of the Iberian Peninsula after those areas had been "reconquered". Mudéjar architecture is distinctively Iberian, Hispanic, or Spanish; it is unique and distinct from other styles because it combines elements from the Christian world and al-Andalus. The buildings, generally small in size, were basically characterised by their materials: plaster, adobe and brick for walls and wood for roofs. Their decorative features characteristic of al-Andalus, led to the belief that they were created by Muslims living in territories under Christian rule. Aside from these characteristics, there were no distinctive structural elements, which led many experts to question the name. The term, however, has enjoyed great success and continues to be used not only to refer to architectural works but also to other artistic and cultural expressions.

That same year, 1859, part of the "treasure of Guarrazar" was sold in France. This collection of Visigothic jewellery, discovered in Toledo after several graves from that period had been clandestinely excavated, included a gold votive crown with garnets, sapphires, almandines, emeralds and pearls, with letters hanging from it that read RECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET, allowing the treasure to be dated to the period of Recesvinto's reign (653-672). The publicity in France regarding the purchase, which aimed to enrich the collection of the Musée de Cluny in Paris, compelled the Spanish government to intervene. JAR was one of two members of the commission sent to the site where the jewellery had been discovered, aiming to investigate and gather evidence to attempt to recover the pieces taken abroad. In his report submitted to the Real Academia de la Historia, which was subsequently sent to the Spanish ambassador in France, JAR argued that the pieces belonged to the Spanish state based on two laws. The first, promulgated by Recesvinto himself and confirmed at the Eighth Council of Toledo in 653, stated that all property acquired by monarchs during their reigns should be inherited by their successors. The second, from 1835, but based on one of the laws of Alfonso X’s Partidas [Seven-Part Code], stipulated that half of any treasure found on state land belonged to the state, and that if the discovery was not reported, the person who discovered it lost the right to sell it. At the same time, in the new excavations led by JAR, the focus shifted from the possibility of finding new pieces to the importance of contextualising these discoveries. History, Archaeology, the History of Law and History of Art thus came together in a project of enormous significance to the study of the High Middle Ages in the Iberian Peninsula.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | (Pdf)