http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2005/10/22/woodpeckers-in-andalusia/ anythingarian bubbles and troubles from the land of the fretting nun Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:53:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2005/10/22/woodpeckers-in-andalusia/#comment-121397 kalebeul » The Queen of Iznatoraf Thu, 24 May 2007 13:03:30 +0000 http://oreneta.com/kalebeul/2005/10/22/woodpeckers-in-andalusia/#comment-121397 [...] A little more reading (Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Hispano-Arabic Literature and the Early Provençal Lyrics) suggests (possibly unjustly) that Wallada was famous not so much for her poetry as for being the caliph’s daughter and having poetry written about her by Ibn Zaydun. It’s a shame that in our enthusiasm to find ancient heroines inoffensive to our socialist bishops we may miss some phenomenal scientific advances made by women in the same period. Take for example the king of Iznatoraf’s wife: In 964 in the nearby kingdom of Iznatoraf the Christians, under Muslim rule, venerated an image of Our Lady. The Moorish queen was discovered by her husband, King Alimenón, attempting to take instruction in the Christian faith. She was thrown out and, a few leagues from the city, her hands were cut off and her eyes put out and she was abandoned to a sad fate. In that moment the queen invoked the Lady of the Christians and heard the murmur of a spring. Driven from within by a voice, she plunged her mutilated arms into it and recovered her hands as well as her eyes, with which she saw the Virgin Mary. Before this double miracle, King Alimony converted and commanded the building of a sanctuary-fortress wherein was enthroned the image of Our Lady, since then of the Holy Spring. [...] [...] A little more reading (Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, Hispano-Arabic Literature and the Early Provençal Lyrics) suggests (possibly unjustly) that Wallada was famous not so much for her poetry as for being the caliph’s daughter and having poetry written about her by Ibn Zaydun. It’s a shame that in our enthusiasm to find ancient heroines inoffensive to our socialist bishops we may miss some phenomenal scientific advances made by women in the same period. Take for example the king of Iznatoraf’s wife: In 964 in the nearby kingdom of Iznatoraf the Christians, under Muslim rule, venerated an image of Our Lady. The Moorish queen was discovered by her husband, King Alimenón, attempting to take instruction in the Christian faith. She was thrown out and, a few leagues from the city, her hands were cut off and her eyes put out and she was abandoned to a sad fate. In that moment the queen invoked the Lady of the Christians and heard the murmur of a spring. Driven from within by a voice, she plunged her mutilated arms into it and recovered her hands as well as her eyes, with which she saw the Virgin Mary. Before this double miracle, King Alimony converted and commanded the building of a sanctuary-fortress wherein was enthroned the image of Our Lady, since then of the Holy Spring. [...]

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