Swords, Scholars, and Sounds- Life in Medieval Spain

Course Description

What if the Middle Ages weren’t just knights, castles, and crusaders—but bustling cities filled with music, science, and ideas from all over the world? Swords, Scholars, and Sounds invites you into the extraordinary world of medieval Spain (al-Andalus), a place where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived side by side, shared ideas, disagreed, traded, argued—and changed history. This wasn’t a “clash of civilizations.” It was a crossroads.

In this week-long adventure, you’ll explore how people from different religions and cultures created one of the most vibrant societies of the Middle Ages. You’ll meet real historical figures like Ibn Rushd (Averroes), a philosopher who helped spark Europe’s intellectual renewal; El Cid, a warrior whose friendships and alliances crossed religious boundaries; and Ibn Fadlan, whose travel writing inspired stories like The 13th Warrior. You’ll see how music from North Africa shaped the sound of medieval Europe, how scholars translated ancient Greek texts through Arabic into Latin, and how ideas travelled across continents—long before the internet.

Instead of memorizing dates, you’ll experience the history. Each day mixes short, dynamic lessons with hands-on activities built around art, music, problem-solving, and creativity:
• Build your own medieval “translation workshop.”
Working in groups, you’ll decode short passages based on real medieval texts and learn how translators in Toledo helped preserve knowledge like astronomy, medicine, and philosophy.
• Hear the past.
You’ll explore medieval soundscapes by listening to examples of Andalusi music, troubadour songs, and early lute/oud pieces, then experiment with creating simple rhythmic patterns inspired by them.
• Design your own coat of arms—or not.
Many medieval Iberian symbols blended Islamic, Christian, and Jewish artistic styles. You’ll make your own hybrid emblem using geometric, calligraphic, or heraldic techniques.
• Map cultural exchange.
Using interactive digital tools, you’ll trace how ideas, instruments, and people travelled across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
• Explore myths vs. reality.

Were Crusaders always “good guys”? Were Muslims and Christians always enemies? Were the Middle Ages really “dark”? You’ll learn how modern films—like El Cid or Kingdom of Heaven—get some things right and others very wrong.

Throughout the course, you’ll think like a historian: you’ll analyse images, listen to music, compare accounts that disagree with each other, and uncover what life was like for ordinary people—farmers, musicians, travellers, and students—whose stories rarely appear in textbooks.
By the end of the week, you will not only understand a fascinating chapter of global history, but also how cultural exchange shapes our world today—from the instruments we hear in music to the words we speak to the ideas we debate. Come explore the Middle Ages as you’ve never imagined them—full of colour, curiosity, connection, and sound!