1412: al-Qalqašandī Describes the Iberian Christian Realms of his Time

Abstract

A short fragment devoted to the situation of the Christian kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula in Ṣubḥ al-aʿšā, the most famous work of the Egyptian chancery secretary, al-Qalqašandī (d. 821/1418), has been criticised by Spanish historiography for containing inaccurate and outdated information. Looking at this text from the broader perspective of Mamlūk encyclopaedism, this article investigates why, how, and for which purpose this passage was actually written. This makes it possible to contextualise it within a scholarly debate revolving around the Arabic-Islamic documentation of Christian Europe and the interest Arabic-Islamic scholars displayed in European-Christian societies.