The course on Early Medieval Societies: Al-Andalus and the Kingdom of Pamplona, between Christianity and Islam, was held at the UNED Associate Center in Tudela (Navarra, Spain) on October 20-21, 2020, organized by the research project Christian Society under Islamic Rule: Iberian Canonical Collections of the Middle Ages. Professors Ana Echevarria and Jesús Lorenzo thus disseminated the first results of the project, and introduced students from several Spanish Universities to the problems and research questions raised by this topic.
The course started with a comparative approach to the history of Navarre and al-Andalus from the 8th to the 12th centuries, paying special attention to the differences between the Christianity practiced in the northern kingdoms and the one maintained in al-Andalus under Islamic rule. After an introduction of the political and social framework after the Islamic conquest of 711, the various social groups present in the sources were discussed: the authority of bishops as the highest representatives of the Christian hierarchy vis-à-vis the Muslims, the military elite, women and monks. The dossier and the online lectures were followed live by 30 students, with 60 more in a pre-recorded broadcast. Each of the the lectures included a section on the practical study of sources and their discussion. The students were then asked to present an essay on what they had learned in the course. The results have been really satisfactory for both the students and lecturers involved, as the discussion was engaging and productive.