Between Andalusia and Sicily. New light on some famous politically motivated Arabic forgeries

Authors

  • Thomas Freller

Keywords:

Arabic forgeries, History, Sicily

Abstract

In 1588 and again in 1595 a number of texts, the so-called ‘books of lead’ (Los libros plúmbeos), were discovered at Granada which seemingly threw a more or less Islamic light on the early history of Christianity in general and on the history and role of Spain in particular. From the sources it might be safely inferred that these events in Andalusia served as a backdrop for another spectacular forgery of Arabic documents: after 1783 the Maltese abate Giuseppe Vella`s ‘translations’ of Arabic sources of the history of Sicily were so highly acclaimed that they threatened to change many a cherished historical notion. This paper aims to throw fresh light on events which provided the backdrop for Vella`s activities and some of their consequences.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2004-01-27

How to Cite

Freller, T. (2004). Between Andalusia and Sicily. New light on some famous politically motivated Arabic forgeries. Miscelánea De Estudios Árabes Y Hebraicos. Sección Árabe-Islam, 53, 77–99. Retrieved from https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/meaharabe/article/view/14381

Issue

Vol. 53 (2004)

Section

Articles

License

The authors publishing their work in this journal agree to the following terms and conditions:

1. The authors retain the copyright and give the journal the right to be the first publication of the work and also to be licensee under a Creative Commons Attribution License which allows others to share the work, provided the author of the work and the initial publication in this journal are acknowledged.

2. Authors may make additional agreements separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, putting it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to electronically disseminate (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own web page) the published version of their works (publisher's post-print version) or, if not possible, the author's reviewed and accepted post-print version. This is to facilitate productive exchanges, and allow for earlier and greater citation by third parties of the published works (See The Effect of Open Access).

4. The journal accepts no responsibility for the opinions expressed by the authors.