What was life like in Spain for Muslims and Jews before catholic rulers came to power?

Answer 1

Most people would assume that "the Catholic rulers coming to power" refers to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella when they finally united the Christian Kingdoms of Iberia (except for Portugal) and ended the last Islamic Kingdom, the Nasrid Emirate of Granada, in 1492. However, from the years 1252-1492, almost all of the Spanish Jews and the majority of Spanish Muslims were living in Catholic controlled territory. Some, like the population of Toledo, were under consistent Catholic control from 1085. As a result, this question will discuss the situation in both Islamic Spain and Catholic Spain pre-1492.

Islamic Spain
Jews were subject to one of the most liberal-for-its-time sets of laws in the Umayyad Caliphate. While they had higher taxes, were forced to live in specific areas, be subject to occasional violence and inequality at law, and faced job restrictions, Jews were freer in Islamic Spain than anywhere else where Jews had a significant population. Additionally, being in the same place where Muslims were having a golden age of cultural insight and development led to Islamic Spain becoming the center of the Jewish World. Jewish poetry, legal studies, art, music, and other forms of culture developed well in the Umayyad Caliphate. In northern Catholic Spain, Jews were subject to the more rigid ghettoization and Antisemitism that characterized France and Germany at the time.

Muslims who were living in the Umayyad Caliphate were uniformly treated superior to Non-Muslims, but there was a strong distinction, even among Muslims, between the Arab ruling class and the other Muslim groups like the Amazigh (Berber - North African), Muladi (Iberian Muslims), and Saqaliba (freed Slavic Slave Muslims). Business and the military both did rather well and most Muslims were involved in some form of work, either agriculture, military, or construction.

Catholic Spain Pre-1492
The situation for Jews in Catholic society once the Catholics conquered the southern half of Spain was very similar to the station that they had had under the Muslim aegis. There were requirements for them to pay inordinate taxes, live in specific ghettos, be subject to occasional pogroms, and restrictions as to what jobs they could perform. However, considering the level of repression that Jews faced elsewhere in the Christian world (with the possible exception of Casimir III's Poland), Catholic Spain was a good place for Jews. They were primarily engaged banking and commerce, but are most noted for having helped to translate Greek classics and scientific texts from Arabic to Latin for European consumption. (The Mozarabic Christians were also renowned for these mass translations.) This knowledge would eventually lead to the end of the Middle Ages, not long after the Eviction from Spain.

While Muslims were certainly demoted from their first-class status in the Islamic Empires when they came under Catholic control, they remained active and important members of Spanish society. Muslims were responsible for a renaissance in Spanish architecture, creating the Mudejar Style, which numerous Christian princes employed in building their palaces and fortresses. Muslims also served as emissaries from Spain to other Islamic Kingdoms, given their knowledge of both Arabic and Medieval Spanish, so they could easily communicate.

Both the Jews and Muslims who remained in Catholic Spain were loyal to the various Christian monarchs like Alfonso VI of Castille and James I of Aragon until they were forced to leave in 1492 and 1526 respectively.