Christian Kingdoms in the Atlas Mountains

[corourke]

What if the some of the Christian inhabitants of present day Morocco (then the nominally Byzantine province of Mauritania) had retreated into the Atlas mountains during the seventh century Arab invasion? I'm envisioning a kingdom or group of kingdoms roughly analogous to the Spanish March.

I think that a 'great man' would be sufficient to lead the Christians into the mountains and fortify it to the extent that the Arabs/Moors/Forces of Islam found the idea of attempting to conquer them not worth the expenditure in resources. The kingdom lead by this great man would live in isolation from the rest Christendom until the reconquista, which would happen a little bit earlier with the added pressure of a Christian kingdom in the south pressuring the Moors.

This earlier reconquista also presents us with interesting concepts. I see a larger Portugal as a result of the weaker alt-Grenada. What does the rest of Iberia look like? How does the Christian Kingdom of Mauritania interact with the rest of Europe? Is it considered a European Kingdom or an African one?

 

[Michael B]

Christians could have survived in Mrocco without hiding up in the mountains. After all Maronites and Copts continue in Lebanon and Egypt respectively to the present day.

If such Christians were a serious obstacle they could very well draw the Arabs off invading Spain when they did so because the forces of Islam would be fighting them instead. A different arrival time could see the Visigoths more united and thus able to repel them. Result: no Andalusia.

 

[Leo Caesius]

The problem is that Christianity in the Maghreb was primarily (although not exclusively) urban; in the countryside and up in the mountains, the local populations (Berbers and even some Punic speakers) appear to have remained pagan well after the Islamic conquest and perhaps even until the dawn of the modern age; this is suggested by the excavations conducted by Goodchild at Bir ed-Dreder, particularly the cremation burials unearthed on the Roman frontier.

Incidentally, the book Late Punic Epigraphy (Mohr Siebeck: 2005), which has collected all of the Roman Period Punic inscriptions found in archaeological contexts, has just come out, and it lists yours truly as the last word on the Latino-Punic inscriptions of Bir ed-Dreder.

So, the only way for Christianity to survive in North Africa would require the Christianization of the country to the same extent that Egypt and Lebanon were Christianized, instead of a patina of Christianity along the coast covering up a vast pagan hinterland. I doubt very much that the urban Christians would have fled to the barbarous highlands, considering that they were no strangers to conquest and no one at the time expected the Muslims to last very long, anyway.

 

[Michael B]

So, the only way for Christianity to survive in North Africa would require the Christianization of the country to the same extent that Egypt and Lebanon were Christianized, instead of a patina of Christianity along the coast covering up a vast pagan hinterland.

The hinterland could be Christianized the same way as the Germanic invaders of the British Isles and the Norse homelands and conquests were, namely convert the chief or king and he will order the rest to convert as well. Considering that the Catholic Church was already using this strategy in northern Europe before the Arab conquest I am surprised that they were not doing the same in Africa. Any one got a explanation for this oversight?

 

[Thande]

I believe what the original poster is asking us to contemplate is effectively a Moroccan Asturias, but I just can't see that happening without a considerably earlier POD.

 

[Leo Caesius]

The populations in the hinterland and the mountains was much more sparse and isolated than any of the German tribes. There were tons of tribes, about which we know very little. They're conventionally identified with the Berbers, as that seems only logical, but there's actually very little evidence for this identification beyond chance similarities between the names of Libyan tribes in antiquity and the Berber tribes of today.

In actual fact, the process of Christianization in Europe was far slower than people realize. In North Africa, the process was arrested by the arrival of Islam; with time, perhaps the region would have become thoroughly Christian, but it most definitely was not by the time that the Arabs arrived.

 

[corourke]

I believe what the original poster is asking us to contemplate is effectively a Moroccan Asturias

This is indeed what I was interested in discussing.

The problem is that Christianity in the Maghreb was primarily (although not exclusively) urban; in the countryside and up in the mountains, the local populations (Berbers and even some Punic speakers) appear to have remained pagan well after the Islamic conquest and perhaps even until the dawn of the modern age; this is suggested by the excavations conducted by Goodchild at Bir ed-Dreder, particularly the cremation burials unearthed on the Roman frontier.

This explains why I was unable to find much about Christians in Morocco before the muslim conquest.

 

[Thande]

=Leo Caesiusthe process of Christianization in Europe was far slower than people realize.

There are those of us who think it was never completed at all...

 

[MarkA]

Pagan is late latin for country dweller. Christianity was an urban religion.

The great religious festivals of the empire were coopted by christians so we have easter, that supposedly commemorates an actual historical event, moving around the calender according to the phases of the moon just like its pagan original and christmas replacing the festival of Sol Invictus. These were urban festivals where the emperor feted the city dwellers to increase his popularity.

In the countryside, the official upper class gods were acknowledged but largely ignored. They were important to preserve the empire and the person of the emperor and his family and to give success to the army etc. But the local gods and the family gods were of much greater import to the daily lives of the peasants.

So for christian kingdoms to exist in the mountains of north Africa, there would need to be an exodus of city people to wild and barbarous lands. It would not happen today so it is unlikely it would happen then. Wilderness then was viewed as unknown and dangerous territory occupied by wild beasts and men little better. Sophisticated city folk ekking out a living in hard anddangerous conditions when they could have stayed in their homes is not a likely prospect.