Angus Macnab
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Angus Macnab (1906-1977) was a Perennialist writer on Medieval Spain and translator of Latin and Greek poetry. He was born in London, of New Zealand–Scots parents. He is the author of two classics on Medieval Spain: Spain under the crescent Moon and Toledo, Sacred and Profane. He authored as well Bulls of Iberia. In an article in the British journal 'New Blackfriars' (Vol. 76, No. 1, October 1995, pp. 461-462), William Stoddart pays tribute to Macnab as a leading Catholic intellectual who was the author of a fascinating study of the Spanish Middle Ages. Of "Bulls of Iberia" (Heinemann, London, 1957), the prominent English critic Kenneth Tynan described it as 'awesomly good'." Macnab's contributions to the British journal "Studies in Comparative Religion", in the 1960's, should also be emphasized.
Angus Macnab received a classical education at the ancient “public school” of Rugby and at Christ Church College, Oxford. He was a gifted translator When he graduated, he chose teaching as his profession. In 1938, under the influence of G. K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, Macnab had embraced scholastic philosophy and traditional Catholicism. At about the same time, he developed an interest in Spain, and at the end of world war II in 1945, he learnt Spanish and decided to make Spain his home. For many years he lived with his Irish wife Catherine and their three children (all born in Spain) in the charming Plaza de Santo Tomé (opposite the church of the same name) in Toledo. He made his living as a translator.
In the mid-1950s, he read Marco Pallis’s book Peaks and Lamas. He immediately understood and accepted Pallis’s traditionalist “message”, and wrote to him to express his gratitude. In his reply, Pallis suggested to Macnab that he might find profit in the writings of René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon. Macnab at once ordered their books, profoundly assimilated their contents, and was totally and joyfully convinced by their expositions.
Macnab visited Schuon in Lausanne in 1957, and remained in touch with him until his death, in Madrid, in 1977.
For some, scholasticism and traditional Catholicism might have been an intellectual straitjacket but, in conjunction with his classical roots and his later assimilation of the metaphysical doctrines of René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, they provided Macnab with a fine philosophical tool for a subtle examination of the two traditional cultures (Christian and Islamic) of Medieval Spain.
While in Spain, Macnab received a number of distinguished visitors from Britain and America including novelists Evelyn Waugh and James Michener, publisher Tom Burns, and his friend and intellectual benefactor, Marco Pallis. Macnab was affable and unassuming, seemingly unaware of his learning, and he talked fascinatingly and enthusiastically, holding his listeners spell-bound. As he spoke, Kings and Sultans, Christian saints and Muslim Sufis, silently marched through his living-room.
The fruits of Macnab’s studies in the history of Moorish Spain were his books Spain under the Crescent Moon (Fons Vitae, Louisville KY, 1999) and Toledo, Sacred and Profane (unpublished), as well as a number of articles published in the journal Studies of Comparative Religion (London), during the period 1965—1968.
Spain under the Crescent Moon is a remarkable book, the most entrancing book on Moorish Spain since Washington Irving’s Tales from the Alhambra. It is highly relevant to the pressing contemporary problem of how to relate to the Islamic world. The history of Moorish Spain shows that the question is not a new one, and it seems beyond doubt that the solutions reached during the many centuries of Christian-Moslem co-existence were more intelligent — because springing from a deeper level — than the superficial and often ill-informed blundering so common in this area today."
Macnab writes deftly on art and history, chivalry and religion, Christian and Moslem kings, and Christian and Moslem holy men. His narrative is an open window onto an age of faith. He describes Arab accomplishments in poetry, music and fine manners, as well as in the more familiar domains of architecture and calligraphy — the Alhambra at Granada being (with the possible exception of the Taj Mahal) the most renowned Islamic building in the world. He paints a fascinating picture of Islamic mysticism in a manner that recalls Ibn ‘Arabî’s account (published in English as Sufis of Andalusia) of the spiritual guides and masters that he knew as a youth in 12th century Spain.
