Artist: Dayanna Knight
Profilers: Olivia Sederlund, Head of Technical Services, Goodnow Library; Kisha G. Tracy, Associate Professor, Fitchburg State University
Brief Biography
- Moorish poet
- Born in Guadix, Spain (Andalusia) in the twelfth century
- Father was a mu’addib (teacher)
Name Variations
- Hamda banа̄t ziyа̄d de Guadix
- Hamda, hija de Ziyad [or Ziad]
- Hamdúna, hija de Ziyād al-Mu’addib.
- Khansa of Andalus (nickname)
Selected Quotations
From Matar, In the Lands of the Christians (128):
- “When the slanderers wanted to separate us, despite not
having any revenge against me or you;
They launched their attacks in our hearing, after which
my protectors and supporters deserted me;
But I attacked them with my eyes and tears, and with my
breath [wielded] swords, death, and fire.” - “This Hamda is one of the poetesses of the Andalus. She is famous in that region and among all the poets and poetesses of the country.” — Mohammed ibn abd al-Wahab al-Ghassani (1690-91)
Selected Bibliography
Primary:
Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology. Saqi, 2017.
In the Lands of the Christians: Arabic Travel Writing in the Seventeenth Century. Edited and translated by Nabil Matar. Routledge, 2003.
Moorish Poetry: A Translation of ‘The Pennants’, an Anthology Compiled in 1243 by the Andalusian Ibn Saʿid. Translated by A. J. Arberry. Cambridge University Press, 1953.
The Poetry of Arab Women from the Pre-Islamic Age to Andalusia. Translated by Wessam Elmeligi. Taylor & Francis, 2019.
Secondary:
Cantarino, Vicente. “‘Wa-hiya taklifu ghannat’: Genre and Gender in Hispano-Arabic Poetry.” Medieval Lyric: Genres in Historical Context. Edited by William D. Paden. 2000. 259.
Cruz Hernández, Miguel. El Islam de al-Andalus: historia y estructura de su realidad social. Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, 1996.
Dangler, Jean. Making Difference in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. University of Notre Dame Press, 2005.
Das Wunder von al-Andalus: die schönsten Gedichte aus dem Maurischen Spanien. Beck, 2005.
González Palencia, Ángel. Historia de la literatura arábigo-española. Editorial Labor, 1945.
Guthrie, Shirley. Arab Women in the Middle Ages: Private Lives and Public Roles. Saqi, 2001.
La Mujer en Al-Andalus: reflejos históricos de su actividad y categorías sociales. Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 1989.
Lowin, Shari. Arabic and Hebrew Love Poems in Al-Andalus. Taylor & Francis, 2013.
Moral, Celia del. Arabes, judías y cristianas: mujeres en la Europa medieval. Universidad de Granada, 1993.
Pérès, Henri. Esplendor de al-Andalus: la poesía andaluza en árabe clásico en el siglo XI : sus aspectos generales, sus principales temas y su valor documental. Hiperión, 1983.
Ramón Guerrero, Amelina. Ibn al-Ḥaddād (s. XI) y otros poetas árabes de Guadix (s. XII). Universidad de Granada, 1984.