Pedro Canales
Spain is rediscovering the Andalusian cultural heritage, claiming the feminist princess Wallada bint al Mustakfi, a woman who played an extraordinary role in the culture and art of the Umayyad Caliphate in Muslim Spain.
Doctor in Economics and a prominent figure in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Aldo Olcese is participating in the search and historical recovery of figures who played a leading role in the artistic and cultural life of ancient Spain.
As a promoter of civil society meetings, Olcese has organized conferences and debates to highlight the role played by Princess Wallada, an unknown and forgotten poetess, not only for the quality of her artistic creation but also marginalized and consciously discriminated against due to her social and feminist commitment in a time and society where women were confined to the home and could only go out accompanied by their husbands or to visit family homes.
According to Olcese, the Andalusian poetess, daughter of the last Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba, Muhammad al Mustakfi, and a Christian captive, Amina, “very beautiful and fair-skinned,” will go down in history for having created an artistic salon in the caliphal palace, open not only to women but to all the city’s inhabitants, particularly other poets like Ibn Zaydun or the writer Ibn Hazm, author of The Ring of the Dove.
Upon the death of Caliph Muhammad III without male descendants, Wallada inherited his fortune, which allowed her to distance herself from court life and pursue her own artistic and social goals, including the literary salon where she taught poetry and singing to young girls from noble families and even to slaves. Poets and literary figures of her time, along with prestigious legal personalities who admired her genius and beauty, frequented the salon. Wallada walked the streets of Córdoba without a veil and with verses embroidered on the shoulders of her dresses.
Despite the segregation she faced as a poetess, her compositions have survived to this day thanks to the masterful work of the Toledo School of Translators, “the most important that has ever existed in the world throughout history” according to Aldo Olcese, which managed to recover some beautiful poems. Wallada died on March 26, 1091, the same day the Almoravids entered Córdoba.