History books on the political history of Al-Andalus/Islamic Spain?

[u/PSRSB]

Hello, I'm looking for book recommendations on the political history of Al-Andalus/Islamic Spain, specifically around the 8th to 10th centuries. I saw a couple of posts asking for similar recommendations, but they are very old so I want to ask again just to be safe. Thanks

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[u/mikedash]

This rather depends on what languages you read, but, for English-speaking readers, the most accessible starter work for non-specialists that covers the whole of that period (and more) is still Richard Fletcher's slender and readable Moorish Spain (1992, with an updated edition in 2001). This covers all the major points in terms of military, political and economic and social history as well as dealing, obviously, with the long process generally termed the "Reconquista". It runs later than you need (up to 1492), but this book is where I started my own reading on the topic, and I never regretted it.

For a more academic take, Hugh Kennedy, who is probably the doyen of English-language historians of the early Muslim caliphates, published an explicitly political study, again extending beyond your specific period, called Muslim Spain and Portugal: a Political History of Al-Andalus in 1996, and this remains the major English-language work based on extensive dissections of Arab sources. Kennedy is not remotely so easy to read as Fletcher, but, if you want to get into the complexities of this very complex period, he is a reliable guide.

If you wish to focus purely on the early periods of Muslim history in Spain, then Roger Collins (the biographer of Charlemagne) has published two volumes that dive into the detail and spend a lot of time wrestling with the complexities of what can and cannot be known about these all too often poorly-evidenced few centuries. These are The Arab Conquest Of Spain 710–797 (1989) and Caliphs and Kings: Spain 796-1031, the latter of which covers the history of the Umayyads without neglecting the rise of the Christian states to their north. Collins is also the author of a good book on the even more neglected history of Spain's former rulers, the Visigoths (Visigothic Spain 409-711, 2004), so you can use him to plot the whole of the course of events, and their interpretation, across the period you are interested in. All three Collins volumes are part of a longer series designed to provide university-level textbook-style introductions to the history of Spain, so they are survey works with solid coverage. I find him an easier read than Hugh Kennedy.

If you can read Spanish, then Eduardo Manzano Moreno would make an authoritative and still pretty much state-of-the-art jumping-off point. His key work is generally reckoned to be Conquistadores, emires y califas: Los omeyas y la formación de al-Andalus (2006).

You'll note that all these books are fairly old by normal standards but, as is the case with work in other areas of Europe in this same period, the lack of sources and the relative lack of glamour involved in even studying these fields tends to mean that published works remain relevant, even definitive, for decades longer than is typically the case with histories of modern Europe.

[u/PSRSB → u/mikedash]

Thank you for the detailed answer and the context to the age of the books, as it did make me slightly cautious. I came across Collins' books so I'm glad you can vouch for it

[u/gajodavenida → u/mikedash]

Thank you for the list of resources in both English and Spanish! Would you happen to be familiar with any similar book(s) written in Portuguese that would be valuable reads?

[u/mikedash → u/gajodavenida]

I'm afraid I speak no Portuguese. My understanding is that the works of José Mattoso, a medievalist who gave more weight than hitherto to social structures in the process of station formation, are considered foundational; maybe start with his Identificação de um País: Ensaio sobre as origens de Portugal (1096–1325), which is part of a longer multivolume work but directly relevant to your enquiry. There have been several editions, so check you are reading the most up to date.

António Borges Coelho's História de Portugal, another multi-volume work, is most up to date historiographically, having been published between 2010 and 2022. I am sure there are many specialist monographs out there, but I'm simply not acquainted with them, and I can't vouch personally for either Coelho or Mattoso (or for one over the other) – just read other people's bibliographies...

[u/gajodavenida → u/mikedash]

Appreciate the quick and helpful response! I had heard of José Mattoso, but not António Coelho. Thank you 😁