AHC: Moors in Britain

Iberian islam spreads to Britain? You could have one empire of Islam going from North Africa to Britain.
 
Iberian islam spreads to Britain? You could have one empire of Islam going from North Africa to Britain.
Is a conquest of France and subsequent conquest of England the only way it could happen? Or could a Muslim-conquered Armorica be the starting point of some crafty Moorish general's invasion of Cornwall?
 
Is a conquest of France and subsequent conquest of England the only way it could happen? Or could a Muslim-conquered Armorica be the starting point of some crafty Moorish general's invasion of Cornwall?
There would be a bigger population if they took Brittany considering it would mean they would get a lot of trade with Britain.
 
a division of the british isles between the anglo-saxon & moorish invaders.. ireland parts of wales & cornwall to the moors.

as they will be culturally tolerant (compared to the anglo-saxons) and the fact that you can live under them quite comfortably as long as you pay your jizya (or convert), i think that the muslim invaders can actually be a blessing to the native population. the Taifa of Al-Airah can even outlive islamic spain, if the relgion catches on. and it just might, christianity itself was quite fresh then, right?

not to mention the GORGEOUS gaelic-influenced mosque architecture..
 
a division of the british isles between the anglo-saxon & moorish invaders.. ireland parts of wales & cornwall to the moors.

as they will be culturally tolerant (compared to the anglo-saxons) and the fact that you can live under them quite comfortably as long as you pay your jizya (or convert), i think that the muslim invaders can actually be a blessing to the native population. the Taifa of Al-Airah can even outlive islamic spain, if the relgion catches on. and it just might, christianity itself was quite fresh then, right?

not to mention the GORGEOUS gaelic-influenced mosque architecture..

Actually I really like this idea, it would be awesome if a little ASB unless you come up with a long drawn out way of getting to that point. Also where did you come up with Al-Airah? Its a really awesome name.
 
a division of the british isles between the anglo-saxon & moorish invaders.. ireland parts of wales & cornwall to the moors.

as they will be culturally tolerant (compared to the anglo-saxons) and the fact that you can live under them quite comfortably as long as you pay your jizya (or convert), i think that the muslim invaders can actually be a blessing to the native population. the Taifa of Al-Airah can even outlive islamic spain, if the relgion catches on. and it just might, christianity itself was quite fresh then, right?

not to mention the GORGEOUS gaelic-influenced mosque architecture..

They'd end up in the teeth of the Viking age... that would be fascinating.
 
Actually I really like this idea, it would be awesome if a little ASB unless you come up with a long drawn out way of getting to that point. Also where did you come up with Al-Airah? Its a really awesome name.

imagine arab-speaker say "Eire", add "al-". just like Al-Andalus.
 

Thande

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There were Moors in Britain before there were English people in Britain, strangely enough: a Roman legion stationed in what's now Northumberland was recruited from Morocco.
 

Orry

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There was a time when the 'Moors' conducted slave raids against the Cornish Fishing fleets and against Cornwall itself - you can see something of this in Peeps diaries.

Its hard to see how they can stay for any length of time without the fall of Spain and France.
 

Thande

Donor
There was a time when the 'Moors' conducted slave raids against the Cornish Fishing fleets and against Cornwall itself - you can see something of this in Peeps diaries.

Its hard to see how they can stay for any length of time without the fall of Spain and France.

Although I think that was mostly pirates from Algiers. It's a bit vague because people randomly threw around words like Barbary and Moorish and Turkish and applied them to 'anyone swarthy and Muslim'.

The island of Lundy off the West Country coast was actually a North African pirate haven for many years.
 

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Although I think that was mostly pirates from Algiers. It's a bit vague because people randomly threw around words like Barbary and Moorish and Turkish and applied them to 'anyone swarthy and Muslim'.

The island of Lundy off the West Country coast was actually a North African pirate haven for many years.

Hence my saying 'Moors' with the ' around it :)
 
There were Moors in Britain before there were English people in Britain, strangely enough: a Roman legion stationed in what's now Northumberland was recruited from Morocco.

There was also a truly "Arabian" contingent from Palmyra. Not sure of the location, but I think somewhere in the Midlands.
It looks like people from the oddest peripheral corners of the Empire were consistently employed to garrison Britain (which was an odd peripheral corner in her own right from a Roman POV). I am aware of Moors, Palmyrans, Iazygians (a Sarmatian group from today's Hungary), Jews (not entirely sure about them) and Germans (Franks IIRC).
 
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