The Martyrs of Córdoba were forty-eight Christian martyrs executed under the rule of the Muslim administration in al-Andalus for capital violations of Islamic law, namely blasphemy and apostasy, between 850 and 859 AD.

Some of the Christian martyrs

The Mālikī jurist al-Qayrawānī (d. 996 AD) distinguished between two kinds of insult: an outright attack against Islam, made by ill intent and therefore punishable by death according to the Islamic death penalty, and a simple declaration of one's own religion. In this last case, the Christian could not be held accountable for this offense. If one insulted Islam beyond the needs of his religion, he or she would have to be executed. Apostasy is the crime of converting away from Islam. During this time, Christians could retain their churches and property on condition of paying tributes (the jizya and kharaj taxes)

In 786 AD the Muslim caliph of Al-Andalus, Abd al-Rahman I, began the construction of the great mosque of Córdoba (now a Christian cathedral), and compelled many Christians to take part in the preparation of the site and foundations. The executions of the martyrs caused tension not only between Muslims and Christians, but within the entire Christian community of Al-Andalus. Abd al-Rahman II at first ordered the arrest and detention of the clerical leadership of the local Christian community of Córdoba. As the civil disobedience seemed to subside, the Christian clergymen were released in November 851 AD. When several months later there was a new wave of protests, the emir turned again to the Christian leaders as the ones most capable of controlling the Christian community. Instead of imprisoning them, he ordered them to convene a council in Córdoba to review the matter and develop some strategy for dealing with the dissidents internally. He gave the bishops a choice: Christians could stop the public dissent or face harassment, loss of jobs, and economic hardship. Upon the death of Abd-al Rahman II in 852 AD, his son and successor Muhammad I removed all Christian officials from their palace appointments.

Reccafred, bishop of Córdoba, urged compromise with the Muslim authorities. The closures of monasteries where some of the martyrs had lived occurred towards the middle of the 9th century. The Christian monk and Latinist scholar Eulogius, who has been venerated as a saint from the 9th century onwards, viewed the bishop as siding with Muslim authorities against the Iberian Christians.

Causes

Wolf points out that it is important to distinguish between the motivations of the individual martyrs, and those of Eulogius and Alvarus in writing the Memoriale. Jessica A. Coope says that while it would be wrong to ascribe a single motive to all forty-eight, she suggests that it reflects a protest against the process of assimilation. They demonstrated a determination to assert Christian identity. Wolf maintains that it is necessary to view the actions of the martyrs in the context of the penitential aspect of 9th century Iberian Christianity. "Martyrdom was in fact a perfect solution... Not only did it epitomize self-abnegation and separation from the world, but it guaranteed that there would be no opportunity to sin again."

The executions

thumb|180px|[[Saint Roderick|Roderick, a priest of Cabra, Spain, executed at Córdoba, Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo.]]

The forty-eight Christians (mostly monks) were martyred in Córdoba, between the years 850 AD and 859 AD, being decapitated for announcing their apostasy publicly and blaspheming against Islam.

  • Amator, Peter and Louis - April 30, 855. Amator was born in Martos, near Córdoba, where he was an ordained priest. Together with a monk named Peter and a layman called Louis (Ludovicus), the brother of the previous martyr Paul, he was executed by the Emirate for blaspheming Islam.
  • Witesindus - (also known as Witesind) 855. A Christian layman from Cabra, who had converted to Islam but later recanted; he was executed for apostasy.
  • Elias, Paul and Isidore - April 17, 856. Elias, born in Beja in Portugal and a priest in Córdoba, was executed in his old age by the Moors, together with the young monks Paul and Isidore, two of his students. According to the "Great Synaxaristes", their feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is on April 30.
  • Argymirus - (also known as Argimirus, Argimir) June 28, 856. Argimir, a nobleman from Cabra, was Emir Muhammad I's censor. He was deprived of his office on account of his faith and became a monk. He was accused by others of having insulted the prophet Muhammad and publicly proclaimed the divinity of Jesus. Argimir was offered mercy if he renounced Christianity and professed Islam; he refused, and was executed.

Charged with apostasy

  • George, Aurelius and Sabigotho/Natalia; Felix and Liliosa – July 27 c. 852. Martyrs in Córdoba under Emir Abd ar-Rahman II. Aurelius and Felix, with their wives, Sanigotho (Natalia) and Liliosa, were Iberians whose family backgrounds, although religiously mixed, legally required them to profess Islam. After given four days to recant, they were condemned as apostates for revealing their previously secret Christian faith. The deacon George was a monk from Palestine who was arrested along with the two couples. Though offered a pardon as a foreigner, he chose to denounce Islam again and die with the others.
  • Aurea of Córdoba (also known as Aura) – July 19, 856. Born in Córdoba in Al-Andalus and a daughter of Muslim parents. She witnessed the execution of her brothers, Adolphus and John on 27 September 822 (their feast day). In her widowhood she quietly became a Christian and a nun at Cuteclara, where she remained for more than 30 years.
  • Rudericus (Roderick) and Salomon (Solomon) – March 13, 857. Roderick was a priest in Cabra who was betrayed by his Muslim brother, who falsely accused him of converting to Islam and then returning to Christianity (i.e. apostasy). In prison he met his fellow-martyr, Salomon. They were both executed in Córdoba.
  • Eulogius of Cordoba – March 11, 859. A prominent priest in Córdoba Al-Andalus during this period. Outstanding for his courage and learning, he encouraged some of the voluntary martyrs and wrote The Memorial of the Saints for their benefit. He himself was executed for aiding and abetting apostasy by hiding and protecting a young girl St. Leocritia that had converted from Islam.
  • Leocritia (also known as Lucretia) – March 15, 859. A young girl in Córdoba. Her parents were Muslims, but she was converted to Christianity by a relative. On Eulogius's advice and with his aid, Leocritia escaped her home and went into hiding. Once found, both were arrested. Eulogius, after years of being in and out of prison and encouraging voluntary martyrdom, was executed for proselytization, and Leocritia for apostasy.
  • Sandila (also known as Sandalus, Sandolus, Sandulf) – September 3 c. 855. Executed in Córdoba under the Emirate.

See also

  • Saint Laura
  • Nunilo and Alodia, martyred at Bosca
  • Aurelius and Natalia
  • Pelagius of Córdoba
  • Reconquista

Notes

References

  • Haines, Charles Reginald. 1889. Christianity and Islam in Spain (756–1031)
  • Duque, Adriano. 2018. “Occupata ab Sarracenis Hispania: Ambrosio de Morales y la introducción a las obras completas de Eulogio (1574)" e-Humanista 40: 235–253.
  • . A detailed account, strongly in sympathy with the martyrs.
  • Thomas Head, "The Cult of the Saints in the Carolingian Empire: A Bibliography"
  • Pochoshajew, Igor. "Martyrs, Madmen or Criminals: Christian Selfsacrifications in 9th Century Cordoba from the Prospective of Different Historiographical Traditions", University of Rostok