Answer/Explanation:
Religious drama did not develop in Moorish Spain around the same time as it did on the rest of the European continent, roughly around 1000 CE. The reasons for this lie in the historical and cultural context of the Iberian Peninsula during the medieval period.
Moorish Spain, also known as Al-Andalus, refers to the period when much of the Iberian Peninsula was under Islamic rule, primarily by the Moors, who were North African Muslims. This era began with the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the early 8th century and lasted until the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of Spain, which concluded in the late 15th century.
During the early medieval period, Al-Andalus was characterized by a flourishing of science, philosophy, literature, and arts under Muslim rule. The Islamic culture that prevailed during this time had its own distinct traditions and artistic forms, which were deeply influenced by Arabic, Persian, and other Islamic cultural elements. While the Moors were generally tolerant of other religious groups, including Jews and Christians, they maintained their own cultural practices separate from those of Christian Europe.
In contrast, religious drama in Christian Europe around 1000 CE was primarily manifested in the form of liturgical dramas, such as mystery plays and morality plays, performed within or around churches as part of religious ceremonies and festivals. These plays often depicted biblical stories or moral allegories and were closely tied to the liturgy of the Catholic Church.
It wasn't until later in the medieval period, particularly during the Reconquista and the subsequent Christianization of Spain, that religious drama began to emerge in the Iberian Peninsula. As Christian kingdoms gradually reclaimed territory from Muslim rule, they reintroduced European cultural practices, including religious drama, into the region. The development of religious drama in Spain mirrored that of other parts of Europe, with the emergence of mystery plays, morality plays, and eventually the elaborate autos sacramentales mentioned earlier, which became prominent during the Spanish Golden Age.
Therefore, while religious drama did eventually develop in Moorish Spain, it did so at a later time and under different circumstances compared to the rest of the European continent. Its emergence was influenced by the intersection of Christian and Islamic cultures during the Reconquista and the subsequent cultural exchanges that occurred as a result.
