Moonlight in a Jar: An Al-Andalus Timeline

I am curious about architecture. The alhambra palace in many ways is very similar to Central European baroque, so Al Andulas has real potential to create an islamic form of baroque.
Edit: Also I am loving this @Planet of Hats, jut thought I would say that, I generally like later PODs, but this story has me constantly reading despite my normal preferences, so it is a really good timeline
The reason I pointed out Al Hambra is indeed because it is among my favorite pieces of architecture, but also because in this story it is approaching that OTL time period, given increased trade and interaction with western europe, baroque elements may be incorporated into Al Andulsian architecture, so it makes sense a lot of it looks like Al Hambra, or more vaguely Granda Emirate architecture in my eyes, though more diversity and sophisticated probably exists in this timeline, since Al Andulas is both much bigger and is much more diverse and wealthy than that dying Emirate
 
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I am curious about architecture. The alhambra palace in many ways is very similar to Central European baroque, so Al Andulas has real potential to create an islamic form of baroque.

I myself too wish nothing more than to be able to hire a team of artists to illustrate this world for us. Especially the skylines of Isbilli, Lishbuna, and Barshilunya.
 
A few quick tips about temple names:

- Usually the founder is named Taizu (great progenitor, as Zhao Kuangyin was named) or Gaozu (high progenitor, as Li Yuan was named). Exceptions occur when a founder credits an ancestor with the name (as Kublai did when he gave the name Taizu to Genghis Khan and was himself named Shizu (Worldly progenitor)
- Usually the second ruler is named Taizong (Great ancestor) (as both Zhao Kuangyi and Li Shimin were named) unless, as above, the name is given to a previous ancestor (Ogedei was named Taizong of Yuan, to continue the example), One of the only other exceptions to this is if the dynasty is exceedingly short, so that the second ruler is either an ineffectual ruler or fails to secure his succession. The Later Zhou Dynasty, for example, had its second ruler posthumously named Shizong rather than Taizong because the third and final ruler was a child who was overthrown by Song Taizu.
- The temple names that follow Taizu/Gaozu and Taizong will generally be some term signifying some virtuous trait: examples include Ren (humane), Ming (brilliant), De (virtuous), and Yuan (primal). Most rulers will also have posthumous names ending in -zong (ancestor), unless they play a truly significant role in founding or re-founding a dynasty (the examples that comes to mind are Sejo (Shizu) of Joseon and Chengzu (Yongle Emperor) of Ming). I will say, however, that even such re-foundational monarchs, such as Gaozong of Song were as often as not still given temple names ending in -zong.

here is a list of temple names to choose from:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_name

you may also choose to have the era name of an Emperor become the Emperor’s main moniker, as occurred during the Ming and Qing Empires, but era names are significantly more difficult to generate and more confusing in my opinion.

Great timeline. I’m glad to see that Song, Wu, and Hei are all playing a major part in it.
 
I think it is also safe to assume the Al Andulsians are much more clean and hygienic then Western Europe, both given their already established bathing culture, and the Islamic insistence upon cleanliness.
Actually, looking at their baths, looks similar to those of the (classic) Roman era.
Nonetheless, might give them certain advantages?
 
I think it is also safe to assume the Al Andulsians are much more clean and hygienic then Western Europe, both given their already established bathing culture, and the Islamic insistence upon cleanliness.
Actually, looking at their baths, looks similar to those of the (classic) Roman era.
Nonetheless, might give them certain advantages?

While they might be more hygienic, and the topic has come up before about how Anadlusi customs (lots of cats) and their attitudes toward disease helped them better tackle the plagues, we should be wary on continuing the:

Medieval Europe was a dark and horrible hell hole of disease and unkempt unbathed people.

Roman bathing traditions survived in many places across Europe and the views we have on their hygiene we’re largely crafted by Renaissance and Enlightenment writers who to defend their own horrible bathing and health practices said the ones before them were even worse.

I’m not saying the cities of Christian Europe would be beacons of cleanliness, just saying the slums of Isbilli are probably not far off from those of Paris.
 
While they might be more hygienic, and the topic has come up before about how Anadlusi customs (lots of cats) and their attitudes toward disease helped them better tackle the plagues, we should be wary on continuing the:

Medieval Europe was a dark and horrible hell hole of disease and unkempt unbathed people.

Roman bathing traditions survived in many places across Europe and the views we have on their hygiene we’re largely crafted by Renaissance and Enlightenment writers who to defend their own horrible bathing and health practices said the ones before them were even worse.

I’m not saying the cities of Christian Europe would be beacons of cleanliness, just saying the slums of Isbilli are probably not far off from those of Paris.
A large part of it is city planning in all honesty.
My point isn't regarding the exaggerated claims of Europe completely lacking hygiene (yes, I know Paris had many public baths for example)
It is more regarding Islamic culture places extensive importance on cleanliness. It really doesn't matter your social class - bathing was heavily important. The fact one must be clean before saying the Shahada for example, is just one example the emphasis placed. When the Arab's entered Ctesiphon, they were disgusting by the Persian's lack of emphasis on bathing, with only a few baths in the Sasanian Empire, generally for the Shahanshah.
My post wasn't exactly stereotyping Europe's dirtiness - I was more talking about Islamic cleanliness. As you can see from my example above, (non european ) Islam in general requires cleanliness whenever possible, and while in rare cases they are excuses, being low class or living in a slum won't cut it in all honesty. They can bath in the river or in a crude tub, but being unhygienic isn't really excused and is very unfavorable in the vast majority of Islamic cultures.

Edit: I could also get into the Muslims reaction to Moscovite poor hygiene (not exactly central europe) and the fact in the Tang dynasty, the average noble bathed once in ten days, but my point is across pretty well. You are also correct on most of those, other than your last sentence which is what I corrected above.
 
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A large part of it is city planning in all honesty.
My point isn't regarding the exaggerated claims of Europe completely lacking hygiene (yes, I know Paris had many public baths for example)
It is more regarding Islamic culture places extensive importance on cleanliness. It really doesn't matter your social class - bathing was heavily important. The fact one must be clean before saying the Shahada for example, is just one example the emphasis placed. When the Arab's entered Ctesiphon, they were disgusting by the Persian's lack of emphasis on bathing, with only a few baths in the Sasanian Empire, generally for the Shahanshah.
My post wasn't exactly stereotyping Europe's dirtiness - I was more talking about Islamic cleanliness. As you can see from my example above, (non european ) Islam in general requires cleanliness whenever possible, and while in rare cases they are excuses, being low class or living in a slum won't cut it in all honesty. They can bath in the river or in a crude tub, but being unhygienic isn't really excused and is very unfavorable in the vast majority of Islamic cultures.

Edit: I could also get into the Muslims reaction to Moscovite poor hygiene (not exactly central europe) and the fact in the Tang dynasty, the average noble bathed once in ten days, but my point is across pretty well. You are also correct on most of those, other than your last sentence which is what I corrected above.

Ah! My bad for assuming the bias against European cleanliness, totally agree with your points on this.
 
A few quick tips about temple names:
I'll fully grasp all the linguistic stuff someday. Only then can I be a true member of the AHMADI-CRUZ PARLANTE GANG.

A large part of it is city planning in all honesty.
We're at the tail end of what would be considered the Medieval Era - in fact we're just beginning to inch into the Early Modern Period. In general, the Muslim world has a more sophisticated understanding of hygiene and cleanliness than many other civilizations, but disease still tends to collect in cities. Isbili is cleaner than Paris, Rome or Venice (and Suzhou is cleaner still), and its inhabitants bathe more often and practice ceremonial cleanliness, but there are still areas of the city that are as unsanitary as any low-income neighbourhood in Paris, and Isbili's growth is driven primarily by migration from the countryside given that illness tends to stifle internal population growth.

The average Andalusi will live a few years longer than the average German, and the average Andalusi city has a lot more gardens and better facilities for sanitation, but it's not a vast gulf in most respects.
 
Ah! My bad for assuming the bias against European cleanliness, totally agree with your points on this.
Yeah, you are correct though and I wish more people realized - it was not just Europeans who were appalling in terms of hygiene!
Tang China is one example people miss.
Even certain Indian states as well.
 
I'll fully grasp all the linguistic stuff someday. Only then can I be a true member of the AHMADI-CRUZ PARLANTE GANG.


We're at the tail end of what would be considered the Medieval Era - in fact we're just beginning to inch into the Early Modern Period. In general, the Muslim world has a more sophisticated understanding of hygiene and cleanliness than many other civilizations, but disease still tends to collect in cities. Isbili is cleaner than Paris, Rome or Venice (and Suzhou is cleaner still), and its inhabitants bathe more often and practice ceremonial cleanliness, but there are still areas of the city that are as unsanitary as any low-income neighbourhood in Paris, and Isbili's growth is driven primarily by migration from the countryside given that illness tends to stifle internal population growth.

The average Andalusi will live a few years longer than the average German, and the average Andalusi city has a lot more gardens and better facilities for sanitation, but it's not a vast gulf in most respects.
How is the architecture? I might have sounded basic earlier by bringing up the Alhambra Alcazar, but I pointed it out due to both the A. Time period. B. increasing sophistication. C. Increase of baroque elements.
Ultimately though it may long term end up more diverse, intricate, and also even extravagant as the TTL colonizing Al Andulasian juggernaut is much stronger than say, the OTL dying Granada Emirate and increased trade and colonization will lead to increased influence, same with the overall size of the country and increased population.
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Also, here is a late Granda Helmet, note the fusion of "Oriental" artwork and gilding, while the combat style is heavily derived from western Europe. I do think while it will not be an invitation directly of European style, due to proximity to western Europe, TTL Al Andulas will use more plates armor, (though probably less than most of western europe, mixed with already dominate styles, and with a heavily Islamic tinge probably in the helmets and supplemented armor). Even if it be a small group of heavy cavalry to counter western european "Gendarme" style plated cavalry.
 
Got a question in andaulsi society if a slave converts to islam will they be freed surely the children of slaves will mostly be muslim similar to african-american slaves native and islam disappeared, but they remained slaves while islam you have to free a muslim slave yet, andalusian islam is more laxed and profits are thr driving factor.
 
While so many are asking questions, I may throw one in as well.
How is Sufism and asceticism in general doing in the MiaJ-World and in al-Andalus in particular?

Around this time under the Nasrids and the Marinids in Morocco were embracing it wherever they feasibly could in order to counter the Maliki 'ulama's influence on the courts and to make some profit out of the many saintly tombs popping out in the post-Almoravid/Almohad world of the expanded Maghreb. Would be nice to see a comparison to this timeline.
 
ACT VIII Part XIII: Abd ar-Rahman's Halcyon Age
Excerpt: The Complete History of Andalusia, the Maghreb and Ifriqiya - Gharsiya al-Mahzuzi, Falconbird Press, AD 1980


The 15th century was a time of great progress in Al-Andalus and the Maghreb, but also of immense social, political and military changes. Much of this can be attributed to trends begun during the long reign of Abd ar-Rahman the Seafarer.

The aftermath of the War of the Navarrese Succession left a number of smaller-scale military conflicts still on Abd ar-Rahman's plate beyond the grind of funding warlordism in Al-Quwaniyyah. The Christian revolts in the north were smaller-scale and dealt with mainly by local lords and through the appointment of the Bishop of Salamanca as the intermediary between Isbili and the Latinate Christian community. More troublesome was the revolt by a number of Berber landholders in 1404, though this conflict was fairly localized and consisted mainly of raids and a refusal to remit taxes to Isbili. Abd ar-Rahman dealt with these flare-ups expeditiously.

The most notable military conflict Abd ar-Rahman would slip into would be the African Wars. Igiderid hegemony in Ifriqiya had been declining for decades, but it suffered a mortal blow when a Genoese fleet captured Mahdia in 1405, killing the last adult Igiderid Emir and imprisoning several members of the dynasty. The Igiderids' vassals had operated with de facto autonomy for some time owing to the ruling family's weakness, but with the fall of Mahdia, Igiderid authority crumbled completely.

Into the vacuum stepped the most powerful of those vassals, Maqrin ibn Al-Nasr of Kairouan. The Nasrids[1] were a well-connected family of Zenata Berber extraction, closely allied with a number of Berber families in the central Maghreb, and they controlled a large swath of land that extended to the coastal city of Sous. Maqrin sought and gained the support of both local clans and the Hizamids along with their Asmarid vassals, and they launched a series of campaigns on Mahdia, ultimately ejecting Genoa in 1411. The final reclamation of Mahdia is notable for the first known use of a great-tanin - a large single-barreled blackpowder ejector, used to breach the Genoese gates.

The ensuing legs of the African Wars flickered on and off for the better part of the next two decades, taking place mostly at sea. Abd ar-Rahman, on behalf of the Caliph, recognized and supported the Nasrids as the ruling authority in Ifriqiya, providing military support against both rogue Berbers inland and Christian enemies on the sea. However, most of the fighting would be shouldered by the Nasrids themselves, with a quiet assist from mercenaries released into their service by the Harabids of Egypt. Abd ar-Rahman's primary initiative in these conflicts was a series of naval engagements in the western Mediterranean against Genoese and Sicilian galleys, as well as a series of attacks on Genoa's holdings in Corsica. The most notable engagement came in 1417, when a small flotilla of Hizamid galleys was soundly defeated by Genoa off Ajaccio, effectively ending the Hizamid bid to take the island.

The Hizamid pressure had one indirect effect: It forced Genoa to commit ships to the defense of Corsica, reducing the number stationed in Sicily and Melita. The final major engagement of the African Wars was the Battle of Qawsra[2]. The resulting Muslim naval victory and subsequent land occupation saw the ascendant Nasrids push the Genoese out of Melita, restoring Islamic rule over the island after generations of Christian hegemony.

These wars were marked by the introduction of new technologies into the conflict. In the decades following the War of Navarrese Succession (and other conflicts in the east between Christendom and the Bataids), the Christian kingdoms of Europe began to experiment with their own blackpowder weapons. The Battle of Qawsra featured both the Nasrids and the Genoese hurling fireballs from ship-mounted catapults, while tanins were used by the Nasrids to reduce the Genoese garrison in Melita.

Gradually, the tanins used in the Muslim world were refined. The Hizamids pioneered the refinement of the nine-barreled tanin into smaller, single-barreled versions, usually braced by a wooden spar and attachable to a forked mount as a flexible defensive weapon. Muslim use of the very large great-tanin increased throughout the Mediterranean world, with the Bataids deploying them in various forms. The weapons gained currency in Christian countries as well - the tanin was known as the dragonne to the French, deciphered with the aid of Andalusian prisoners from the prior war, and came into use by specialized troops known as dragoons, who carried fireballs and deployed smaller dragonnes on carts. While most troops continued to utilize advanced weapons from the Late Precrossing, such as crossbows and modern armour, the age of blackpowder was well and truly on its way.


*

Other technologies had come into use during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman, along with other cultural innovations. Technologically speaking, many of these innovations came through the Andalusian mastery of the seas. Sea astrolabes had come into common use, necessary for the circumnavigation of the Sudan. Shipbuilding technologies improved, resulting in more robust and watertight vessels with greater ability to withstand harsh ocean voyages. Ship types gradually became more refined as expertise accumulated.

By no means did all of these innovations originate in mainland Iberia. A key invention came in 1402, when a Maghrebi scholar and master of optics created the first primitive telescoping lens. While eyeglasses had existed for some time prior, they became more widespread in the Mediterranean as understanding of eyesight became more comprehensive. It's said that Abd ar-Rahman himself wore a pair of eyeglasses for reading in his later years.

With the advent of Chinese and Hindu trade came a new wave of medical knowledge. In 1419, the scholar Ibn al-Hariri of Beja published a landmark treatise which explored the pathology of disease and brought into the mainstream the notion that illnesses may have tangible rather than purely spiritual causes. A Cairo-based medical expert, meanwhile, pioneered the study of chemicals as part of a study on naturalism in medicine. In general, medical understanding began to grow more sophisticated, and it became easier for people of average means to access competent medical help.

Perhaps the most curious technology to emerge in Al-Andalus following contact with China was the introduction of movable type. The technology had been pioneered under the Song, but as Muslim traders in China came into contact with it, its utility became more apparent, particularly to the merchant Ibn al-Jazuli, a Berber trader from Tanja.

Ibn al-Jazuli reasoned that it would be possible to use movable type to print out copies of the Quran, which he could sell in the Gharb al-Aqsa or the Far East. However, word of his endeavour raised an outcry in Tanja. The merchant was accused of corrupting the pure form of the Quran by converting it to be produced by a machine. The religious authorities were called into the dispute, and in 1425 Ibn al-Jazuli was forbidden from using the Chinese technology for that purpose. The precedent set a blanket ban on the use of movable type to print copies of the Quran, a ban which substantially slowed down the introduction of the Chinese-style printing press.

Less slow to arrive were foodstuffs from the Gharb al-Aqsa and the Far East. Among the most popular new arrivals were the tomato, the orange variety of the batata,[3] shukitil,[4] kakaw, Shaymakah spice,[5] the hot variety of chilli, the waya,[6] the jitomato[7] and the Algarvian groundnut. From the Sudan came greater access to the binu pepper, and from the east came luxurious spices like cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, nutmeg, mace, cloves and eastern pepper.[8] The babu[9] was also imported as a luxury foodstuff, enjoyed on occasion by the wealthy. Many of these new foods arrived in upper-class society first and began to exercise influence over local cuisine, with some farmers beginning to experiment with the new crops. The batata in particular would prove well-suited to local conditions, though it was viewed with suspicion at first by many commoners.

This transmission of spices and foodstuffs into Andalusia, the Maghreb and Ifriqiya resulted in a vast culinary transformation. Andalusian and Maghrebi cuisine continues to show the hallmarks of this period: To this day it is impossible to visualize Maghrebi or Andalusian cuisine without the tomato and the chilli.


*

Together with these cultural changes came a gradual shift in the way Al-Andalus was governed.

The years of Abd ar-Rahman's reign are broadly considered an age of prosperity, growth and expansion. New makzans went up from one side of the world to the other. Explorers and merchants traded for gold with the Muisca of the Algarves and the Serer along the Dahab, grew sugar and other crops in the islands of the Sea of Pearls, and gathered expensive spices from far to the east. Andalusians could be found everywhere from Ryukyu to Dahnini and back again.

The vastness of this empire took its toll on the Hizamids' ability to govern it all. While the Hizamids had access to fast ships, the sheer scope of the world they now had access to required the appointment of new walis to govern segments of the trade, and the enormous profits these new markets brought to Andalusi merchants and cities resulted in subordinate emirs gaining wealth as fast or even faster than the Hizamids themselves.

Little by little, the merchant class increased in power relative to the hajib. Powerful landowners were able to buy their own private armies, be they mercenaries, slaves or professional Berbers. Cities grew larger as economic prosperity drove increased immigration by Maghrebi Berbers, many of them following the transition from overland gold-trading to the sea trade. Arabs from the east also found their way to Hizamid Al-Andalus in smaller numbers, further swelling major cities and adding to the tax base.

For his part, Abd ar-Rahman was widely respected and considered to be highly competent and dynamic, able to manage the affairs of the Hizamids' swelling domain expertly. His personal influence was sufficient that when he died in 1433, the succession to his son Al-Mansur was smooth and without issue.

Abd ar-Rahman's reign had lasted 54 years and took him to his 87th year of life. By the time he died, many Andalusians had known no other agent of the Caliph but him. His reign was so long that Al-Mansur was already in his mid-50s when he took power, having served his father as governor over Gharb al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman's hope was that his favourite son would prove up to the task of carrying on in his footsteps and managing a great empire.

However, history had other plans. The period after Abd ar-Rahman's death is considered to be a stage of contrasts. While the Andalusian economy grew rapidly, this growth was mostly to the benefit of the emirs. Al-Mansur is seen as the first in a series of average-to-weak hajibs whose personal power gradually flowed into the hands of subordinates - a weakening of the office which would force major changes by the time the century was out.


[1] Not the same as the Granadan dynasty.
[2] The island of Pantelleria, off Tunisia.
[3] The sweet potato.
[4] Vanilla.
[5] Allspice.
[6] Guava.
[7] The tomatillo.
[8] A catchall term for those varieties of pepper found in India.
[9] The turkey.

SUMMARY:
1405: Mahdia is captured by a Genoese fleet. The Igiderid dynasty crumbles, and the Nasrids of Kabylia step into the power vacuum.
1411: The Nasrids, backed by the Hizamids and Asmarids and with quiet support from the Harabids, recapture Mahdia from the Genoese.
1421: The Battle of Qawsra. With the assistance of Egyptian fleets, the Nasrids eject Genoa and Sicily from Melita.
1425: The Maghrebi merchant Ibn al-Jazuli is forbidden by the religious authorities from using Chinese printing press technology to mass-print copies of the Quran. The ruling passes into Islamic jurisprudence in Western Islam as a blanket ban on reproducing the Quran with a machine.
1433: Abd ar-Rahman the Seafarer dies after 54 years of rule. His son Al-Mansur takes power in his mid-50s.
 
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power gradually flowed into the hands of subordinates - a weakening of the office which would force major changes by the time the century was out

Foreboding. Are the Caliphs going to claw their way back to relevance?

Now that we're in a new century I'd like to see what's been going on in Hungary, Germany, and Russia, especially if black powder has made its way to those theaters.
 
Beautiful update! Glad to see turkey finally coming into play as foodstuff, I’m guessing guinea pig/cuy-cuy hasn’t been encountered yet?
A couple of explorers may have slipped across the Andes, but in general, the guinea pig isn't seen as food by the Muslims. An official ruling is almost certain to establish that a guinea pig is considered vermin, and consuming it is therefore haram. It would undoubtedly be permitted to keep one as a pet, though.

Now that we're in a new century I'd like to see what's been going on in Hungary, Germany, and Russia, especially if black powder has made its way to those theaters.
I've been mentally constructing an update on what's happening in the rest of Europe. This is a period of change in Christendom, and there's a lot going on that's not directly relevant to Andalusian life.
 
Perhaps the most remarkable trait of Ibn al-Layth as a thinker was his conceit that logic and faith did not contradict each other. An admirer of classical learners, particularly the Greeks, he seems to have held a hope of demonstrating the greatness of Islam by proving the rightness of God and His works not only through faith, but through empirical logic utterly undeniable to any reasonable audience. In his early writings, Ibn al-Layth posits that there are two paths to wisdom: Quranic wisdom on one hand, and logic on the other. Critical analysis of Ibn al-Layth's writings strongly suggest that he was intimately familiar with the works of Aristotle; in particular, his short treatise Concerning Reason and the Revealed, he seems to strike a few Aristotelian notes, ultimately drawing the conclusion that logic is a parallel course in interpreting the world - in particular, he suggests that while God is the ultimate cause of all things, creation comes more as a set of divine laws than as direct interventions, and logic can be used to understand those laws.

This update is really interesting because it poses an interesting conundrum that is going to exist. If logic and faith do not contradict each other according to al-Layth, who seems to be an influential thinker at least in Andalusi society, then how can a blanket ban exist on printing Qurans? How can Ibn al-Jazuli be forbidden from using the technology, a product of logic and reason, in order to print copies of the Quran? Wouldn't this raise some questions from some theologians or philosophers?
 
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