The Castles of Mallorca

Martin Goffriller's research presents a study in the dynamics of territorial control of the island of Mallorca from ca. 902-1300 AD, with the aim of providing the first holistic and systematic study of the known Islamic fortresses of this island and determining the reasons which account for the lack of the so-called hisn/qarya complex there. The scientific focus of this book explores the effects that island contexts may have had on the identity-forming processes of their population and how these in turn affect the socio-political makeup of these 'bounded' polities. More specifically, in the case of Mallorca, the core of this study is devoted to the relation between the hinterland fortifications of the Islamic period and the island's capital city Madina Mayurqa, concluding that due to the relative isolation of Mallorca's segmentary communities from their mainland analogues they evolved a distinctive meta-identity which gradually supplanted their traditional tribal allegiances and redefined their relation with the state and political authority in general. Also detailed are the mechanisms of territorial and administrative integration of Islamic Mayurqa into the feudal structures of the Kingdom of Aragon in the aftermath of the Catalan conquest of 1229.