PRINMA (HUM-1035, UGR)
Published 2023 | Version v1
Working paper Open

The Battles of the Umayyads. Remembering War from West to East

Description

The memory of war – and the use of this – is a constant in the Middle
Ages and beyond. Within all this war memory, the remembrance of great battles is,
perhaps, the most recurrent phenomenon. The pitched battle had an extraordinary
impact on the people of the time, which made its remembrance remain alive and
dynamic in the collective memory, as moments when the balance of power was
seen to have tipped, or when aspects of collective identity were shaped. The battles
became places of memory. This paper studies the memory circulating in Umayyad
al-Andalus about the battles of their ancestors, the eastern Umayyads. Focusing on
Ḥunayn and Marj Rāhiṭ, the two “eastern” battles most remembered in Umayyad
al-Andalus and both with important implications for their dynastic history, this
paper analyzes how this memory is presented, how these battles are “memorialized”
and “commemorated” through texts and rituals, in what contexts of memory
production they appear, and for what purposes.

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https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/islam-2023-0019/html

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