AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

The purpose of this thesis has been to examine Hispano-Islamic textiles which contain a figurative iconography. After having compared the iconography of twelve works with the secular and sacred traditions of both Christian and Islamic cultures, the following conclusions were reached. Both cultures shared common roots in classical and oriental culture and a rich spiritual life was shaped by Hispano-Islamic and Hispano-Christian peoples during the Middle Ages. Furthermore, it was concluded that the textiles, found in Christian tombs or sacred places, represent a "meta-language" by which Islamic and Christian peoples could communicate their compatible religious inclinations. Indeed, the persistence of a cosmological program of representation insinuates the existence of a substratum of values and institutions beneath dynastic and institutional distinctions. As a consequence, the evidence in these twelve textiles of a cultural substratum common to both cultures points to a compatibility of experience that was immune to the parochial distinctions of which both Christian and Islamic peoples proved susceptible in other environments. Finally, from this examination, it was inferred that the panHispanic cultural milieu was sufficiently resourceful to assimilate discordant interventions without relinquishing its fundamental autonomy or its cosmopolitanism.