Medieval Islamic society set great store by the transmission of history: to edify, argue legal points, explain present conditions, offer political and religious legitimacy, and entertain. Modern scholars, too, have had much to say about the usefulness of early Islamic history-writing, although this debate has traditionally focused overwhelmingly on the central Islamic lands.

This book looks instead at local and regional history-writing in Medieval Iberia. Drawing on numerous Arabic texts historical, geographical and biographical composed and transmitted in al-Andalus, North Africa and...