Córdoba
The Grand Mosque was founded in 170/786 by Prince Abd al-Rahman. It contained many books and copies of the Quran (masahif). However, like other libraries in the city, most were burned by the Spanish forces in 634/1236.
There was a demand for books at Córdoba. It has been reported that about 70 libraries existed in the Moorish Iberian Peninsula when Caliph Hakam II (d. 976) united the libraries of his father, his brother, and his own at Córdova. He brought in scholars, copyists, and miniaturists to work in his library. He sent agents to the Orient to obtain literature. Notes on the fly leaves of his books were important for later scholars. There were 44 volumes in the catalogue for the 400,000 to 600,000 volumes of his library. This was the biggest collection of a royal library in medieval times. During a 11th century civil war, the library was destroyed and private libraries were plundered.
The biggest private collection in Córdoba was that belonging to Ibn Futaya. The library of a poor teacher, bin Hazm, attracted many distinguished people, yet he could not mingle socially with his people. Although it was mainly men who had libraries, a woman, Fatima, had a private collection of rare manuscripts. Yusuf ibn Ismail, was one of the Jewish people who had a large collection of Arabic books.
Books were imported by merchants, travelers, and teachers. Agents of the Amirs and Khalifahs collected new and rare books in the east and had them copied in Alexandria, Cairo, Baghdad, and Damascus. At that time, the only libraries in the Christian west were located in the monasteries. In the 12th century, there were more books in Córdoba than elsewhere in Spain. Seville’s libraries and bookshops were the next best. Abu Muzaffar bi al-Aftas of Badajoz had a valuable, large library.
Granada
There was a royal library in this city. European students went to Toledo where Hakam’s plundered books were sold. The library of the King of Valencia received 143 loads of books.
Seville
The library at the Grand Mosque received a collection of books from Ibn Marwan al-Baji, personally handing them to the speaker of the mosque.
Toledo
The royal library in this city had many rare and valuable manuscripts on various subjects. From the 12th century on, Arabic works were translated into Latin. So numerous were the Moslem private libraries that, about 1200, they contained more books than all libraries — private and public — of all western Europe. It has been stated that the level of Islamic libraries at that time was not achieved for another 600 years by the rest of western Europe.
Later, there were many libraries in Toledo. This city became the centre for translation of Arabic literature into Western languages. After the destuction of the libraries, public libraries and many private collections were established in Granada. The translation of Arabic literature was promoted by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, one of the first western rulers to have a large library.
Valencia
The library at the Byazin Mosque was vandalized, losing rare manuscripts through theft.
Destruction of Libraries
In 1236, Ferdinand II had the great library of Córdoba destroyed. In 1499, on the order of Cardinal Ximinez de Cisneros, the Christians made bonfires from Arabian manuscripts in Granada. Various records state that at least 1,500,000 were burned. Some books were taken from Spain to Morocco by students. The Maliki sect had many books burned. Some Islamic collections were burned by the Islamic collectors themselves. In 1511, Dona Juana passed a law to have Arabic books on religion burned. Even after the expulsion of the Muslims, any found were burned. An annual festival of the burning of Arabic manuscripts was established and remained for many years.
In 1536, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (also Charles I, king of Spain) ordered all Arabic books in Tunis to be burned. Philip II of Spain had a Moroccan ship with a cargo of books seized to add Arabic titles to his Escorial. However, many books were destroyed in the Escorial fire in 1674.
The Western World owes much to the medieval Islamic World for knowledge in such fields as mathematics and astronomy and in the preservation of literary materials.
(This page was updated in December 2012.)
