from al-Andalus and Naṣrid Granada, for example, in legal texts (ḥisba treatises and fatwa collections) or images (illustrations in the tale of Bayāḍ and Riyāḍ [see Figure 1], or paintings of Muslim and Christian warriors on ceilings in the Alhambra), these sources are very limited in number as compared to their Christian-context counterparts.
Notably, however, there are a few Andalusi sources that discussed clothing and religious identity before the development of Christian concerns in the thirteenth century. Arabic legal writings about dhimmi clothing were generally based on the aforementioned Pact of ‘Umar, a text that was familiar to Andalusi jurists and others. The early twelfth-century Sevillian market inspector Ibn ‘Abdun reiterated the regulation that Christians and Jews should dress differently from Muslims, but he also remarked that one ought not to sell used clothes that had belonged to a Christian or Jew without clearly informing the buyer about their origins.46 Apparently the appearance of the clothing was not sufficient in itself. In Córdoba, another early twelfth-century jurist, Ibn Rushd (d. 1126; the grandfather of Averroës), answered a query about whether it was necessary to wash clothes that had belonged to a Christian before wearing them for Muslim prayer. His answer turned on the issue of whether or not the Muslim wearer knew that the clothes had previously been worn by a Christian.47 Both of these cases suggest that in al-Andalus, at least, there were often no obvious differences in styles of clothing worn by Muslims and their local Christian (dhimmī) neighbors.
Figure 1. Ḥadīth Bayāḍ wa Riyāḍ (ca. 1240). Vatican Arabo 368, fol. 22r. Andalusi depiction of contemporary Muslim garb, showing men’s and women’s head coverings. © 2017 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
The first Iberian statute to reflect the rulings of Lateran IV appeared in the canons of the Council of Tarragona in 1239, with a brief statement that “Jews and Saracens must distinguish themselves from Christians in matters of dress,” and that interfaith wet-nursing and cohabitation were prohibited.48 This idea was considerably elaborated in later secular legislation sponsored by Alfonso X of Castile at the Cortes of Seville in 1252, which ordered that “wherever there are Moors who live in towns that are also inhabited by Christians, they must be sure that their hair is clipped all around their heads, and parted in the middle without any longer pieces [sin tapet]. They should wear beards, as is mandated by their law, and they may not wear any items made of çendal, nor any white, green, bright red, or dark red fabrics, nor white or gold shoes.”49 The Cortes of Valladolid, in 1258, for their part issued a long list of sumptuary legislation that was almost entirely aimed at Christians, with only one brief entry on Muslim clothing and another on Jewish garb. As in Seville, Muslims who lived in towns with Christian neighbors must trim and part their hair in a certain way (this time sin copete), wear long beards according to Muslim tradition, and avoid wearing çendal, white or tinted cloth (except as had already been specified for Jews), and white or gold shoes.50 Ten years later, almost identical rules about male clothing, hair, and beards were issued by the Cortes of Jerez in 1268, but an additional clause was added noting that Muslim women (moras) were to dress in the same fashions and colors that had been prescribed for Jewish women (judias). Non-Christian women were allowed to wear colored or white clothing, with otter-fur trim, but not scarlet or orange, or ermine-trimmed items and other expensive adornments, golden shoes, or sleeves made of gold and silk.51
These detailed regulations on clothing (as opposed to those for hair and beards) all emphasize color, fabric, and ornamentation rather than what we would think of as “style”—in other words, unlike sixteenth-century legislation, particular types of garment (such as the almalafa or marlota) were not singled out for prohibition. All of these colored, expensive, and gilded items were reserved for the Christian nobility and royalty, and thus these clothing rules were probably less aimed at restricting Muslim dress than at enforcing hierarchy and protecting noble entitlements.52 Ordinary Christians were also prohibited from wearing richly adorned and expensive clothing.53 Nevertheless, in all three of these pieces of Castilian legislation, the clause limiting its application to “those Moors who live in towns that are populated by Christians” suggests that another intended aim was to prevent any possible confusion (in line with Innocent III’s stated goals), not merely to penalize or humiliate non-Christians.
Medieval sumptuary laws always reserved elaborate and expensive dress for members of society’s elite, and cost was almost certainly more important than perceived religious origin. Indeed, exotic or foreign fabrics gained value through their rarity. We know from textiles and clothing preserved in tombs at the convent of Santa María Real de Las Huelgas, in Burgos, that the Castilian royal family owned and appreciated Andalusi luxury fabrics.54 Here again, the richness and exclusivity of the materials was presumably what made these items suitable and indeed desirable for royal attire and burial, rendering any actuality of “Muslim” origins irrelevant.
At the same time, there clearly were differences in style and types of clothing worn by Muslims and Christians in thirteenth-century Castile, and these would generally have provided immediate visual identification without the need for legislation. This is suggested in ordinances from Seville in the early 1270s specifying that new converts to Christianity (los christianos novos) must no longer dress as Muslims.55 Presumably Old Christians were not supposed to dress in Muslim styles either. Visual differences between Muslims and Christians, both men and women, are explicitly depicted in thirteenth-century Castilian art, most notably the Cantigas de Santa María and the Libro de ajedrez, both manuscripts closely associated with the court of Alfonso X (see Figures 2 and 3).56 Details of hair, beards, skin color, robes, turbans, veiled faces, bare feet, and hands painted with henna (sometimes holding books with Arabic writing) all drew attention to real distinctions that may have been even more prominent in the Christian imagination and artistic presentation than in everyday life.57
Much medieval Christian legislation merely stated that Muslims and Christians should dress differently, but there were a number of more precise statements about how this difference should be expressed. As already noted, thirteenth-century Castilian laws tended to emphasize social hierarchy, expressed in terms of particular types and colors of clothing and fabrics, distinctive hairstyles, and the wearing of beards by Muslim men. Unlike Jews, Muslims in this place and period were not required to wear special signs or symbols on their clothing. Neither, at this point, did Castilian legislation mention particular garments that might be traditionally associated with Muslims. Thus, while legislation for Muslims was undoubtedly restrictive, it is not clear that it was more restrictive than sumptuary legislation for many Christians. Nor is there any indication that Muslims were not able to wear garments (except for luxury items) other than those that they would normally have worn, so long as they were not distinctively Christian.
Figure 2. Libro de ajedrez (ca. 1283). Escorial Codex T.I.6, fol. 18r. Castilian depiction of Muslim women; note use of henna on fingers. © Patrimonio Nacional
Figure 3. Libro de ajedrez (ca. 1283). Escorial Codex T.I.6, fol. 17v. Castilian depiction of Muslim men; several of the figures seem to have henna-dyed beards. © Patrimonio Nacional
Hair was a different matter. On the one hand, the distinctive haircut described as being “cut short all around the head” (what Elena Lourie has described as “a special pudding-basin haircut”)
