Reconquista
The
Reconquista (Reconquest) was the process by which the Christian Kingdoms of northern Hispania defeated and expelled the southern
Muslim forces and Moorish states of the
Iberian Peninsula, ending more than 8 centuries of Moorish rule in Spain. The Reconquista is commonly accepted to have started in 722, with the
Battle of Covadonga, and finished in 1492, with the conquest of
Granada.
In
1236 the
Spanish Reconquista led to the subjugation of the last Islamic stronghold of Granada under
Mohammed ibn Alhamar to the
Christian forces of
Ferdinand III of Castile, after a prolonged struggle over the peninsula. From there on
Granada became a vassal state to the Christian kingdom for the following 250 years until
January 2,
1492 when the last Muslim leader
Boabdil of Granada surrendered complete control of the remnants of the last Moorish stronghold - Granada - to
Ferdinand and
Isabella,
Los Reyes Católicos ("The Catholic Kings"). This united most of modern Spain under their rule, excluding
Navarre, which remained separate until
1512.
The
Portuguese Reconquista culminated in
1249 with the subjugation of
Algarve by
Afonso III.
 |
The Christians called Santiago their protector saint (today he is still the patron saint of Spain) under the rubric of Santiago Matamoros ("St. James the Moor-slayer"). |
In the
5th century the
Visigoths were asked by the then greatly weakened
Western Roman Empire to force out the
Alans and other tribes from
Iberia. In return, the Visigoths received Roman
Hispania (the
Iberian Peninsula) and Southern
Gaul as
foedus, a payment for their loyalty. However, once the
last emperor was deposed by
Odoacer in
476, the Visigoths ruled Hispania as an independent kingdom.
The death of the Visigoth king
Wittiza in
710 led to conflict between his successor
Roderic and the count of
Ceuta,
Julian who was sheltering Wittiza's family and partisans. In
711 Julian, who enjoyed good relations with the Moorish governor of nearby
Tangier,
Tariq ibn Ziyad, and his emir
Musa ibn Nusair, provided ships for a Moorish force consisting of
Africans,
Berbers and
Arabs to land in Gibraltar to assist him in his struggle with Roderic. Historians differ on whether Musa intended a full invasion at this point, a limited intervention for the sake of alliance-building, or an attack to gauge the strength of the Visigothic defences.
Julian's exact motivation is unclear and may have stemmed from religious as well as political reasons. Julian, like most of the people in Hispania at the time, was an
Arian by faith and disagreed with the Visigothic elite's conversion to
Catholicism. The rebels may have preferred the simple
monotheism of
Islam to Catholic
Trinitarianism.
Roderic was defeated and assumed to have been killed (
Hitti,
The Arabs: A Short History) at the
battle of Guadalete in
711, partly because of the desertion of troops under his command at the urging of bishop
Oppas (whose nephew
Agila was Wittiza's son). After the battle, Visigothic rule fell apart, with Agila surrendering his lands in
712.
Pelayo, a noble in charge of Roderic's royal guard (Comes Spatharius), escaped the battle and returned to his native
Asturias.
During the next three years the Moors conquered the rest of Hispania, often helped and welcomed by the native population. The Moors continued marching north until they were defeated by
Charles Martel in
732 in the
Battle of Tours, after initially enjoying sucesses. The Moors then settled in the Iberian Peninsula, establishing an
Emirate nominally subordinate to the
Caliph in
Damascus. The native population kept their property and social status, as the change of governors did not seriously disrupt their everyday affairs. The local administration was not changed, and county divisions were maintained.
After 714, most of the Iberian Peninsula had changed its name from
Hispania to the Arabic name,
Al-Andalus.
The north of Iberia, a wet and mountainous region (the Asturian Mountains was occupied by the
Astures, and
Basques during the
first millennium BC. Conquered by Augustus in
14 BC and later becoming the Roman province of Asturia, the area was fully romanized with Latin-based language and nominally professing of Christianity. These lands were difficult to subdue and were largely avoided by the Moors.
In
718 the Astur noble,
Pelayo, became leader of the Asturian nobility and founded the Kingdom of
Asturias, though initially this was little more than a banner for the existing guerilla forces. Under his leadership, the attacks on the Berbers increased. In
722 (or possibly in
724 or as early as
718), the Emir sent a force to quell this rebellion and control the region. This force
was defeated in the valley of
Covadonga. The most commonly accepted hypothesis for this battle (epic as described by Christian chronicles, but a mere skirmish in Arabic texts) is that the Moorish column was attacked from the cliffs and then fell back through the valleys towards present day
Gijón, but was attacked whilst in retreat by the retinue of Duke Pedro and nearly destroyed. After this first battle, the Asturian grew stronger. Once he had expelled the Moors from the eastern valleys of Asturias, Pelayo attacked
León, the main city in north-west Spain and secured the mountain passes, isolating the region from Moorish attack.
Pelayo continued attacking those Berbers who remained north of the Asturian Mountains until they withdrew. He then married his son
Favila to Duke Pedro's daughter, a descendant of the Astur dynasty. At his death in
734, the Kingdom of Asturias stretched all through eastern Asturias.
It was not until several decades later, under king
Alfonso II (791-842), that the kingdom was firmly established with Alfonso's recognition as king of Asturias by
Charlemagne and the
Pope. He conquered Galicia and the Basques. During his reign, the holy bones of St.
James the Great were declared to be found in Galicia, in
Compostela (from Latin
campus stellae, literally "the field of the star"). Pilgrims from all over Europe opened
a pilgrimage route between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond.
Alfonso's policy consisted in depopulating the borders of
Vardulia (which would turn into
Castile) in order to gain population support north of the mountains. With this growth came a corresponding increase in military forces. The kingdom was now strong enough to sack the Moorish cities of
Lisbon,
Zamora and
Coimbra. However, for centuries to come the focus of these actions was not conquest but
pillage and
tribute.
The new monarch was the son of
Fruela I and the Basque (from Alava)
Munia, belonging to the lineage of Alfonso I. In the summers of 792, 793 and 794 several Muslim attacks plundered Alava and the heart of the Asturian kingdom, reaching up to the capital, Oviedo. In one of the retreats, Alfonso inflicted a severe defeat upon the Muslims in the swampy area of Lutos. In order to avoid these continuous attacks, the king initiated tight diplomatic contacts with the kings of
Pamplona, and with
Charlemagne and his successor,
Louis the Pious.
The contacts with the
Carolingian court introduced cultural, religious and political influences.
Al-Hakam I tried to disrupt those contacts, and heavily attacked
Alava and
Lisbon in the years 798 and 803.
Even when the Muslim success was very limited,
Abd al-Rahman III continued with this policy of annual campaigns, using
Galicia as his operations front. However, Asturias became stronger due to these campaigns; its possessions were strengthened in
Castile, Galicia and
León, starting an intensive programme of repopulation in those territories.
There was a critical moment during his mandate, between the years 801 and 808, when the king was forced to retire to the monastery of Ablaña by a group of nobles. He recovered the throne thanks to the noble Teudano, and started reorganizing the realm in order to reinforce the royal power. The anonymous author of the
Crónica Albeldense states that Alfonso restored Oviedo, which became his center, and distanced himself from the Toledo and Frank churches, creating a new metropolitan
see in Lugo.
Alfonso died without an heir, which caused the crown to be inherited by
Ramiro I.
Once the
Franks had driven the Moors out of France, the necessity of defending the mountain passes of the Pyrenees became an important point in Charlemagne's policy. Fortifications were built, and protection was given to the inhabitants of the old Roman cities, such as
Jaca and
Gerona. The main passes were
Roncesvalles,
Somport and
Junquera. In each of them, Charlemagne settled the counties of
Pamplona,
Aragon and
Catalonia (which was itself formed from a number of small counties,
Pallars,
Gerona, and
Urgell being the most prominent).
In
778, the Frankish expedition against
Saragossa failed and the rearguard of the army was destroyed while retreating to France, this event being recorded in the "
Chanson de Roland". As a result the western Pyrenees were now free from both Moorish and Frankish rule. Four different states appeared: the kingdom of
Pamplona (later known as
Navarre) and the counties of
Aragon,
Sobarbe and
Ribagorza. Navarre emerged as a kingdom around Pamplona, its capital, and controlled Roncesvalles pass. Its first king was
Iñigo Arista. He expanded his domains up to the
Bay of Biscay and conquered a small number of towns beyond the Pyrenees, but never directly attacked the Carolingian armies, as he was in theory their
vassal. It was not until
Queen Jimena in the
9th century that Pamplona was officially recognised as an independent kingdom by the
Pope. Aragon, founded in
809 by
Aznar Galíndez, grew around Jaca and the high valleys of the
Aragon River, protecting the old Roman road. By the end of the
10th century, Aragon was annexed by Navarre. Sobarbe and Ribagorza were small counties and had little significance to the progress of the
Reconquista.
The Catalonian counties protected the eastern Pyrenees passes and shores. They were under the direct control of the Frankish kings and were the last remains of the Spanish Marches.
Catalonia included not only the southern Pyrenees counties of
Gerona,
Pallars,
Urgell,
Vic and
Andorra but also some which were on the northern side of the mountains, such as
Perpignan and
Foix. However, the most important role was played by
Barcelona, once it was conquered in
801 by
Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne. In the late
9th century under
Count Wilfred, Barcelona became the
de facto capital of the region. It controlled the other counties' policies in a union, which led in
948 to the independence of Barcelona under
Count Borrel II, who declared that the new dynasty in France (the
Capets) were not the legitimate rulers of France nor, as a result, of his county.
These states were small and with the exception of
Navarre did not have the same capacity for expansion as
Asturias had. Their mountainous geography rendered them relatively safe from attack but also made launching attacks against a united and strong
Al-Andalus impractical. In consequence, these states' borders remained stable for two centuries.
In a situation of constant conflict, warfare and daily life were strongly interlinked during this period. Small, lightly equipped armies reflected how the society had to be on the alert at all times. These forces were capable of moving long distances in short times, allowing a quick return home after sacking a target. Battles which took place were mainly between clans, expelling intruder armies or sacking expeditions.
The cultural context of Medieval Spain was markedly different to that of the rest of Continental Europe, due to contact with the
Moorish culture and the isolation provided by the
Pyrenees (an exception to this is
Catalonia, where
Frankish influence remained strong). These cultural differences implied the use of doctrines, equipment, and tactics markedly different from those found in the rest of Europe during this period.
Medieval Spanish armies mainly comprised two types of forces: cavalry (mostly nobles, but including commoner knights from the 10th century) and infantry, or
peones (peasants). Infantry only went to war if needed, which was not common.
Spanish cavalry tactics involved knights approaching the enemy and throwing javelins, before withdrawing to a safe distance before commencing another assault. Once the enemy formation was sufficiently weakened, the knights charged with thrusting spears (lances did not arrive in Hispania until the 11th century). There were three types of knights: royal knights, noble knights (
caballeros hidalgos) and commoner knights (
caballeros villanos). Royal knights were mainly nobles with a close relationship with the king, and thus claimed a direct Gothic inheritance. Royal knights were equipped in the same manner as their
Gothic predecessors - braceplate, kite shield, a long sword (designed to fight from the horse) and as well as the javelins and spears, a Visigothic double-axe. Noble knights came from the ranks of the
infanzones or lower nobles, whereas the commoner knights were not noble, but were wealthy enough to afford a horse. Uniquely in Europe, these horsemen comprised a militia cavalry force with no feudal links, being under the sole control of the king or the count of
Castile because of the
fueros (see below:
Repopulating Hispania: the origin of fueros). Both noble and common knights wore leather armour, javelins, spears and round-tasselled shields (influenced by Moorish shields), as well as a sword.
The
peones were
peasants who went to battle in service of their
feudal lord. Poorly equipped (bows and arrows, spears and short swords), they were mainly used as auxiliary troops. Their function in battle was to contain the enemy troops until the cavalry arrived and to block the enemy infantry from charging the knights.
Typically armour was made of leather, with iron scales; full coats of
chain mail were extremely rare and horse barding completely unknown. Head protections consisted of a round helmet with nose protector (influenced by the designs used by
Vikings who attacked during the 8th and 9th centuries) and a chain mail head piece. Shields were often round or kidney-shaped, except for the kite-shaped designs used by the royal knights. Usually adorned with geometric designs, crosses or tassels, shields were made out of wood and had a leather cover.
Steel swords were the most common weapon. The calvary used long double-bladed swords and the infantry short, single-bladed ones. Guards were either semicircular or straight, but always highly ornamented with geometrical patterns. The spears and javelins were up to 1.5 metres long and had an iron tip. The double-axe, made of iron and 30 cm long and possessing an extremely sharp edge, was designed to be equally useful as a thrown weapon or in close combat. Maces and hammers were not common, but some specimens have remained, and are thought to have been used by members of the cavalry.
Finally, mercenaries were an important factor, as many kings did not have enough soldiers available.
Norsemen,
Flemish spearmen, Frankish knights, Moorish mounted archers and
Berber light cavalry were the main types of mercenary available and used in the conflict.
This style of warfare remained dominant in the Iberian Peninsula until the late 11th century, when couched lance tactics entered from France and replaced the traditional horse javelin-shot techniques. In the 12th and 13th centuries, horse barding, suits of armour, double-handed swords and crossbows finally rendered the early Spanish tactics obsolete.
The
Reconquista was a process not only of war and conquest, but mainly of
repopulation. Christian kings took their own people to locations abandoned by the Berbers, in order to have a population capable of defending the borders. The main repopulation areas were the Duero Basin (the northern plateau), the high
Ebro valley (
La Rioja) and central
Catalonia.
The repopulation of the Duero Basin took place in two distinct phases. North of the river, between the 9th and 10th centuries, the
presura system was employed. South of the Duero, in the 10th and 11th centuries, the
presura led to the
fueros. Fueros were used even south of the Central Range.
The
presura referred to a group of peasants which crossed the mountains and settled in the abandoned lands of the Duero Basin. Asturian laws promoted this system with laws, for instance granting a peasant all the land he was able to work and defend as his own property. Of course, Asturian and Galician minor nobles and clergymen sent their own expeditions with the peasants they maintained. This led to very feudalised areas, such as
Leon and
Portugal, whereas Castile, an arid land with vast plains and hard climate only attracted peasants with no hope in Biscay. As a consequence, Castile was governed by a single count, but had a largely mostly non-feudal territory with many
free peasants.
Presuras also appear in Catalonia, when the count of Barcelona ordered the Bishop of Urgell and the count of Gerona to repopulate the plains of
Vic.
During the 10th century and onwards, cities and towns gained more importance and power, as commerce reappeared and the population kept growing.
Fueros were
charters documenting the privileges and usages given to all the people repopulating a town. The
fueros provided a means of escape from the
feudal system, as
fueros were only granted by the monarch. As a result, the town council (the
concejo) was dependent on the monarch alone and had to help their lord (
auxilium). The military force of the towns became the
caballeros villanos. The first
fuero was given by count
Fernán González to the inhabitants of
Castrojeriz in the 940s. The most important towns of medieval Spain had
fueros. In Navarre,
fueros were the main repopulating system. Later on, in the 12th century, Aragon also employed the system; for example, the
fuero of
Teruel, which was one of the last fueros, in the early 13th century.
From the mid-13th century on no more charters were granted, as the demographic pressure had disappeared and other means of repopulation were created. While
presuras allowed Castile to have the only non-feudal peasants in Europe other than
cossacks,
fueros remained as city charters until the 18th century in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia and until the 19th century in Castile and Navarre.
Fueros had an immense importance for those living under them, who were prepared to defend their rights under the charter militarily if necessary. The abolition of the
fueros in Navarre was one of the causes of the
Carlist wars. In Castile disputes over the system contributed to the war against Charles I (
Castilian War of the Communities).
The situation in the Moorish-ruled region of the Iberian Peninsula,
Al-Andalus, during the 10th and 11th centuries played an important role in the development of the Christian kingdoms.
The Caliph of Córdoba
The
9th century saw the Berbers return to Africa in the aftermath of their revolts. During this period, many governors of big cities distant from the capital (Córdoba) planned to establish their independence. Then, in
923 the
Emir of Córdoba (
Abd-ar-Rahman III), the leader of the
Umayyad dynasty, declared himself
Caliph, independent from the
Abbasids in
Baghdad. He took all the military, religious and political power and reorganised the army and the bureaucracy.
Once he had regained control over the dissident governors, the Caliph desired to expel the Christian leadership from the Iberian peninsula, attacking the Christian states several times and forcing them back beyond the Cantabric range. These were not attacks upon his Christian subjects, however.
Christian political forces then openly accused
Abd-ar-Rahman III of the
pederastic abuse of a Christian boy who was later canonized
Saint Pelagius of Cordova as a result of the event. This became a rallying cry for subsequent generations of Christian soldiers, and is reputed to have provided much political strength and popular support to the Spanish Reconquista for centuries. The episode is seen by some modern scholars as part of a pattern of demonization of Muslims, portraying Islam as a morally inferior religion.
[ Walter Andrews and Mehmet Kalpaklı, The Age of Beloveds, Duke Univesity Press, 2005; p.2]Abd-ar-Rahman's grandson became a puppet in the hands of the great
Vizier Almanzor (
al-Mansur, "the victorious"). Almanzor waged a strong campaign against the Christian kings, attacking and sacking Burgos, Leon, Pamplona, Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela before his death in
1002.
Civil War
Between Almanzor's death and 1031, Al-Andalus suffered many civil wars which ended in the appearance of the
Taifa kingdoms. The taifas were small kingdoms, established by the city governors establishing their long wished-for independence. The result was many (up to 34) small kingdoms each centered upon their capital, and the governors, not subscribing to any larger-scale vision of the Moorish presence, had no qualms about attacking their neighbouring kingdoms whenever they could gain advantage by doing so.
The Kingdom of León
Alfonso III of Asturias repopulated the strategically-important Leon and established it as his capital. From his new capital, King Alfonso began a series of campaigns to establish control over all the lands north of the Duero. He reorganized his territories into the major duchies (
Galicia and
Portugal) and major counties (
Saldaña and Castile), and fortified the borders with many castles. At his death in 910 the shift in regional power was completed as the kingdom became the
Kingdom of Leon. From this power base, his heir Ordoño II was able to organize attacks against Toledo and even Seville. The
Caliphate of Córdoba was gaining power, and began to attack Leon. Navarre and king Ordoño allied against Abd-al-Rahman but were
defeated in Valdejunquera, in
920. For the next 80 years, the kingdom of Leon suffered civil wars, Moorish attack, internal intrigues and assassinations, and the partial independence of Galicia and Castile, thus setting back the date of Spain's reconquest, and weakening the Christian forces.
King Ramiro
The only point during this period when the situation became hopeful for Leon was the reign of
Ramiro II. King Ramiro, in alliance with
Count Fernán González of Castile and his retinue of
caballeros villanos,
defeated the Caliph in Simancas in 939. After this battle, when the Caliph barely escaped with his guard and the rest of the army was destroyed, King Ramiro obtained 12 years of peace, but had to give González the independence of Castile as a payment for his help in the battle. After this defeat, Moorish attacks abated until Almanzor began his campaigns.
Alfonso V
It was
Alfonso V in
1002 who finally defeated Almanzor and regained the control over his domains. Navarre, though attacked by Almanzor, remained. Alfonso annexed Aragon in the 10th century and expanded its control over southern France.
Navarrese Hegemony
In the late 10th century, King
Garcia II of Navarre received Biscay from Castile and under his reign, Navarre became the hegemonic kingdom in medieval Spain. His son,
Sancho the Great, who reigned between
1004 and
1035, annexed Castile due to his marriage, conquered
Sobrarbe and
Ribagorza and made the Kingdom of Leon his vassal after killing the only son of king
Bermudo III. But following the Navarrese custom, king Sancho divided his kingdom among his sons: Castile (and Biscay) for Fernando, Navarre and Rioja for
Sancho IV, Aragon for Ramiro and Sobrarbe (with Ribagorza) to Gonzalo. Ramiro soon had his brother Gonzalo killed and annexed his domains, while Fernando (naming himself king) married the daughter of Bermudo III, becoming king of Leon and Castile.
King Ferdinand I of Leon
Ferdinand was the leading king of the mid-11th century. He conquered
Coimbra and attacked the taifa kingdoms, often demanding the tributes known as
parias. Ferdinand's strategy was to continue to demand parias until the taifa was greatly weakened both miltiarily and financially. He also repopulated the Borders with numerous
fueros. Following the Navarrese tradition, on his death in 1064 he divided his kingdom between his sons. His son
Sancho II of Castile wanted to reunite the kingdom of his father and attacked his brothers, with a young noble at his side: Rodrigo Díaz (later known as El
Cid Campeador). Sancho was killed in the siege of
Zamora by the traitor
Bellido Dolfos in 1072. His brother
Alfonso VI took over Leon, Castile and Galicia.
King Alfonso VI of Castile
Alfonso VI the Brave gave more power to the
fueros and repopulated
Segovia,
Ávila and
Salamanca. Then, once he had secured the Borders, king Alfonso conquered the powerful
Taifa kingdom of Toledo in 1085.
Toledo, which was the former capital of the Visigoths was a very important landmark, and the conquest made Alfonso renowned throughout the Christian world. He adopted the title
Imperator totius Hispaniae ("Emperor of all the Spains", referring to all the Christian kingdoms of Spain). Alfonso's more aggressive policy towards the Taifas worried the rulers of those kingdoms, who called on the African
Almoravids for help.
The Almoravids
|
Map of Iberia at the time of the Almoravid arrival - Aragón, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Portugal |
The
Almoravids were a fanatical Muslim militia, their ranks mainly composed of
African and Berber Moors, and unlike the previous Muslim rulers, they were not so tolerants towards Christians and Jews. Their armies entered the Iberian peninsula on several occasions (1086, 1088, 1093) and defeated king Alfonso, but their purpose was not to conquer the Christian kingdoms but to unite all the Taifas in a single Almoravid Caliphate. Their actions halted the southward expansion of the Christian kingdoms. Their only defeat came at
Valencia in 1094, due to the actions of
El Cid.
Sancho Ramírez
Meanwhile, Navarre lost all importance under king
Sancho IV, for he lost Rioja to
Sancho II of Castile, and nearly became the vassal of Aragon. At his death, the Navarrese chose as their king
Sancho Ramirez, king of Aragon, who thus became Sancho V of Navarre and I of Aragon. Sancho Ramírez gained international recognition for Aragon, uniting it with Navarre, expanding the borders south, conquering
Huesca deep in the valleys in
1096 and building a fort 25 km away from
Saragossa.
Catalonia came under intense pressure from the taifas of Saragossa and
Lleida, and also from internal disputes, as Barcelona suffered a dynastic crisis which led to open war among the smaller counties; but by the 1080s, the situation calmed, and the dominion of Barcelona over the smaller counties was restored.
It was not until later centuries that the Christians started to see their conquests as part of an effort of centuries to restore the unity of the Visigothic kingdom.
Expansion into the Crusades and military orders
In the
High Middle Ages, the fight against the Moors in Iberia became linked to the fight of the whole of
Christendom. The Reconquista was originally a mere war of conquest. It only later underwent a significant shift in meaning toward a religiously justified war of liberation (see the Augustinian concept of a
Just War). The
papacy and the influential
Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy not only justified the anti-Islamic acts of war but actively encouraged Christian knights to seek armed confrontation with Moorish "infidels" instead of with each other. From the 11th Century onwards
indulgences were granted: In 1064
Pope Alexander II promised the participants of an expedition against
Barbastro a collective indulgence 30 years before
Pope Urban II called the
First Crusade. Not until 1095 and the
Council of Clermont did the Reconquista amalgamate the conflicting concepts of a peaceful pilgrimage and armed kight-errantry. But the papacy left no doubt about the heavenly reward for knights fighting for Christ (
militia Christi): in a letter, Urban II tried to persuade the
reconquistadores fighting at
Tarragona to stay in Spain and not to join the armed pilgrimage to liberate Jerusalem since their contribution for Christianity was equally important. The pope promised them the same rewarding indulgence that awaited the first crusaders. Later
military orders like the
order of Santiago,
Montesa,
Order of Calatrava and the
Knights Templar were founded or called to fight in Iberia. The Popes called the knights of Europe to the
Crusades in the peninsula. After the so called
Disaster of Alarcos, French, Navarrese, Castilian and Aragonese armies united against the Muslim forces in the massive
battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (
1212).The big territories awarded to military orders and nobles were the origin of the
latifundia in today's
Andalusia and
Extremadura, in Spain, and
Alentejo, in Portugal.
Real or imaginary episodes of the
Reconquista are the subject of much of Medieval
Portuguese-,
Spanish- and
Catalan-language literature, such as the
cantar de gesta.
Many scholars dispute the idea that "Reconquista" was merely a war of Christians against Muslims. They note that the Muslims had occupied significant parts of the Iberian Peninsula for eight centuries, over which time it would have been impossible to differentiate separate ethnic groups. Noble
genealogies clearly show the close relations between Muslims and Christians. The word
Reconquista itself should be regarded as an easy explanation for a long unplanned historical shift or even as
propaganda by the new reigning houses to justify their rule as heirdom.
It has also been proposed that the war left the Iberian kingdoms with deep economic crises, leading to the expulsion of the Jews (who had lived in the Iberian Peninsula for over ten centuries) in order to confiscate their funds and property. It should be noted however that the Portuguese Reconquista ended in
1257 and that the Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms were already profiting from their maritime expansion before the Jews were expelled (see
Portugal in the period of discoveries and
History of Spain).
The Reconquista is a war with long periods of respite between the adversaries, partly for pragmatic reasons, and also due to infighting among the Christian kingdoms of the North spanning over eight centuries. Large populations converted and practised Islam or Christianity as their own religion during these centuries, so the identity of contenders changed over time.
Christian in-fighting
The battle against Moors did not keep the Christian kingdoms from battling among themselves or allying with Islamic kings. For example, the earlier
kings of Navarre were family of the
Banu Qasi of
Tudela. The Moorish kings often had wives or mothers born Christians. Also Christian champions like
El Cid were contracted by
Taifa kings to fight against their neighbours.
In the late years of
Al-Andalus,
Castile had the military power to conquer the remains of the kingdom of
Granada, but the kings preferred to claim the tribute of the
parias. The trade of Granadan goods and the parias were a main way for African gold to enter
medieval Europe.
Expulsion of the Muslims and Jews
The mixing of Christians, Muslims and Jews was later officially ended by the rules of ethnic or religious purity of the
Modern Age, namely the Spanish
limpieza de sangre and the expulsion of Jews by
Manuel I in Portugal.
Most Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or leave Spain and Portugal and have their assets seized. Many Muslims and Jews moved to North Africa rather than submit to forced conversion. During the Islamic administration, Christians and Jews were allowed to retain their religions with some
reduced rights and a
token tax, although during the time of the
Almoravids and especially the
Almohads they were also treated badly, in contrast to the policies of the earlier Umayyad rulers. The new Christian hierarchy, on the other hand, demanded heavy taxes and gave them nominal rights, but only in heavily Islamic regions, such as
Granada, until their own power was sufficient, and the influence of the Inquisition strong enough, to make further expulsion both possible and economically feasible. In 1496, under
Archbishop Hernando de Talavera, even the Muslim population of Granada was forced to accept Christianity. In 1502, the Catholic Kings declared submission to Catholicism
officially compulsory in Castilian domains. Emperor
Charles V did the same for the Kingdom of Aragon in 1526
(2). Tolerance for the Jews was more widespread and was probably economically motivated. These policies were not only officially religious in nature but also effectively seized the wealth of the vanquished.
The descendants of those Muslims and Jews who sumbitted to compulsory conversion to Christianity rather than exile during the early periods of the Inquisition, the Moriscos and Conversos respectively, were later
expelled from Spain and Portugal when the Inquisition was at its height. The expulsion was carried out more severely in Eastern Spain (Valencia and Aragon), due to local animosity towards Muslims and Moriscos - mainly for economic reasons. In the regions of Andalusia and Castile documents point to a significant number of Moriscos having remained or being allowed to return to their homes.
Because most Muslims and Christians actually shared common ancestors, it was impossible to expel all of those with Muslim ancestors from Spain. Nor was the Spanish state successful in expelling all the Moriscos. Those descended from practicing Muslims
at the time of the Reconquista, however, were for a long time suspected of various crimes including practicing Islam, or
crimes against the Spanish state.
The advances and retreats created several social types:
*The
Mozarabs: Christian minorities in Muslim-held lands. Some of them migrated to the North in times of persecution.
*The
Muladi: Christians who converted to Islam after the arrival of the Moors.
*The
Renegade: Christian individuals who embraced Islam and often fought against their former compatriots.
*The
Jewish
conversos: Jews who either voluntarily or compulsorily became Christians. Some of them were crypto-Jews who kept practicing
Judaism. Eventually all Jews were forced to leave Spain in
1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella, and Portugal some years later. Their Converso descendants became victims of the
Spanish and
Portuguese Inquisitions.
*The
Mudejar:
Muslims dwelling in land conquered by the Christians, usually peasants. Their characteristic architecture of
adobe bricks was frequently employed in churches commissioned by the new lords. Their descendants after
1492 were called
MoriscosCurrently, the festivals of
moros y cristianos (Spanish) and
mouros e cristãos (Portuguese) both meaning "Moors and Christians" recreate the fights as colorful parades with elaborate garments and lots of fireworks, especially on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
*
Al-Andalus*
Revanchism*
Status quo ante bellum*
Uti possidetis*
Timeline of Portuguese history**
The establishment of the monarchy in Portugal**
Al' Garb Al'Andalus and the beginning of the Reconquista (8th to 9th Century)**
First County of Portugal (9th to 11th Century)**
Second County of Portugal (11th to 12th Century)**
First Dynasty: Burgundy (12th to 14th Century)*
History of Spain**
Timeline of the Muslim Occupation of the Iberian Peninsula*
Timeline of the Reconquista; The University of Calgary
*
Battles of Castile & Leon: 844 - 1521*
Exiles from Andalusia*Payne, Stanley, "The Emergence of Portugal",
A History of Spain and Portugal: Volume One. Available online at [
1].
*Tofiño-Quesada, Ignacio, "Censorship and Book Production in Spain During the Age of the Incunabula",
Graduate Center CUNY. Available online at [
2]
*Watt, W. Montgomery: A History of Islamic Spain. University Press of Edinburgh (1992)
*Watt, W. Montgomery: The Influence of Islam on Medieval Europe. (Edinburgh 1972)
*Bishko, Charles Julian, 1975.
The Spanish and Portuguese Reconquest, 1095-1492 in
A History of the Crusades, vol. 3: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, edited by Harry W. Hazard, (University of Wisconsin Press)
