Paul Albar
Paul Albar (
Background
From the
Biography
As no biography of Albar exists, information about his life can only be found in letters written to and by him, as well as his own writings.[4] According to one of his letters, he may have had Jewish background and been born into or converted to Christianity, or he might have been purely Christian; the uncertainty is due to his metaphorical use of the term "Jew" to possibly refer to God's chosen people rather than the ethnic/religious identity used today.[5]
Education
Our more certain knowledge of Albar begins when he met his friend Eulogius for the first time while studying under Speraindeo, magister ('teacher') of young clerics. Albar and Eulogius developed a strong friendship which was to last until Eulogius's martyrdom, a friendship which developed into some sort of Platonic love. In his biography of Eulogius, Albar writes that Eulogius once said to him "let there be no other Albar but Eulogius, and may the whole love of Eulogius be settled nowhere but in Albar.'"[6] The two students were perhaps overconfident in their learning and frequently debated issues of Christian doctrine that they did not understand well enough to have any meaningful contribution to make; later they destroyed the "volumes'" of their letters that resulted from these friendly but overzealous debates.[7] They also each developed a love for poetry during this time which would be a secondary lifelong passion.[8]
After his time as a student Albar appears not to have taken up any profession but rather remained a theologian for the rest of his life.
Albar exchanged letters with a certain John of Seville, who sent him a summary of the Storia de Mahometh, a Latin biography of Muhammad.
Illness and the sacrament of penance
Sometime in the mid-850s Albar became seriously ill, the nature of which is unknown but it was severe enough for him to believe that he would not recover. Believing death to be close at hand he received the
Persecutions of 850–859
The extent to which Albar may have had a hand in guiding Christians to become martyrs is uncertain; however, he had very close ties to Eulogius who played a central role in motivating Christians not to actively provoke Muslim officials into arresting and executing them. On one occasion he and Eulogius met the soon-to-be-martyr Aurelius, to whom they certainly gave advice and encouragement.[15] Unlike Eulogius, Albar did not choose to become a martyr and did not spend time in jail, which suggests that he chose not to publicly attack Islam in a setting where it might get him arrested for blasphemy. Instead, his main legacy from the persecutions is his documentation of them. Most true Christians generally did support the actions of the martyrs and were negatively impacted by the resulting persecutions. The martyrs therefore achieved the opposite of their goal; rather than rally the Christians against the Muslims, their deaths resulted in further distancing of moderate Christians from the radical cause. Albar's writings are consequently as much focused on convincing these moderates of his point of view – the sanctity of the martyrs – as they are a direct attack on Islam.[16]
Albar, Eulogius, and earlier their mutual teacher Speraindeo were the first Iberian Christians who systematically and theologically attacked Islam in their writings.[17] They also viewed the Christian community around them as divided by a distinct line. On one side were those who cooperated significantly with the Muslim officials and embraced Arabic culture and language, or at the least chose to conceal their Christian beliefs in public; on the other side lay Albar, Eulogius, and other devoted Christians including the martyrs who believed that no ground whatsoever could be given to the Muslims. If Christians and Muslims were to exist side-by-side, they believed, there should be no intermixing of their religion or culture, nor suppression of Christian expression.[18] This was not only an ideological divide but also a physical divide, manifested in the temporary splitting of the church into two halves: one in support of the martyrs, and one against them.[19]
Works
Writings against Islam
Jessica A. Coope observes in her book the Martyrs of Córdoba that Albar's writing, especially about Islam and Muhammed, "borders on hysterical'" but its execution was intelligent and calculated.[20] In a short section of text Albar goes on to write:
Muslims are puffed up with pride, languid in the enjoyments of the fleshly acts, extravagant in eating, greedy usurpers in the acquisition of possessions... without honour, without truth, unfamiliar with kindness or compassion... fickle, crafty, cunning and indeed not halfway but completely befouled in the dregs of every impurity, deriding humility as insanity, rejecting chastity as thought it were filthy, disparaging virginity as though it were the uncleanness of harlotry, putting the vices of the body before the virtues of the soul.[21][22]
According to Coope, his goal was not to present an accurate picture of what Muslim society looked like but rather to use any means necessary to convince fellow Christians to hate Muslims and avoid associating with them.[23] Albar's (and Eulogius's) self-appointed task was made easier by the fact their main target was Muslim court culture; the high degree of power and wealth that existed in the high court meant that it was simple and more believable to pick out material and physical obsessions, sinful in the Christian worldview, and exaggerate them.[24]
Muhammed as the Praecursor Antichristi
Alvarus went to great lengths to prove that Muhammed was the praecursor antichristi, precursor to the
Other works
Alvarus also wrote the following works:
- Incipit Confessio Alvari – 'Confession of Alvarus' (P.L., CXXI, 397-412)
- Incipit Liber Epistolarum Alvari – a collection of letters (P.L., CXXI, 411-514)
- Indiculus Luminosus – moral treatise (P.L., CXXI, 513-556) - Meaning "The Little Letter of Lofty Eloquence." In this letter Álvaro complains that the talented Christian Mozarab youths of Islamic Spain could not even write a decent letter in Latin anymore, but they could do so in Classical Arabicbetter than the Arabs themselves.
- Incipiunt Versus – a collection of poems (P.L., CXXI, 555-566)
- Vita Vel Passio D. Eulogii – the life of Saint Eulogius of Córdoba (P.L., CXV, 705-724)
Notes
- ^ Tolan, Saracens, 90.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 24.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 64.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 51-53.
- ^ Coope, The Martyrs of Cordoba, 37-38.
- ^ Alvarus, Vita Eulogii, trans. Carlton M. Sage in Paul Albar of Cordoba: Studies on His Life and Writings, 211.
- ^ Alvarus, Vita Eulogii, 193.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 53.
- ^ Sage, Paul Albar of Córdoba, 215.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 45.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 9.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 38.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 61.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 38-39.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 70.
- ^ Tolan, Saracens, 89.
- ^ Tolan, Saracens, 78.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 65.
- ^ Tolan, Saracens, 88-89.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 50.
- ^ Alvarus, Paul (854). Indiculus luminosus.
- ^ Alvarus, Indiculus Luminosus, trans. and quoted in Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 49-50.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 50.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 51.
- ^ Tolan, Saracens, 90.
- ^ Coope, Martyrs of Córdoba, 47-48.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 92.
- ^ Wolf, Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain, 91-92.
References
- Alvarus, Paulus. Vita Eulogii. Translated by Carleton M. Sage in Paul Albar of Córdoba: Studies on His Life and Writings. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1943.
- Coope, Jessica A. The Martyrs of Córdoba. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
- Sage, Carleton M. Paul Albar of Córdoba: Studies on His Life and Writings. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1943.
- Tolan, John V. Saracens. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
- Wolf, Kenneth Baxter. Christian Martyrs in Muslim Spain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
External links
- Patrologia Latina (http://pld.chadwyck.co.uk/). For those who have access to the online version of the Patrologia Latina, the Latin editions of the above works can be found here. For English translations of these works see Sage, Carleton M. Paul Albar of Cordoba: Studies on his life and Writings. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1943.
- http://www.mercaba.org/SANTORAL/Vida/11/11-07_s_Alvaro_de_cordoba.htm (Spanish)
- Wreglesworth, J. (2003). "Paulus Albarus". Thomson Gale. pp. 43–44.
- Wreglesworth, John (2010). "Paulus Albarus". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
- English translation of Indiculus Luminosus by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi (https://www.aymennjawad.org/25424/mozarabic-writings-the-indiculus-luminosus-by)