Court, doors, crowns, turbans, and thrones: insignia, models, and rituals from the Visigothic Kingdom to al-Andalus

This article addresses how the newly established Islamic imperial power—with its new religious identity—adapted or rejected previous Late Antique rituals, insignia, and court representations in the Iberian Peninsula. The article focuses especially on sources that deal with these representations under the Umayyad Emirate and Caliphate (756–1031). It employs a comparative perspective with the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo (mid-sixth century–711) to evaluate the adoption, reassessment, or rejection of previous models. It also considers exemplary cases that took place after the Islamic conquest of 711 through the so-called period of the governors (711–756). Based on written and material sources, such as pictorial representations, coins, ceramics, ivories, votive crowns, and textiles, the article evaluates the Peninsular context prior to the arrival of Islam and the development of these models throughout the Umayyad period.