The Blind Man of Cabra and popular lyrics in al-Andalus

For a long time, Spanish medieval poetry was long believed to have had European influence, as its birth was attributed to the appearance of the Occitanian poetry in the south of France. as its birth was attributed to the appearance of the Occitanian poetry in the south of France. But in the early 20th century, researcher Julián Ribera and some years later the illustrious Arabist D. Emilio García Gómez, shed some light on this secular argument  ̶ still in force among specialists today ̶  related to the origin of the Romanic poetry as Andalusí. This thesis was corroborated after the discovery of some manuscripts, found in 1948 in a very precarious state of preservation, although clear enough to be read, in a synagogue in al-Fustat of Cairo, Egypt. It consisted in a collection of short poems written in classical Arabic and Hebrew, known as muwashshah, and they ended with some rhymes to close the poem, the jarcha, written in vernacular language, be it Arabic or Romance.

These poetical compositions were favourites of al-Andalus, fervently declaimed and sung both by Andalusí and Jewish poets. Together with this fabulous discovery, another variety of strophic verse, the zéjel that, was also written un vernacular Arabic, often interspersed the insertions of expressions and words in Mozarabic, something common among the inhabitants of al-Andalus.

The invention of the muwashshah is attributed to a poet known as Muhammad Ibn Muqaddam al-Qabri the Blind man of Cabra, a contemporary of the Emirate of Córdoba under the rule of Abd Allah (843?- 912). The poet walked the streets and public spaces as markets or squares, lending his ears to the people, from whom he heard anecdotes or popular verses, the material with which he elaborated his poetical compositions. From this came the popularity of his poetry, as proven by the fact of its repetition by other poets in their own same jarchas, with slight variations, but sharing the same subject: love of women, put into the mouths of women but written by men, which dealt with the unrequited love, the “udrí love”. Coming out of the oldest poetical tradition of Arabia –Bedouin poetry ̶  it gave birth in the Middle Ages to the poetical genre known as “courtly love” or “chivalry poetry”, sung by troubadours from castle to castle.

Thanks to the Sephardic Jews’ collections, be them translations or their own productions, we have been able to assemble important information such as this, as well as the necessary data about the relentless theories on the origin of the jarchas[1].

In 1948, a collection of twenty jarchas, in semi-destroyed manuscripts, was found in a synagogue in al-Fustat, in Cairo. The scholars Stern and Emilio García Gómez relied on them in support of the thesis of the Arab-Andalusian origin of Romanic poetry.

On the other hand, we must consider other ascertained data. Mª Jesús Rubiera highlights the existence of Romanic terms in the jarchas, as well as traits of a poetry from beyond the Pyrenees, “prior to the troubadour’s poetry”.

[1] Traditional song in Mozarabic language with which the Arab or Hebrew poets from Al-Andalus closed the muwashshah.

We can see how the influence in later medieval literature was to be mutual: the “moaxajeros” poets (muwashshah composers) collected Romanic tunes and applied them to a new poetic solution. Many of these little songs are written in Occitan language, others in Galician and others in Portuguese, which confirms that the jarcha was followed from a basis of a multilingual literature.

A great part of the literature developed in al-Andalus can be known today thanks to the poetic anthologies compiled by authors like Ibn al-Kattani (late 10th century), who entitled his work Book of Comparisons. He took up fragments of poems from al-Andalus from the 9th and 10th centuries; his work was used in choral schools. Ibn Faray of Jaén (10th century) composed The Workbook of Orchards, and Ibn Sa’id al-Maghribi (12th-13th centuries) Rayat al-mubarrazin, (Banners of the Champions).

Besides, we have codexes such as that of the synagogue of al-Fustat in Egypt, and the one supposedly found in the synagogue in New York, which had been gathered by Sephardic Jews.

From the Blindman of Cabra on, we will know more composers of muwashshah, as Ibn Bassam tells us. One more example is another poet from Córdoba, Abu Bakr Yahyá Ibn Baqi (d. 1145), author of muwashshah and poems in classic style. We find other exemplary representatives in a master and his pupil, both of them from the court  in the Kingdom of Granada: Ibn al Khatib (1313-1374) and Ibn Zamrak (1333-1394).

This is the theme that Ibn Quzman (1086-1160), deals with entirely, apart from his characteristic sarcasm about the vanity of power or the sins of the other. It was he who upgraded the level of this genre. About Quzman, we know of his Cordoban aristocratic origin. His diwan (collection of poems) is composed of 193 zéjeles. Some even claim that he was probably from the city of Cabra, like our creator of muwashshah, whose Romanic origin is also discussed, although in this case we are based on his family name Quzman  ̶ Guzmán ̶.

We know that his family fell into disgrace, losing their fortune, and that he led a bohemian life and that he was inclined to fall in love and gallant to women. He lived through quiet periods under the protection of his patrons, and through more turbulent ones, being harassed by his creditors, and even serving time in prison. However, his last years were more conservative, as deduced by his writings. He died in 1160.

Another famous “creator of zéjeles” was Ibn Bayya.

The zéjel moves away to the neighbouring cultures (Castilian, French…) thanks to its musical and popular character, and it becomes the basis of the troubadours’ chants (a movement started in France by William of Aquitaine).

Manuel Cadaval Gil states that the troubadours from Provence used expressions like “obey” and “serve to love”, assimilating the service of the lady in the feudal service of vassalage, something that existed already in Arab literature (Ibn Zaydun and Ibn Hazm). We should also consider that already in 1133, we have documentation about the presence of troubadours from Provence in Spain. This fashion later went to the troubadours via the Galician-Portuguese language. Let us consider that in the Iberian Peninsula we have an important route for cultural exchange in the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James).

The influence of Arab poetry in Castilian troubadours appears included in the Cancionero de Baena (Baenas’s Songbook) that can be searched in the use of themes and forms like the muwashshah and the zéjel.

We can explore that influence of the world of al-Andalus and on the Christian one and vice versa through the oral and musical character already mentioned. In the same way, we have to keep in mind the ebb and flow of people from the north of the Iberian Peninsula to the south.

With the conquest of territories by Christians, the population would get mixed with the so-called “Mozarabs” and their customs, such as the oral tradition.

But in a more formal way, we must keep in consideration the translations into Latin or Spanish of books in Arabic that were produced both in Toledo as well as in other cities, for example Seville. In this sense, the following facts, which can be considered a true milestone in the influence and dissemination of this poetry from al-Andalus, yet not only because of its transmission and oral dissemination, but also for its compilation in writing.

In the 10th century monasteries like Ripoll and San Millán de la Cogolla welcomed the knowledge that came from Córdoba. By the end of this century, Silvester II visited the monastery of Ripoll, hence contributing to promote the culture of Al-Andalus.

In the 11th century, the School for Latin-Arab studies with the participation of the Hebrews was founded. Among its funds, we can still find some surviving from the Cordoban Caliphal Library.

In the same century, important persons such as Peter “the Venerable”, the abbot of Cluny, arrived also in Toledo.

Alphonso X “the Wise” was inspired by the work done in the courts of the taifa kingdoms, and he started to make translations from Arabic into Spanish.

As a curious fact, we will mention that Juan Ruiz the Archpriest of Hita had significant contacts with Arab poetry. His father was a prisoner of the Muslims in Granada. Juan Ruiz was born in Alcalá la Real (Jaén) in the Banu Said family, and we know that he read Ibn Hazam’s work.

In that way, we could deduce that the subject and the structures offered by the muwashshah and the zéjeles can be seen reflected in many of the carols we find in our Cancioneros(Songbooks), in the traditional Galician-Portuguese poetry, by way of the Cantigas de Amigo, (“Friendsongs”) in the compositions of the French troubadours, and in the Italian laudi. Similarity seems obvious with themes and poetry of the old Provencal troubadours ̶ Cercamon, William IX Duque of Aquitaine, Marcabru and Rudel ̶ where they revive, transformed, ideas and feelings adapting themselves to a different sensibility.

Once again we find, as in many other historical events with two-way paths, that in the end, what joins us together is what enriches us.

Soledad Maíz.

Art historian and expert in Historic Heritage.