From sound to light: The changing symbolism of bells in Medieval Iberia in Christian and Muslim contexts

Throughout the Middle Ages, religious and political confrontation in frontier societies caused many cultures to create certain symbols through which they aimed to display their cultural dominance and superiority over opposing groups. In medieval Spain, the aural means by which the faithful were called to prayer, the church bell for Christians and the adhan (call to prayer) for Muslims, were such symbols. Using as a case study of a group of bells converted into mosque lamps, this thesis considers the idea that the changing symbolism of the bell in medieval Spain indirectly represents how Muslims and Christians interacted during this period of history.;Throughout the history of Spain, the religious rituals of the adhan and bell-tolling evolved into competitive symbols during the struggle between Muslims and Christians for temporal dominance. Muslims greatly disfavored bell-ringing and did not allow them to be rung in Islamic territory. In times of Christian rule, monarchs also prohibited the public oration of the adhan. This thesis analyzes the nature of this struggle by looking further into the symbolic evolution of the bell, in both Christian and Muslim contexts, from the historical, literary, and art historical sources of Medieval Iberia.;This observation also includes a deeper study of the Spanish Muslim tradition of forging lamps made from Christian bells taken as spoils during military conquests in Iberia. The majority of surviving bell-lamps exist in the ninth century Qarawiyyin Mosque in Fez, Morocco. Seven medieval Spanish bells, brought as spoils and transformed into lamps by the Almohads and Merinids between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, hang in the mosque. The research presented in this thesis surveys these lamps and attempts to further comprehend the motivations of their patrons in using bells, one of Christianity's most sacred symbols, and transforming them into mosque accoutrements. Therefore, this thesis does more than study the symbol of the bell in the Iberian Middle Ages. It aims to shed light on the nature of coexistence, assimilation, and interaction among frontier societies. By tracing the changes in the evolutionary meanings of a symbol, we are offered a new perspective into the social history of medieval Spain.