Did you know Coimbra is considered the most Mozarabic city throughout Portugal’s history? The region’s integration in the Gharb al-Andalus – the name given to the Lusitanian territory under Arab occupation – lasted for three and a half centuries, between 714 and 1064.
At the time, the city was politically dominated by the Islamic power, but still had a mainly Christian population. Thus, Coimbra turned into a true center of cultural fusion, a city with an hybrid social reality that mixed Arab and Christian values. A reality that was kept alive even after the Christian reconquest.
D. Sesnando, who ruled Coimbra after the defeat of the Muslims in 1064, is undoubtedly one of the most important historical figures of this period. However, as there are only crumbles of information about the life of D. Sesnando beyond his work as Coimbra’s lord, the same happens with the details of the Mozarabic culture in the city of Mondego, which are still a well-kept secret.
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