest” of Spain by Catholics led by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who drove out the Moslems and the (Sephardic) Jews, began the Inquisition, and, eventually, sent Columbus west and started the growth of the enormous Spanish Empire and the conquest of ‘New Spain.’ They did pretty well for at least a hundred years, until (say) Philip II and the Armada; after that, it seemed, they got bogged down with their colonies and European courtly politics. But MacGregor and indeed all of us must deplore their Reconquista, more than the Crusades a startling example of intolerant religion’s ability to destroy a terrific thriving culture. Could it happen here? Seems like it already is.