Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán 'El Bueno' (1256-1309)

[Graham Milne]

http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00533056&tree=LEO

states:

'Recent evidence unearthed in the family archives by the late Doña Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura, 20th Duquesa de Medina Sidonia (1936-2008) suggests that Alonso may have been a Muslim, and that he may have been born in the Moorish territories across the Straits of Gibraltar.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonso_P%C3%A9rez_de_Guzm%C3%A1n

states:

'According to Spanish tradition, Guzman was born in León. However, historians have since proven that he was not Spanish but a Moor. In a permit to export wheat signed in 1288 Guzman was given permission to export the crop to where "he is from," very likely in Morocco. Furthermore, a document from 1297 owned by the Duchess of Medina Sidonia and signed by the then king, refers to Guzmán as "a vassal," i.e. a non-Spaniard.[1] The Duchess, a direct descendent, has said that Guzmán's history was "cleaned up" in the sixteenth century to alter his origins, thereby making him more palatable to Spain's Christian society.[1]'

Note 1 refers to 'The Ancient World with Bettany Hughes - When the Moors Ruled in Europe, Channel Four'

Does the above amount to PROOF of Moorish origin? It looks to me as if Ms. Hughes has an agenda.

[Alex Maxwell Findlater]

Well vassal doesn't mean foreigner this side of the channel! It's a word often used for a feudal subordinate.

[taf]

As far as I am aware, there is no proof. As you suggest, this is a
'fringe' hypothesis by a historian who is trying to construct an
alternative social model. As far as I am aware, there is no evidence
that he was anything but what he appears to be, an ordinary member of
the Iberian christian nobility. That could be because of the grand
conspiracy the Duchess suggests, to purge all mention of him being a
muslim, or it could be because he was just a member of the Iberian
christian nobility. Note that on the Wikipedia Talk page, a
contributor has adamantly insisted that he isn't muslim, he is jewish.
Basically, there are fringe historians who want to argue for a
greater minority role in history and will take anyone who doesn't have
a perfectly documented pedigree and speculate that it is because they
were 'other', where other is whatever flavor of minority they think
was more important (or want to descend from).

There are several things that have to be kept in mind with regard to
the evidence in this particular case. First, while we think of
Leon-Castile as a single entity, it was governed more like the United
States in that there were separate kingdoms within the Crown of
Castile, and they all had their own governmental administration. Thus
without seeing the context, we don't know that the 'export' may not
have been from the kingdom of Galicia to the kingdom of Toledo. To
speculate it was to Morocco is just begging the question. As to
'vassal', everyone in realm was a vassal of the king, not just moors.
This is an example of forming a hypothesis first and then looking for
the slightest evidence that could be interpreted in a manner
consistent with the hypothesis (evidence that could also be
interpreted in agreement with the standard formulation, and would be
if one didn't decide on the answer before evaluating the evidence).

taf

[Graham Milne]

Thanks for the reply. Ms Hughes also stated in the programme that the Moors had introduced the avocado to Spain. Being an expert in avocados I wrote to her to point out that the avocado came from the Americas. I thought this was a classic example of people twisting historical facts to suit an agenda.

[Bronwen Edwards]

On Sunday, February 9, 2014 8:51:40 AM UTC-8, Graham Milne wrote:
> Thanks for the reply. Ms Hughes also stated in the programme that the Moors had introduced the avocado to Spain. Being an expert in avocados I wrote to her to point out that the avocado came from the Americas. I thought this was a classic example of people twisting historical facts to suit an agenda.

Yes. If there were any Moors left in Spain at the time, it is likelier that the Spanish introduced the Central American avocado to them. Along with pineapples, avocados were an early gift from Central America, but not before the transatlantic voyages beginning in 1492.