Majorca, Muslim statelet, or taifa, of

The Shift of Jewish Cultural Leadership from Babylon to Al-Andalus (1038 CE)

In 1038 CE, the last influential Gaon of Babylonian Jewry passes away, marking the decline of Babylon as the center of Jewish religious and intellectual authority. Meanwhile, new creative centers of Jewish thought emerge, particularly in North Africa and, most notably, in Muslim Spain (Al-Andalus).

Under the relatively tolerant rule of the Muslim dynasties that had conquered southern Spain, Jewish communities experience a revival of scholarship, culture, and economic prosperity. This period, often referred to as the Golden Age of Jewish Culture in Al-Andalus, contrasts sharply with the near-extermination of Iberian Jewry under the Christian Visigoths before the Muslim conquest.

As a result, Jewish intellectual and religious life flourishes, producing renowned scholars, poets, and philosophers who make lasting contributions to Jewish thought and the broader medieval world.

The Almoravid confederation has by 1100 incorporated all the emirates formerly held by competing Berber and Arab dynasties, thus bringing under Almoravid rule the whole of Muslim Spain, except Valencia.

Ibiza, together with the islands of Formentera and Menorca, is invaded by King Sigurd Magnusson of Norway in the spring of 1110 on his crusade to Jerusalem.

The king had previously conquered the cities of Sintra, Lisboa and Alcácer do Sal and given them over to Christian rulers, in an effort to weaken the Muslim grip on the Iberian peninsula.

King Sigurd continues to Sicily where he visits is Norman ruler, king Roger II.

Sigurd, the first European king to go on crusade, had sailed for Palestine in support of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem with sixty ships, leaving his brother Eystein to rule Norway.

Having visited England, France, Spain, and Sicily on the way to Palestine, and fought against Moorish pirates off Lisbon and off the Balearic Islands, he arrives in the summer of 1110 at the court of the Norman ruler Roger II Guiscard of Sicily, on whom he bestows the title of king after enjoying the Count’s hospitality for some months.

(The title is not officially sanctioned; Roger will not be able to call himself king until 1130, when during an antipope schism he supports Anacletus II as pope instead of Innocent II, who flees to France, after which Anacletus crowns Roger King.)

An expedition of Pisans and Catalans led by Ramon Berenguer III overruns the islands of Ibiza and Majorca in 1114, laying siege to Palma for eight months.

After the city falls, the invaders retreat due to problems in their own lands, and are replaced by the Almoravids.

Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and his Pisan allies conquer Ibiza and …

…Mallorca.

They become his tributaries and many Christian slaves here are recovered and set free.