This article presents the Responsio in quaestione de muliere sarracena transeunte ad statum et ritum iudaicum (1451) by Alonso Fernández de Madrigal, “El Tostado” (1410–55), as a rich source for the study of conversion across minority groups. A trial conducted before the archbishop of Toledo concerning a Muslim woman turned Jew by her lover in Talavera de la Reina (Spain) caused a scandal in Christian society. As one of the most outstanding legal scholars at the University of Salamanca, Madrigal established the right of the archbishop of Toledo to judge an issue involving the two minorities and decided in favor of the woman returning to her faith of origin, instead of imposing the death penalty. While conversion superseded issues of illicit sexual relations, gender acted as a mitigating circumstance. This article will also consider how the three communities contributed to the survival of “cohabitation,” defined by Madrigal as social peace, and the preservation of the status of the different religions living together in Castile.

This article endeavours to shed new light on the meaning of the ten Muslim male figures depicted in the central vault of the Hall of Justice in the Alhambra. First, new chronologies are attempted for the hall and the painting according to historical evidence contained in chronicles and literary sources. The study of the architectural frame of the paintings, interpreted as a madrasa-zawiya, suggests a relationship between the painting and the books intended to be kept below it. Therefore, an analysis of the emir's literary entourage is basic for the interpretation of the ceiling. Finally, the question of armouries and shields to be found in the vault is taken into account to demonstrate that some of this work may have been re-elaborated by Christians after taking possession of the palaces. The shields and the concept of the Order of the Band are too far from Islamic tradition as to belong to the original design of this painting, as critical examination of the Order's internal code shows.