Abstract

The medieval period stands out as one of the most interesting and peculiar areas of study within the history of Spain because of the reconquest of Muslim Spain by Christians. One of the aspects of Christian colonisation of Muslim Spain was the change of the public and more importantly the public way of life that was materially expressed in alterations of Muslim domestic architecture and their construction of public spaces, especially streets and their interfaces with houses. The changes that occurred within the urban sphere were due to the distinct comprehension of domestic environment due mostly to the religious and symbolical issues that were completely unknown both to Christian women and men. If the public space was modified by men because of their social and economical everyday life, domestic space was changed since neither Christian women nor men were able to comprehend the specific Andalusian internal room distribution, the presence of an inner courtyard or a privacy of such places as a latrine. The immense potential of the research topic on the medieval urban environment can be explained as a result of the Muslim presence since the eighth century and the appearance of al-Andalus state that during the tenth century, as Richard Fletcher pointed out (2006: 77), had been the richest, the best-governed, the most powerful and the most renowned state in the western world. Nevertheless, the geographical limits and the governmental organisation of al-Andalus had never been stable due to internal and external crises and conflicts. In spite of that, Andalusians were able to create a flourishing urban culture that left remnants easily observed in present-day Spanish towns. If the internal conflicts within al-Andalus were numerous and distinct depending on the geographical area and historical period, one external enemy—the Catholic armies—persisted for centuries and finally caused the fall of the Muslim state. It must be said that the aim of recovery of the Muslim part of medieval Spain led by the Christian armed forces continued since the incursion the Arab people made in the eighth century (Fig. 5.1).