Agricultural Landscapes of Al-Andalus, and the Aftermath of the Feudal Conquest, ed. Kirchner, Helena and Flocel Sabaté. The Medieval Countryside 22. Turnhout, Brepols, 2021, pp. 277; 22 b/w figures, 44 b/w maps, 9 b/w tables and graphs.

Abstract

Abstract: The twenty-second volume of the Brepols series on The Medieval Countryside offers state-of-the-art research and novel perspectives on the complex and varied agricultural landscapes of medieval Al Andalus. The nine collected papers emerge principally from two research groups: the Agrarian Archeology of the Middle Ages group center­ed at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and the Cultures and Societies of the Middle Ages group at the Universitat de València. Both have longstanding research programs engaging experts in the study of Andalusi society. Helena Kirchner offers an introductory essay that, although thinner in detail and reach than some readers might like (I would have appreciated more historiographical context), points to some of the methodological novelties and indicates the major topics treated. Many of the papers signal indebtedness to Thomas Glick, beginning with the highly influential Irrigation and Society in Medieval Valencia (Cambridge, 1970), and also to Miquel Barceló’s studies that began in the 1980s of hydraulic systems across a broader expanse of medieval Al-Andalus. Building upon a formidable heritage, each of the offerings reports on methods that go well beyond what those predecessors conceived.