Elites and Aristocratic Properties in Granada: From the Nasrid Kingdom to the Crown of Castile (13th-16th Centuries)
Sandra Suárez García ( Medieval History and Historiographic Sciences and Techniques Department of the University of Granada)
Oct. 24.2018 10:15 am, Universität Hamburg, Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, AS-Saal, 20146 Hamburg
In her lecture Sandra Suarez will focus on the city of Granada, capital of the Nasrid Kingdom (1238-1492), which is surrounded by a fertile hinterland called “Vega”. Both Arabic and Castilian sources tell us about a well populated area with many qura (villages) and a complex network of acequias (irrigation canals). Nevertheless, written sources also point to a large presence of aristocratic properties in the Vega, the most noteworthy of which are royal muna (estate) Alcázar Genil, Nublo or the Generalife and other irrigated estates. The social origin of their owners or the economic and physical characteristics of most of the properties remain almost unknown. The lecture focuses on the latest research results achieved within the framework of the project “Aristocratic Property in Nasrid Granada and its Transfer to the Castilian Society after the Conquest (13th-16th Centuries)” [HAR 2015-64605-C2-2-P] supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy.
Sandra Suárez García ( Medieval History and Historiographic Sciences and Techniques Department of the University of Granada) is currently a pre-doctoral research fellow at the project “Aristocratic Property in Nasrid Granada and its Transfer to the Castilian Society after the Conquest (13th-16th Centuries)”, while she finishes her doctoral thesis in “Aristocratic Property in the Kingdom of Granada”. She is also a member of the Medieval History and Historiographic Sciences and Techniques Department of the University of Granada, where she teaches Later Middle Ages. Previously, she received a master degree in history with the topic: “From Europe to America. Societies, Powers and Cultures at the University of Granada” from the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Her research focuses mainly on the material base of the Nasrid elite and its transformation and the transfer of property after the conquest from its Muslim owners to the Castilian aristocracy. She is the author of “Los habices de la Vega de Granada como forma de conocimiento del reino nazarí y su transformación tras la conquista: La alquería de La Zubia” (Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Historia Medieval, nº 31, 2018). She also worked on the the Jewish community of the Nasrid Kingdom in her Master’s thesis: The Jews of the Kingdom of Granada: From the Nasrid Domain to the Castilian conquest.
