Christian Granada with Arabic/Moorish culture and customs

I think the term is Mozarab. A Christian Granada with a miscellaneous population consisting of different ethnic backgrounds including converted Moorish people. The everyday clothing looks Moorish, also the food and architecture . The ruling royal dynasty might be of mixed Christian and Moorish background, too. The ATL kingdom of Granada is a place of learning, knowledge and religious tolerance further is known for beeing rich through trade.

Byzantion said:

I think the term is Mozarab. A Christian Granada with a miscellaneous population consisting of different ethnic backgrounds including converted Moorish people. The everyday clothing looks Moorish, also the food and architecture . The ruling royal dynasty might be of mixed Christian and Moorish background, too. The ATL kingdom of Granada is a place of learning, knowledge and religious tolerance further is known for beeing rich through trade.

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I don't know how this can be achieved, but perhaps a ruler that resembles Alfonso the Learned of Castile in worldview and outlook?

Might be a little earlier than you wanted, but check out Muhammad ibn Mardanis, a.k.a. "El Rey Lobo," who ruled a significant piece of southeastern Spain in the 12th century. He was a "muladi," a Muslim of Iberian descent, who seized power as the Almoravid state collapsed. He controlled Valencia and Murcia, and briefly held Granada as well. While he himself was Muslim, his main enemies were the Almohads, and as such he allied with the Christian Iberian kingdoms, used Christian mercenaries, and entered into trade agreements with the Italian merchant republics. The kingdom was prosperous and exported ceramics, silk, and paper.

Militarily he was only mediocre. He made initial headway against the Almohads, and in 1165 he took Granada and marched on Cordoba, but was then heavily defeated by the Almohads. They raided the country, causing economic devastation and forcing Mardanis on the defensive until his eventual death, upon which his son pledged his allegiance to the Almohads.

A liberal Muladi king who is friendly to the Christian states, relies on Christian trade and soldiers, and is a sworn enemy of the Almohad zealots seems like as decent a POD as any for a "Mozarabic" kingdom, assuming his fortune is reversed in 1165 and his successors are of the same mind that he is.

The problem is once you have the reconquista the church will be working very hard to eliminate as much of Moorish influence as it can. Even if the reconquista occurs later than OTL, once the entire peninsula is Catholic there is no reason to suspect that forced conversions and expulsions of Moslems and Jews will be any less complete than they were OTL. After all the Inquisition lasted in to the 19th century in Spain. There are some cultural influences especially in Southern Spain that evolved from the Muslim period, but nothing on the scale of what is suggested.

IMHO the only way to get some sort of blended culture as described is for Spain not to be united under Catholic monarchs, with some sort of independent Muslim ruled area lasting at least until the 19th century, and unification being accomplished peacefully not by conquest.

Carp said:

Might be a little earlier than you wanted, but check out Muhammad ibn Mardanis, a.k.a. "El Rey Lobo," who ruled a significant piece of southeastern Spain in the 12th century. He was a "muladi," a Muslim of Iberian descent, who seized power as the Almoravid state collapsed. He controlled Valencia and Murcia, and briefly held Granada as well. While he himself was Muslim, his main enemies were the Almohads, and as such he allied with the Christian Iberian kingdoms, used Christian mercenaries, and entered into trade agreements with the Italian merchant republics. The kingdom was prosperous and exported ceramics, silk, and paper.

Militarily he was only mediocre. He made initial headway against the Almohads, and in 1165 he took Granada and marched on Cordoba, but was then heavily defeated by the Almohads. They raided the country, causing economic devastation and forcing Mardanis on the defensive until his eventual death, upon which his son pledged his allegiance to the Almohads.

A liberal Muladi king who is friendly to the Christian states, relies on Christian trade and soldiers, and is a sworn enemy of the Almohad zealots seems like as decent a POD as any for a "Mozarabic" kingdom, assuming his fortune is reversed in 1165 and his successors are of the same mind that he is.

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Interested in this!

Dragos Cel Mare said:

Interested in this!

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What I know is just from random internet reading; he seems to be an obscure figure because his "kingdom" lasted only for his lifetime, and in a grand historical sense all he did was delay the completion of the Almohad conquest of Andalusia by a few decades. But he's a good example of how fluid religion, culture, and politics could be in the region.

My own opinion is that such a state could only survive "in the breach," that is in a situation of tension between Christian and zealous Muslim states. Maybe Mardanis was a true believer in liberality and tolerance, but those things also had utility to him - being pro-Christian gave him allies against the Almohads, and those Christians were willing to be friendly to him presumably because the Almohads were an even greater threat. But if the Almohads aren't a threat any more, then the Christians have no reason to ally with a Muslim, no matter how "liberal" he is; they're going to want to complete their reconquest and take those lands for themselves.

As long as you have a powerful, expansionist Muslim state threatening Iberia and smaller, divided Christian states opposed to it, a guy like Mardanis can flourish by cozying up to the Christians. But keeping such a state alive seems like a very difficult strategic balancing act, and not one that could be permanently maintained. Under the right circumstances maybe one could have survived for longer than the reign of one man, but how much longer?