Water in the Medieval Hispanic Society

The starting point for this book was in two sessions on water and hydraulics in medieval Iberia at the 20th International Medieval Congress, held in Leeds in 2013. Since then a significant number of researchers have joined in the initial project. The very process of preparing this book has shaped its final result, with each new participant making their own contribution to what represents a novel approach to the principal theme, the study of water. While the Leeds session focused mainly on water studies in the Muslim domain of al-Andalus, this book has been enriched with additional papers on the Christian and the post-Andalusi period, and new insights in fields such as medieval rural hydraulic and literary studies have come to supplement the scope of research.

The aim of this compilation of studies is to provide a glimpse into the rich complexity of approaches to water in medieval and post-medieval Spain. Given the historical circumstances, environments as different as the Muslim state of al-Andalus and the domains of the Catholic rulers are all examined in the papers that make up this book.