The legacy of the Moors in Europe

(Picture source)

By "JD":

Most people will be aware of the Moorish influence on Spain because of the 700 years during which Spain was known as Al Andalus. Their architecture is self-evident and the Moors introduced new methods of large-scale irrigation thus expanding horticultural fertility - in the Spanish language most of the words for irrigation, drainage etc are Arabic.

Under the Umayyad caliphate (929–1031), Córdoba became perhaps the greatest intellectual centre of Europe, with celebrated libraries and schools. Not just in Córdoba but also in Toledo and other centres where arts and sciences flourished. All were part of the so-called Islamic golden age in which Jews, Muslims and Christians lived and worked and studied in relative harmony. When I first visited Toledo nearly 40 years ago what surprised me almost immediately was that the road signs were written in Hebrew as well as Spanish.

There are a number of scholars who contend that the Islamic Golden Age is a myth but that is to miss the point. The golden age was not a direct product of Islam any more than the Italian renaissance was a direct product of Christianity. Just a brief glance at the paintings of Botticelli for example would dispel that notion. Any so-called golden age in any period of history will flourish when the warrior class (the psychopaths) have a respite from the perpetual insanity of their desire for power and control.

The fact remains that in Al Andalus there was a flourishing of arts and sciences. And I have seen for myself in the bibliotecas of Madrid, Toledo and El Escorial astonishing collections of books and manuscripts in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Spanish as well as Syriac and Farsi (Persian) A lot of material came from the middle east via the Moors and these were copied and translated in the aforementioned libraries and schools.

The Moorish influence extended beyond Spain into France and Germany in ways that have been forgotten or overlooked.

We are all familiar with the myths and legends about the quest for the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail first appears in a written text in Chrétien de Troyes's Old French verse romance, the Conte del Graal ('Story of the Grail'), or Perceval, of c.1180. Several other writers over the following 50 years wrote their own versions of the Grail (or Graal) These stories are based on old Celtic and Arthurian legends and what they share is that the Grail itself is a cup or chalice. In Celtic myth this drinking vessel or 'cors' is said to satisfy the needs of all those who drank from it. This was Christanised to become the cup used at the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples.

But there is one version of the Grail legend that is different. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzifal, the Grail is identified as a stone, it is called "lapsit exillis" and this stone had magical powers: "Such powers does the stone confer on mortal men that their flesh and bones are soon made young again. This stone is called The Gral." Wolfram indicates in his writings that the source of his story came from Kyot of Dolet in Aragon. Kyot is a Germanic version of Guy which is the dimiutive form of Guillaume or Guilliem. Dolet is usually interpreted as being Toledo but is more likely to be Tudela which is a city in Navarra in northern Spain. At that time Navarra was part of the Kingdom of Aragon. Living and working in Tudela during this period was a scholar called William of Tudela who was the author of the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise or Song of the Albigensian Crusade, an epic poem in Occitan giving a contemporary account of the crusade against the Cathars. This would indicate that he was a Cathar living in Spain. Working as a scholar in the Bishopric of Tarazona which was a centre for the translation of Arabic lore brought from the Middle East, William of Tudela produced a translation of a work by Thābit ibn Qurra who was a Harranian living in Baghdad. This document is undoubtedly the source of Wolfram's Parzifal because Thābit is named within the story of Parzifal. He is described as a philosopher who "fathomed abstruse arts" and when Wolfram has cause to list the planets he gives them their Arabic names.

Around the same time as these Grail stories there emerged in SW France the phenomenon of the Troubadors. They appeared as if from nowhere but did they really have roots in France or elsewhere? The word does not come from the French 'trouvère' which is what everyone thinks. It comes from the North African tradition of 'Tarab' which was and still is a form of musical story telling. Add the word 'Tarab' to the Spanish language suffix of -ador and you get Tarabador, a person who sings/plays Tarab so the word 'tarabador' is much closer linguistically than 'trouvère'.

The popular image of Troubadors is of the love-struck romantic singing of his unrequited love for an unattanable maiden. But Tarab is sung by both males and females. Here is a song by the Syrian singer Assala Nasri which is a response to a declaration of love by an unwanted suitor:-


The influence of this Moorish music continues into the 20th and 21st cebturies. You may recall that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) made a journey to the Atlas Mountains in search of further musical inspiration.

Another modern day troubador is the Canadian Loreena McKennit who, like Wolfram, has drawn inspiration from Celtic and Arabic sources. Here she is singing, appropriately enough, in the Alhambra in Granada -


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References-
Umayyad caliphate in Spain
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sumay/hd_sumay.htm

Quest for the Holy the Grail
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/mythical/grail.html

William of Tudela
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Tudela

Tudela
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudela,_Navarre

Thābit ibn Qurra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C4%81bit_ibn_Qurra

The Hermetic Sources and Structure of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival by David R. Fideler -
http://www.bythewaybooks.com/pages/books/9380/david-fideler-arthur-versluis-kathleen-raine-joscelyn-godwin/alexandria-the-journal-of-western-cosmological-traditions-1

Idries Shah
http://idriesshahfoundation.org/books/the-way-of-the-sufi/

The Troubadors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubadour#Etymology_of_name


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Noble, terrible, piteous

Burma, 23 January 1945: like the Saxons of Maldon, the Japanese embrace their doom...

"On the day that Monywa was taken, other troops of the 20th Division, pressing on, reached the Irrawaddy at Myinmu. Near here, a few days later, there was a fight with a large Japanese party attempting to withdraw over the river. Resisting stubbornly, the enemy had been almost annihilated, when the last survivors, in full equipment and with closed ranks, under the astonished eyes of our men, marched steadily into the river and drowned."

Field Marshal Viscount Slim, "Defeat Into Victory", Pan Books (1999 edn.), p.418
(This incident also mentioned here: http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=192)

As John Masters - another Forgotten Army participant - said, if only we worked at peace half as hard as we do at war.


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Is Cameron a bungler?

From the Independent we hear news of Cameron's latest attempt at EU fear mongering.

The world would be a more dangerous place if Britain voted to leave the European Union, David Cameron has claimed, as he travelled to Germany in a final effort to enlist the backing of Angela Merkel for his renegotiation demands.

In a speech in Hamburg, Mr Cameron said it was “vital to keep Britain in a reformed EU” to face down “dangerous and murderous ideologies” and stand up for democracy and the rule of law.

I'm sure Cameron does not expect to convince any informed person with this. That is not the aim - he is merely trying to sow the seeds of nebulous fear among wavering voters. 

Feeble stuff which raises an obvious question. Why has Cameron apparently bungled the referendum issue by promising EU concessions he must have known he couldn’t deliver? To get anywhere he would have had to make it quite clear that he was in favour of the UK leaving the EU. Otherwise he would always be negotiating with the EU from a position of weakness and he must have known that.

In which case he either bungled his tactics or he chose to negotiate from a position of weakness. Whatever one thinks of Cameron, he is probably too smart to have bungled the tactics of his referendum promise. One has to assume he knew what was on the cards because it isn’t rocket science. So he chose to negotiate from a position of weakness. He did not expect or want significant concessions from the EU because he has adopted the political persona of a sound European.

The whole thing just keeps on looping back to this obvious explanation. Cameron is gambling on winning the referendum for staying in the EU, thereby landing himself a prominent EU job with his political star very much in the ascendant.

Alternatively he may have other career possibilities in mind and is more interested in the global stage. Either way his strategy seems sound. Better to take the referendum risk and brand himself as a shining political success than end up as a tired and ageing PM looking for something else to do.

His game is not even as duplicitous as it sounds if he believes we have no real choice but to stay in the EU. He is merely putting the issue to rest and moving on.

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E-Type

source

From BT and others comes this story of a restored E-Type Jaguar.

A classic British car left to rust on a French farm has been restored to its former glory is now worth £300,000 and will return to the spotlight at next week’s London Classic Car Show.

But this particular example, E-Type fixed head coupe Chassis No. 15, was discovered in a barn in Cernay, east France, in late 2013. It was more chicken coop than racing coupe, rusted, missing many vital components and covered in farmyard muck.

From the photo it had quite a few vital components missing, such as the engine. Apparently that had to be completely recreated according to the Mail.

Lovely car and all that, but if I rummaged around an old barn, found a couple of legs from an Elizabethan table and rebuilt it, folk would not be so impressed. It most certainly wouldn't be worth anywhere near the price of a genuine Elizabethan table. I'd have to sell it as repro. Different people, different outlook I suppose.

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Assange: dirtier tricks than I thought

In the post:

"... there is NO JURY in a rape trial in Sweden and it is a SECRET TRIAL. All of the evidence, all of the witnesses, are heard in secret. No public, no jury, no media. The only public part is the charging and the verdict. There is a judge and two advisers directly appointed by political parties."

And in comments:

"My own concern is that the secret nature of rape trials in Sweden, and the lack of a jury, make it the perfect opportunity for a stitch-up and false conviction. Of which I am sure the CIA are perfectly aware.

"Once you are a “convicted rapist”, the political opposition to extradition to the US on espionage charges will evaporate. Much of the support of the left for Assange has already vanished just by the expedient of getting a CIA asset to cry rape."

See today's piece by Craig Murray here:

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/why-the-assange-allegation-is-a-stitch-up/#comment-577354


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Shifting the poor

"They told me I had to come here." (pic source)

In 1970s Oxford my roommate told me that the local police regularly beat tramps and beggars with rubber torches and motored them out of the city.

Things haven't changed much. A few days ago there was a post on Facebook about a group of Norwich rough sleepers sheltering in a mall who had cold water thrown over them and their sleeping-bags.

But it's getting more systematic.

Someone I talk to in the Local Authority tells me they're seeing a pattern of applications for special needs assessment for children of families who have [been] relocated from London to here in the Midlands, where rents are cheaper. If a special school is indicated, then that's around £25,000 p.a. - per child, and families of SEN children often have more than one.

My contact says a left field idea would be to buy such families a house outright, in well-off Solihull. Overall, it would save us a packet. It's a bit like playing "Find the Lady", palming off the losing Queen of Spades to a fellow player.

There'll be more of this, and we're pretty much financially bust already.


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Assange, imperialism and freedom

The Ecuadorian Embassy siege, that standing reproach to the British Government, may be coming to an end. That's assuming the UK respects international law and opinion more than it wishes to serve the interests of a vindictive ally.

We walked round to the Embassy last September, out of curiosity, to see the cruel theatre of dingy politics at first hand. The next month, the Met police guard was finally withdrawn but it was decided to deny Assange access to medical treatment.

We are governed by shits. Remember Brian Haw.

US-educated Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa knows what he's looking at. At what point did the United States cease to be anti-imperialist?

Etonian traitor - not the first from that school - David Cameron is all out to fudge the EU referendum, muddling it up with regional elections so that the distracted people finally vote for the end of national freedom and democratic control.

If it goes his way, I wouldn't rule out taking Ecuadorian citizenship, to get away from this drunkard's-dream.

UPDATE (14:09)

Phil Hammond kept a straight face as he communicated HMG's slap to the UN's HR ruling - but there was an air of embarrassment, I thought. And here comes the reaction:

"Refusal of UN Panel Statement Allows Rejection of Any UN Ruling- Snowden":
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160205/1034284346/uk-sweden-assange-snowden.html

Okay, let's see HMG adopt the same cavalier approach to all EU regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and opinions,  past, present and future.

UPDATE (14:49)

Glad to see a proper journalist weighing in, too:

http://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2016-02-05/no-fair-hearing-for-assange-at-the-guardian/

UPDATE (6 Feb 16 07:29)

... and ex-FCO dissident Craig Murray (hat-tip to "JD"):

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/02/assange-a-fundamental-vindication/

- whose discussion of the case against Assange was removed from Google searches* but can be found here:

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/09/why-i-am-convinced-that-anna-ardin-is-a-liar/

UPDATE (6 Feb 16 10:00)

The Australian Foreign Minister has met Assange to discuss ways forward:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ecuador-sweden-assange-australia-idUKKCN0VE2M9

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