Pluralism in the Middle Ages: hybrid identities, conversion, and mixed marriages in medieval Iberia

Introduction: culture contact in medieval Iberia -- Conversion and apostasy in Al-Andalus and Christian Spain -- Conversion, childhood, and gender -- Conversion and concealment -- Mixed marriages in Islamic and Christian laws -- Concubines, slaves, and illicit interfaith relationships -- Reasons explaining the ban on mixed unions -- Conclusion: hybrid identities

The challenges of cultural and religious diversity that face European and American societies today are not a new phenomenon. People in the Middle Ages lived in pluralistic societies, and they found highly interesting ways of dealing with religious and cultural diversity. While religious and political authorities commanded people to stick to their kind, some people explored the borderland between religious identities. In medieval Iberia, Christians and Muslims challenged the legal authorities' prohibitions against crossing religious and cultural boundaries when they engaged in mixed marriages b