ABSTRACT
How does one begin to adumbrate a history as long, as complex, and as marvelous as that of the Mudejars? An eminent medievalist’s strategy in introducing a more famously vanished world seems appropriate. ‘What is a hobbit?’ asked J. R. R. Tolkien. Hobbits are short, like dwarves, but have no beards, and there is little or no magic about them. Thus by juxtaposition with the known a new identity is ushered into the imagination. A similar process is at work in the creation of Mudejars. Mudejars are, or were, a Muslim people. But they merit a specialization and a name because, unlike Muslims tout court, they are subject to Christian rule.
