ABSTRACT
Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities lived alongside each other in medieval Aragon. Much discussion of this period tends to simplify or romanticise the cultural exchange between them, and Jewish-Christian relations in particular. Equally, considerable effort has gone into documenting tensions that existed between the communities. The Muslim warrior image accompanies the text that is read at the start of the Passover meal; he is the 'wicked son', one of the Haggadah's 'four sons', each of whom performs a role in the liturgy. The Muslim wicked son figure is one of the painted marginalia accompanying the Haggadah text, and so is literally in the margins of the page and thereby physically marginalised. In fact, the Rylands Haggadah is accompanied by a number of marginalia, many of which are intended as illustrations. The Muslim warrior in the Rylands Haggadah is one of the haggadic 'four sons' that are dramatised as part of the Passover meal ritual, the Seder.
