Detail of theCantiga #63 (13th century), which deals with a late 10th-century battle in San Esteban de Gormaz involving the troops ofCount García andAlmanzor.[1]
In the late 10th century, the Umayyad vizierAlmanzor waged a series of military campaigns for 30 years to subjugate the northern Christian kingdoms. When theUmayyad state of Córdoba finally disintegrated in the early 11th century, a series of petty successor states known astaifas emerged. The northern kingdoms took advantage of this situation and struck deep into al-Andalus; they fostered civil war, intimidated the weakened taifas, and made them payparias, large tributes for "protection".[7][8][9][10]
In the 12th century, theReconquista was above all a political action to develop the kingdoms ofPortugal,León andCastile, andAragon. The king's actions took precedence over those of the local lords with the help ofmilitary orders and also supported byRepoblación, the repopulation of territory by Christian kingdoms.[11] Following a Muslim resurgence under theAlmohad Caliphate in the 12th century, the greatest strongholds fell to Christian forces in the 13th century after the decisiveBattle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), theSiege of Córdoba (1236) and theSiege of Seville (1248)—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as atributary state in the south. After thesurrender of Granada in January 1492, the entire Iberian peninsula was controlled by Christian rulers.
Beginning in the 19th century,[16] traditional historiography has used the termReconquista for what was earlier thought of as a restoration of theVisigothic Kingdom over conquered territories.[17][18] The concept ofReconquista, consolidated in Spanish historiography in the second half of the 19th century, was associated withSpanish nationalism during the period ofRomantic nationalism.[19] It is remembered in theMoros y cristianos festival, very popular in theValencian Community, and which is also celebrated in parts ofSpanish America. Pursuant to anIslamophobic worldview, the concept is a symbol of significance for the 21st century Europeanfar-right.[20][21]
The term 'Reconquista' was not used by medieval writers to describe the struggle between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula. Since its development as a term in historiography occurred centuries after the events it references, it has acquired various meanings. Its meaning as an actual "reconquest" has been subject to the particular concerns or prejudices of scholars, who have sometimes wielded it as a weapon in ideological disputes.[22]
A discernibleirredentist ideology that became part of the concept of Christian conquest appeared in writings by the end of the 9th century.[23] For example, the anonymous Christian chronicleChronica Prophetica (883–884) claimed a historical connection betweenTariq ibn Ziyad's conquest of theVisigothic Kingdom in 711 and theKingdom of Asturias in which the document was produced, and stressed a Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Hispania, and a necessity to drive out the Muslims and restore conquered territories. Literature from both sides described a divide based on ethnicity and culture between the inhabitants of the small Christian kingdoms of the north and the dominant elite in the Muslim-ruled south.[23]
One of the arguments challenging the concept ofReconquista is that for the majority of the 781 years of Islamic rule in Iberia, Muslims and Christians coexisted and were not at war with each other.[23][24]
The linear approach to the origins of the Reconquista adopted in early twentieth-century historiography is complicated by several issues.[23] For example, periods of peaceful coexistence, or at least of limited and localised skirmishes on the frontiers, were more prevalent over the 781 years of Muslim rule than periods of significant military conflict.[23] Additionally, both Christian and Muslim rulersfought other Christians and Muslims, and cooperation and alliances between Muslims and Christians were not uncommon, such as betweenÍñigo Arista, the founder of theBasque Kingdom of Pamplona (later 'Navarre'), and theBanu Qasi as early as the 9th century.[23][25] Blurring distinctions even further were themercenaries from both sides who fought for whoever paid the most.[25] The period is seen today to have had long episodes of relative religious coexistence and tolerance such as theGolden age of Jewish culture in Spain.[26] The idea of a continuous Reconquista has been challenged by modern scholars.[27][28]
Documents dating from the 10th and 11th centuries are mute on any idea of reconquest. TheCrusades, which started late in the 11th century, birthed the religious ideology of a reconquest. In al-Andalus, Christian states of that era were confronted by the century-long rule of theSanhaja-ruledAlmoravid dynasty and subsequently the religious extremism of theAlmohad Caliphate of theMasmuda, which supported a similarly staunch ideology ofjihad.[28]
Propaganda accounts of Muslim-Christian hostility came into being to support that idea, most notably theChanson de Roland, an 11th-century Frenchchanson de geste that offers a fictionalised retelling of theBattle of Roncevaux Pass dealing with theSaracens orMoors, and centuries later introduced in the French school system to instill moral and national values in the population following the 1870 defeat of the French in theFranco-Prussian War, regardless of the actual events.[29][30][31]
The consolidation of the modern idea of a Reconquista is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of 19th-century Spanish nationalism, associated with the development of a Centralist, Castilian, and staunchly Catholic nationalism,[32] evoking nationalistic, romantic and sometimes colonialist themes.[19] The concept gained further track in the 20th century during theFrancoist dictatorship.[33] It thus became one of the key tenets of the historiographical discourse ofNational Catholicism, the mythological and ideological identity of the regime. The discourse was underpinned in its most traditional version by an avowed 'historical illegitimacy' of al-Andalus and the subsequent glorification of the Christian conquest.[34]
The idea of a "liberation war" against Muslims, who were viewed as foreigners, suited theanti-Republican rebels of theSpanish Civil War. This Nationalist faction agitated for the banner of thepatria, thefatherland which, according to them, was being threatened byregionalism andcommunism.[35] Their rebellious pursuit was thus a crusade for the restoration of the unity of the Church and State, where Franco stood for bothPelagius of Asturias andEl Cid.[35]
Traditionalist scholarship viewed the Reconquista as proof that the process of Christian state-building in Iberia was often defined by the reclamation of lands that had been lost to foreigners in past generations. State-building was characterised—at least in ideological, if not practical, terms—as a process by which Iberian states were being "rebuilt".[41] Current historians dispute the entire concept of the Reconquista as createda posteriori in the service of later political goals. A few historians point out that Spain and Portugal did not previously exist as nations and the heirs of the ChristianVisigothic Kingdom were notreconquering them, as the name suggests.[42][43] One of the first Spanish intellectuals to question the idea of a "reconquest" that lasted for eight centuries wasJosé Ortega y Gasset, writing in the first half of the 20th century.[44] However, the termReconquista is still widely in use.[45]
After Roderic's defeat, the Umayyad governor ofIfriqiya,Musa ibn Nusayr, joined Tariq, directing a campaign against different towns and strongholds in Hispania. Some, likeMérida,Córdoba, orZaragoza in 712, and probablyToledo as well, were captured. Others agreed to a treaty in exchange for maintaining autonomy, such asTheodemir's dominion ofPamplona.[47] The invading Islamic armies did not exceed 60,000 men.[48]
After the establishment of a localemirate,Al-Walid I, ruler of theUmayyad Caliphate, removed many of the successful Muslim commanders. Tariq ibn Ziyad was recalled toDamascus and replaced with Musa ibn-Nusayr, who had been his former superior. Musa's son, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, apparently marriedEgilona,Roderic's widow, and established his regional government inSeville. He was suspected of being under the influence of his wife and was accused of wanting to convert to Christianity and of planning a secessionist rebellion. A concerned Al-Walid I ordered Abd al-Aziz's assassination. Al-Walid I died in 715 and was succeeded by his brother,Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik. Sulayman appears to have punished the surviving Musa ibn Nusayr, who died during theHajj in 716. In the end, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa's cousin,Ayyub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi, became thewali (governor) of al-Andalus.[citation needed]
A significant weakness among the Muslim conquerors was the ethnic tension between Berbers andArabs.[49] The Berbers were indigenous inhabitants of North Africa who had only recently converted to Islam; they provided most of the soldiery of the invading armies, but experiencedsystematised discrimination.[50] This latent internal conflict jeopardised Umayyad unity. The Umayyad forces arrived and crossed thePyrenees by 719 and conqueredNarbona. The last Visigothic king,Ardo, resisted them inSeptimania, where he fended off the Berber-Arab armies until 720.[51]
A desperate Odo turned to his archrivalCharles Martel for help, who led the remaining Aquitanian armies alongside hisFrankish forces against the Umayyad armies, defeating them in theBattle of Tours on 10 October 732, killing al Ghafiqi. While Muslim rule began to recede in what is now France, it would remain in the Iberian Peninsula for another 760 years.[53]
A drastic increase of taxes on Christians by the emirAnbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi provoked several rebellions in al-Andalus, which a series of succeeding weak emirs were unable to suppress. Around 722, a Muslim military expedition was sent into the north in late summer to suppress a rebellion led byPelagius of Asturias (Pelayo in Spanish, Pelayu in Asturian). Traditional historiography has hailed Pelagius'svictory at Covadonga as the beginning of theReconquista.[54]
Two northern realms, Navarre[55] and Asturias, despite their small size, demonstrated an ability to maintain their independence. Because the Umayyad rulers based inCórdoba were unable to extend their power over the Pyrenees, they decided to consolidate their power within the Iberian peninsula. Arab-Berber forces made periodic incursions deep into Asturias, but this area was acul-de-sac on the fringes of the Islamic world fraught with inconveniences during campaigns and of little interest.[56]
It comes then as no surprise that, besides focusing on raiding the Arab-Berber strongholds of the Meseta,Alfonso I of Asturias centred on expanding his domains at the expense of the neighbouring Galicians and Basques at either side of his realm just as much.[57] During the first decades, Asturian control over part of the kingdom was weak, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances and war with other peoples from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. After Pelayo's death in 737, his sonFavila of Asturias was elected king. Favila, according to the chronicles, was killed by a bear during a trial of courage. Pelayo's dynasty in Asturias survived and gradually expanded the kingdom's boundaries until all of northwest Hispania was included by roughly 775. However, credit is due to him and to his successors, theBanu Alfons from the Arab chronicles. Further expansion of the northwestern kingdom towards the south occurred during the reign ofAlfonso II of Asturias (from 791 to 842). A king's expedition arrived in and pillaged Lisbon in 798, probably concerted with the Carolingians.[58]
The Asturian kingdom became firmly established with the recognition of Alfonso II as king of Asturias byCharlemagne and the Pope. During his reign, the bones ofSt. James the Great were declared to have been found in Galicia, atSantiago de Compostela. Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a channel of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond, centuries later.[59]
After the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian heartland of the Visigothic kingdom, the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees and gradually took control ofSeptimania, starting in 719 with the conquest ofNarbonne through 725 whenCarcassonne andNîmes were secured. From the stronghold of Narbonne, they tried to conquerAquitaine but suffered a major defeat at theBattle of Toulouse (721).[60]
Ten years after halting their advance north,Odo of Aquitaine married his daughter toUthman ibn Naissa, a rebel Berber and lord ofCerdanya (perhaps all of contemporary Catalonia as well), in an attempt to secure his southern borders to fend offCharles Martel's attacks on the north. However, a majorpunitive expedition led byAbdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, the latest emir of al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman.[60]
After expelling the Muslimsfrom Narbonne in 759 and driving their forces back over the Pyrenees, the Carolingian kingPepin the Short conquered Aquitaine in an eight-year war. Charlemagne followed his father by subduing Aquitaine by creating counties, taking the Church as his ally and appointing counts of Frankish or Burgundian stock, like his loyalWilliam of Gellone, makingToulouse his base for expeditions against al-Andalus.[60] Charlemagne decided to organize a regional subkingdom, theSpanish March, which included part of contemporaryCatalonia, in order to keep the Aquitanians in check and to secure the southern border of theCarolingian Empire against Muslim incursions. In 781, his three-year-old sonLouis was crowned king ofAquitaine, under the supervision of Charlemagne's trustee William of Gellone, and was nominally in charge of the incipient Spanish March.[60]
Meanwhile, the takeover of the southern fringes of al-Andalus by Abd ar-Rahman I in 756 was opposed byYusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman, autonomous governor (wāli) or king (malik) of al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman I expelled Yusuf from Cordova,[61] but it took still decades for him to expand to the north-western Andalusian districts. He was also opposed externally by theAbbasids of Baghdad who failed in their attempts to overthrow him. In 778, Abd al-Rahman closed in on the Ebro valley. Regional lords saw the Umayyad emir at the gates and decided to enlist the nearby Christian Franks. According toAli ibn al-Athir, a Kurdish historian of the 12th century, Charlemagne received the envoys ofSulayman al-Arabi, Husayn, andAbu Taur at the Diet of Paderborn in 777. These rulers ofZaragoza,Girona,Barcelona, andHuesca were enemies of Abd ar-Rahman I, and in return for Frankish military aid against him offered their homage and allegiance.[62]
Reconquista of the main towns, per year (present-day state borders)
Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity, agreed upon an expedition and crossed the Pyrenees in 778. Near the city ofZaragoza Charlemagne received the homage ofSulayman al-Arabi. However the city, under the leadership ofHusayn, closed its gates and refused to submit.[62] Unable to conquer the city by force, Charlemagne decided to retreat. On the way home the rearguard of the army was ambushed and destroyed by Basque forces at theBattle of Roncevaux Pass.The Song of Roland, a highly romanticised account of this battle, would later become one of the most famouschansons de geste of the Middle Ages. Around 788 Abd ar-Rahman I died and was succeeded byHisham I. In 792 Hisham proclaimed ajihad, advancing in 793 against theKingdom of Asturias and CarolingianSeptimania (Gothia). They defeated William of Gellone, Count of Toulouse, in battle, butWilliam led an expedition the following year across the eastern Pyrenees.Barcelona, a major city, became a potential target for the Franks in 797, as its governor Zeid rebelled against the Umayyad emir of Córdoba. An army of the emir managed to recapture it in 799, but Louis, at the head of an army, crossed the Pyrenees andbesieged the city for seven months until it finally capitulated in 801.[63]
The main passes in the Pyrenees wereRoncesvalles,Somport andLa Jonquera. Charlemagne established across them the vassal regions ofPamplona,Aragon, andCatalonia respectively. Catalonia was itself formed from a number ofsmall counties, includingPallars,Girona, andUrgell; it was called theMarca Hispanica by the late 8th century. They protected the eastern Pyrenees passes and shores and were under the direct control of the Frankish kings. Pamplona's first king wasIñigo Arista, who allied with his Muslim kinsmen theBanu Qasi and rebelled against Frankish overlordship and overcame aCarolingian expedition in 824 that led to the setup of theKingdom of Pamplona. Aragon, founded in 809 byAznar Galíndez, grew aroundJaca and the high valleys of theAragon River, protecting the old Roman road. By the end of the 10th century, Aragon, which then was just a county, was annexed by Navarre. Sobrarbe and Ribagorza were small counties and had little significance to the progress of theReconquista.[64]
In the late 9th century underCount Wilfred, Barcelona became thede facto capital of the region. It controlled the other counties' policies in a union, which led in 948 to the independence of Barcelona underCount Borrel II, who declared that the new dynasty in France (theCapets) 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 capacity for attacking the Muslims in the way that Asturias did, but their mountainous geography rendered them relatively safe from being conquered, and their borders remained stable for two centuries.[65]
The northern principalities and kingdoms survived in their mountainous strongholds (see above). However, they started a definite territorial expansion south at the turn of the 10th century (Leon, Najera). The fall of the Caliphate of Cordova (1031) heralded a period of military expansion for the northern kingdoms, now divided into several mighty regional powers after the division of the Kingdom of Navarre (1035). Myriad autonomous Christian kingdoms emerged thereafter.[66]
The Kingdom of Asturias was located in theCantabrian Mountains, a wet and mountainous region in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It was the first Christian power to emerge. The kingdom was established by a Visigothic nobleman, named Pelagius (Pelayo), who had possibly returned after the Battle of Guadalete in 711 and was elected leader of the Asturians,[67] and the remnants of thegens Gothorum (the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy and the Hispano-Visigothic population who took refuge in the North). Historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says an unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a newaristocracy.
The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures, Galicians, Cantabri, Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society,[68] laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Asturias and starting theAstur-Leonese dynasty that spanned from 718 to 1037 and led the initial efforts in the Iberian peninsula to take back the territories then ruled by the Moors.[67] Although the new dynasty first ruled in the mountains of Asturias, with the capital of the kingdom established initially inCangas de Onís, and was in its dawn mostly concerned with securing the territory and settling the monarchy, the latest kings (particularlyAlfonso III of Asturias) emphasised the nature of the new kingdom as heir of that inToledo and the restoration of the Visigothic nation in order to vindicate the expansion to the south.[69] However, such claims have been overall dismissed by modern historiography, emphasizing the distinct, autochthonous nature of the Cantabro-Asturian and Vasconic domains with no continuation to the Gothic Kingdom of Toledo.[70]
Pelagius's kingdom initially was little more than a gathering point for the existing guerrilla forces. During the first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelagius's daughter, was married toAlfonso,Dux Peter of Cantabria's son. Alfonso's sonFruela married Munia, a Basque fromÁlava, after crushing a Basque uprising (probably resistance). Their son is reported to beAlfonso II, while Alfonso I's daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia.[71]
Alfonso's military strategy was typical of Iberian warfare at the time. Lacking the means needed for wholesale conquest of large territories, his tactics consisted of raids in the border regions ofVardulia. With the plunder he gained further military forces could be paid, enabling him to raid the Muslim cities ofLisbon,Zamora, andCoimbra. Alfonso I also expanded his realm westwards conqueringGalicia.[72]
During the reign ofKing Alfonso II (791–842), the kingdom was firmly established, and a series of Muslim raids caused the transfer of the Asturian capital toOviedo. The king is believed to have initiated diplomatic contacts with the kings ofPamplona and theCarolingians, thereby gaining official recognition for his kingdom and his crown from thePope andCharlemagne.[73]
Thebones of St.James the Great were proclaimed to have been found in Iria Flavia (present dayPadrón) in 813 or probably two or three decades later. The cult of the saint was transferred later toCompostela (from Latincampus stellae, literally "the star field"), possibly in the early 10th century when the focus of Asturian power moved from the mountains over to Leon, to become theKingdom of León or Galicia-Leon. Santiago's were among many saint relics proclaimed to have been found across north-western Hispania. Pilgrims started to flow in from other Iberian Christian realms, sowing the seeds of the laterWay of Saint James (11–12th century) that sparked the enthusiasm and religious zeal of continentalChristian Europe for centuries.[citation needed]
Despite numerous battles, neither the Umayyads nor the Asturians had sufficient forces to secure control over these northern territories. Under the reign ofRamiro, famed for the highly legendaryBattle of Clavijo, the border began to slowly move southward and Asturian holdings inCastile, Galicia, andLeon were fortified, and an intensive program of re-population of the countryside began in those territories. In 924 the Kingdom of Asturias became theKingdom of León, when Leon became the seat of the royal court (it didn't bear any official name).[74]
Alfonso III of Asturias repopulated the strategically important cityLeon and established it as his capital. King Alfonso began a series of campaigns to establish control over all the lands north of theDouro river. He reorganised 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 theKingdom of León. From this power base, his heirOrdoño II was able to organize attacks againstToledo and evenSeville.[75]
TheCaliphate of Córdoba was gaining power, and began to attack Leon. King Ordoño allied with Navarre against Abd-al-Rahman, but they weredefeated in Valdejunquera in 920. For the next 80 years, the Kingdom of León suffered civil wars, Moorish attack, internal intrigues and assassinations, and the partial independence of Galicia and Castile, thus delaying the reconquest and weakening the Christian forces. It was not until the following century that the Christians started to see their conquests as part of a long-term effort to restore the unity of the Visigothic kingdom.[citation needed]
The only point during this period when the situation became hopeful for Leon was the reign ofRamiro II. King Ramiro, in alliance withFernán González of Castile and his retinue ofcaballeros 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 he had to give González the independence of Castile as payment for his help in the battle. After this defeat, Moorish attacks abated untilAlmanzor began his campaigns.Alfonso V finally regained control over his domains in 1002. Navarre, though attacked by Almanzor, remained intact.[76]
The conquest of Leon did not include Galicia which was left to temporary independence after the withdrawal of the Leonese king. Galicia was conquered soon after (by Ferdinand, son of Sancho the Great, around 1038). Subsequent kings titled themselves kings of Galicia and Leon, instead of merely king of Leon as the two were in apersonal union.[77]
Ferdinand I of Leon was the leading king of the mid-11th century. He conqueredCoimbra and attacked thetaifa kingdoms, often demanding the tributes known asparias. Ferdinand's strategy was to continue to demand parias until the taifa was greatly weakened both militarily and financially. He also repopulated the Borders with numerousfueros. Following the Navarrese tradition, on his death in 1064 he divided his kingdom between his sons. His sonSancho 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 asEl Cid Campeador. Sancho was killed in the siege ofZamora by the traitor Bellido Dolfos (also known as Vellido Adolfo) in 1072. His brotherAlfonso VI took over Leon, Castile and Galicia.[84]
Alfonso VI the Brave gave more power to thefueros and repopulatedSegovia,Ávila andSalamanca. Once he had secured the Borders, King Alfonso conquered the powerfulTaifa 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 theChristian world. However, this "conquest" was conducted rather gradually, and mostly peacefully, during the course of several decades.[85] However, Toledo was not fully secured and integrated into Alfonso's kingdom until after a period of gradual resettlement and consolidation, during which Christian settlers were encouraged to move into the area.
Alfonso VI was first and foremost a tactful monarch who chose to understand the kings of taifa and employed unprecedented diplomatic measures to attain political feats before considering the use of force. He adopted the titleImperator totius Hispaniae ("Emperor of allHispania", referring to all the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, and not just the modern country of Spain). Alfonso's more aggressive policy towards the taifas worried the rulers of those kingdoms, who called on the AfricanAlmoravids for help.[86]
TheKingdom of Pamplona primarily extended along either side of the Pyrenees on the Atlantic Ocean. The kingdom was formed when local leader Íñigo Arista led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority and was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824), establishing a kingdom inextricably linked at this stage to their kinsmen, themuwalladBanu Qasi of Tudela.[87]
Although relatively weak until the early 11th century, Pamplona took a more active role after the accession ofSancho the Great (1004–1035). The kingdom expanded greatly under his reign, as it absorbed Castile, Leon, and what was to be Aragon, in addition to other small counties that would unite and become thePrincipality of Catalonia. This expansion also led to the independence of Galicia, as well as gaining overlordship overGascony.[88]
In the 12th century, however, the kingdom contracted to its core, and in 1162 KingSancho VI declared himselfking of Navarre. Throughout its early history, the Navarrese kingdom engaged in frequent skirmishes with the Carolingian Empire, from which it maintained its independence, a key feature of its history until 1513.[89]
The Kingdom of Aragon started off as an offshoot of the Kingdom of Navarre. It was formed whenSancho III of Navarre decided to divide his large realm among all his sons. Aragon was the portion of the realm which passed toRamiro I of Aragon, an illegitimate son of Sancho III. The kingdoms of Aragon and Navarre were several times united in personal union until the death ofAlfonso the Battler in 1135.[90]
In 1137, the heiress of the kingdom married thecount of Barcelona, and their sonAlfonso II ruled from 1162 the combined possessions of his parents, resulting in the composite monarchy that modern historians call theCrown of Aragon.[91] Alfonso successfully reincorporated thePrincipality of Tarragona into their realm, expelling the Normand'Aguiló family.[92]
In the following centuries, the Crown of Aragon conquered a number of territories in the Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean, including thekingdom of Valencia and thekingdom of Mallorca.James I of Aragon, also known as James the Conqueror, expanded his territories to the north, south and east. James also signed theTreaty of Corbeil (1258), in which the French king renounced to any feudal claim over Catalonia.[93]
Early in his reign, James attempted to reunite the Aragonese and Navarrese crowns through a treaty with the childlessSancho VII of Navarre. But the Navarrese nobles rejected him, and choseTheobald IV of Champagne in his stead.[citation needed]
After the completion of theReconquista, the Portuguese territory was a Roman Catholic realm. Nonetheless,Denis of Portugal carried out a short war withCastile for possession of the towns ofSerpa andMoura. After this, Denis avoided war. In 1297, he signed theTreaty of Alcanizes withFerdinand IV of Castile, establishing a permanent border between the two kingdoms.[98]
During the suppression of the Knights Templar all over Europe, under the influence ofPhilip IV of France andPope Clement V requesting its annihilation by 1312, King Denis reinstituted the Templars ofTomar as theOrder of Christ in 1319. Denis believed that the Order's assets should by their nature stay in any given Order instead of being taken by the King, largely for the Templars' contribution to theReconquista and the reconstruction of Portugal after the wars.[99]
During the 9th century the Berbers returned to North Africa in the aftermath of revolts. Many governors of large cities distant from the capital, Córdoba, had planned to establish their independence. Then, in 929, theEmir of Córdoba (Abd-ar-Rahman III), the leader of the Umayyad dynasty, declared himselfCaliph, independent from theAbbasids inBaghdad. He took all the military, religious, and political power and reorganised the army and the bureaucracy.[citation needed]
After regaining control over the dissident governors, Abd-ar-Rahman III tried to conquer the remaining Christian kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula, attacking them several times and forcing them back beyond theCantabrian Mountains. Abd-ar-Rahman's grandson later became a puppet in the hands of the greatVizierAlmanzor (al-Mansur, "the victorious"). Almanzor waged several campaigns attacking and sackingBurgos, Leon,Pamplona,Barcelona, andSantiago de Compostela before his death in 1002.[citation needed]
Between Almanzor's death and 1031, al-Andalus suffered many civil wars, which ended in the division into theTaifa kingdoms. The taifas were small kingdoms, established by the city governors. The result was many (up to 34) small kingdoms, each centered upon its capital. Their governors had no larger-scale vision of the Moorish presence in the Iberian peninsula and had no qualms about attacking their neighbouring kingdoms whenever they could gain advantage by doing so.[citation needed]
The split into the taifa states weakened the Islamic presence, and the Christian kingdoms further advanced asAlfonso VI of Leon and Castile conqueredToledo in 1085. Surrounded by enemies, taifa rulers sent a desperate appeal to the Berber chieftainYusuf ibn Tashfin, leader of the Almoravids.[citation needed]Taifas reemerged when the Almoravid dynasty collapsed in the 1140s, and again when the Almohad Caliphate declined in the 1220s.[citation needed]
TheAlmoravids were a Muslim militia composed of Berbers, and unlike previous Muslim rulers, they were not so tolerant towards Christians and Jews. Their armies entered the Iberian peninsula on several occasions (1086, 1088, 1093) and defeated King Alfonso at theBattle of Sagrajas in 1086, but initially their purpose was to unite all the taifas into a single Almoravid Caliphate. Their actions halted the southward expansion of the Christian kingdoms. Their only defeat came atValencia in 1094, due to the actions ofEl Cid.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, Navarre lost all importance under KingSancho IV, for he lost Rioja toSancho II of Castile, and nearly became the vassal of Aragon. At his death, the Navarrese chose as their kingSancho Ramírez, 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 and expanding the borders south, conqueringWasqatHuesca deep in the valleys in 1096 and building a fort, El Castellar, 25 km fromSaraqustatZaragoza.[citation needed]
Catalonia came under intense pressure from the taifas of Zaragoza andLérida, as well as from internal disputes, as Barcelona suffered a dynastic crisis that led to open war among the smaller counties. But by the 1080s, the situation had calmed down, and the dominion of Barcelona over the smaller counties was restored.[citation needed]
After a brief period of disintegration (the secondTaifa period), the Almohads, the rising power in North Africa, took over most ofal-Andalus. However they were decisively defeated at theBattle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) by a Christian coalition, losing almost all the remaining lands ofal-Andalus in the following decades. By 1252 only theEmirate of Granada remained intact but as a vassal state of Castile.[citation needed]
Ferdinand and Isabella completed theReconquista with a war against theEmirate of Granada that started in 1482 and ended with Granada's surrender on 2 January 1492. The Moors in Castile previously numbered "half a million within the realm". By 1492 some 100,000 had died or been enslaved, 200,000 had emigrated, and 200,000 remained in Castile. Many of the Muslim elite, including Granada's former EmirMuhammad XII, who had been given the area of theAlpujarras mountains as a principality, found life under Christian rule intolerable and emigrated toFez in North Africa.[102][103][104]
In 1497, Spanish forces tookMelilla, west of Oran, and the island ofDjerba, south of Tunis, and went on to more important gains, with the bloodyseizure of Oran in 1509, and the capture ofBougie andTripoli in 1510. The Spanish capture ofTripoli cost them some 300 men, while the inhabitants suffered between 3,000 and 5,000 killed and another 5,000–6,000 carried off as slaves.[105] Soon thereafter, however, they faced competition from the rapidly expandingOttoman Empire in the east and were pushed back.[106]
Clashes and raids on bordering Andalusian lands did not keep the Christian kingdoms from battling among themselves or allying with Muslim kings.[25] Some Muslim kings had Christian-born wives or mothers.[citation needed] Some Christian mercenaries, likeEl Cid, were contracted bytaifa kings to fight against their neighbours.[25] Indeed, El Cid's first battle experience was gained fighting for a Muslim state against a Christian state.[citation needed] At theBattle of Graus in 1063, he and other Castilians fought on the side ofal-Muqtadir, Muslimsultan ofZaragoza, against the forces ofRamiro I of Aragon.[citation needed] There is even an instance of a crusade being declared against another Christian king in Hispania.[107] Although Christian rulersFernán González of Castile andRamiro II of León had cooperated to defeat the Muslims at theBattle of Simancas (939), Fernán attacked Ramiro soon after and the Leonese–Castilian war that followed lasted until Ramiro's victory in 944.[108] Ramiro II's death caused the war of the Leonese succession (951–956) between his sons, and the winnerOrdoño III of León concluded peace with caliphAbd al-Rahman III of Córdoba.[108]
A map of Christian realms in the north and Islamictaifas in the south (1037). During theReconquista, the Iberian states not only fought along religious lines, but also amongst themselves and internally, especially duringwars of succession and clan feuds.
After the defeat ofAlfonso VIII, King of Castile, atAlarcos, KingsAlfonso IX of Leon andSancho VII of Navarre entered an alliance with theAlmohads and invaded Castile in 1196.[citation needed] By the end of the year Sancho VII had dropped out of the war under Papal pressure. Early in 1197, at the request ofSancho I, King of Portugal, PopeCelestine III declared a crusade against Alfonso IX and released his subjects from their responsibilities to the king, declaring that "the men of his realm shall be absolved from their fidelity and his dominion by authority of the apostolic see."[28] Together the Kings of Portugal, Castile, andAragon invaded Leon. In the face of this onslaught combined with pressure from the Pope, Alfonso IX was finally forced to sue for peace in October 1197.[citation needed]
In the late years ofal-Andalus, Castile had the might to conquer the remnants of the kingdom ofGranada, but the kings preferred to wait and claim the tribute of the Muslimparias. The trade of Granadan goods and the parias were a major means by which African gold enteredmedieval Europe.[citation needed]
TheReconquista was a process not only of war and conquest, but also ofrepopulation. Christian kings moved their own people to locations abandoned by Muslims in order to have a population capable of defending the borders. The main repopulation areas were theDouro Basin (the northern plateau), the highEbro valley (La Rioja) and centralCatalonia. The repopulation of theDouro Basin took place in two distinct phases. North of the river, between the 9th and 10th centuries, the "pressure" (orpresura) system was employed. South of theDouro, in the 10th and 11th centuries, thepresura led to the "charters" (forais orfueros).Fueros were used even south of the Central Range.[115][better source needed]
Thepresura referred to a group of peasants who crossed the mountains and settled in the abandoned lands of the Douro Basin. Asturian laws promoted this system, 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 asLeon and Portugal, whereas Castile, an arid land with vast plains and harsh climate, only attracted peasants with no hope in Biscay. As a consequence, Castile was governed by a single count, but had a largely non-feudal territory with manyfree 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 ofVic.[citation needed]
During the 10th century and onwards, cities and towns gained more importance and power, as commerce reappeared and the population kept growing.Fueros werecharters documenting the privileges and usages given to all the people repopulating a town. Thefueros provided a means of escape from thefeudal system, asfueros were only granted by the monarch. As a result, the town council was dependent on the monarch alone and, in turn, was required to provideauxilium—aid or troops—for their monarch. The military force of the towns became thecaballeros villanos. The firstfuero was given by countFernán González to the inhabitants ofCastrojeriz in the 940's. The most important towns of medieval Hispania hadfueros, orforais. In Navarre,fueros were the main repopulating system. Later on, in the 12th century, Aragon also employed the system; for example, thefuero ofTeruel, which was one of the last fueros, in the early 13th century.[citation needed]
From the mid-13th century on, no more charters were granted, as the demographic pressure had disappeared and other means of re-population were created.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 go to war to defend their rights under the charter. In the 19th century, the abolition of thefueros in Navarre would be one of the causes of theCarlist Wars. In Castile, disputes over the system contributed to the war against Charles I (Castilian War of the Communities).[citation needed]
In the 13th century,Pope Innocent III declared a crusade and persuaded warriors from many parts of Europe in and outside the Iberian peninsula to assist the Iberians against theAlmohad Caliphate army.[117] The Almohads then advanced into Europe with the intent of undoing the previous achievements of the Reconquista and marching on Rome itself.[118] The crusading campaign culminated in a resounding Crusader victory at theBattle of Las Navas de Tolosa, effectively turning the tide of war in favour of the Christians.[119][120]
Jim Bradbury (2004) noted that the Christian belligerents in theReconquista were not all equally motivated by religion, and that a distinction should be made between 'secular rulers' on the one hand, and on the other hand Christian military orders which came from elsewhere (including the three main orders ofKnights Templar,Knights Hospitaller andTeutonic Knights), or wereestablished inside Iberia (such as those ofSantiago,Alcántara andCalatrava).[121] '[The Knights] were more committed toreligious war than some of their secular counterparts, were opposed to treating with Muslims and carried out raids and even atrocities, such as decapitating Muslim prisoners.'[121]
On the other hand, Christian armies sometimes forged temporary alliances with Islamic emirs, and Christian mercenaries were quite willing to fight for Arab and Berber rulers if the price was right.[25]El Cid is a well-known example of a Christian mercenary leader who was inpaid military service of the Islamic kings of Zaragoza for years.[25] Mercenaries were an important factor, as many kings did not have enough soldiers available.Norsemen,Flemish spearmen, Frankish knights, Moorish mounted archers (archers who travelled on horseback), and Berber light cavalry were the main types of mercenaries available and used in the conflict.[citation needed]
Medieval Christian armies mainly comprised two types of forces: the cavalry (mostly nobles, but including commoner knights from the 10th century on) and the infantry, orpeones (peasants). Infantry only went to war if needed, which was not frequent. In an atmosphere of constant conflict, warfare and daily life were strongly intertwined during this period. These armies reflected the need for society to be on constant alert during the first chapters of the Reconquista. These forces were capable of moving long distances in short times.[citation needed]
Coat of arms ofAlcanadre.La Rioja, Spain, depicting heads of slain Moors
Cavalry tactics in Hispania involved knights approaching the enemy, throwingjavelins, then withdrawing to a safe distance before commencing another assault. Once the enemy formation was sufficiently weakened, the knights charged with thrustingspears (lances did not arrive in Hispania until the 11th century). There were three types of knights (caballeros): royal knights, noble knights (caballeroshidalgos), and commoner knights (caballeros villanos, or "mounted soldier from avilla"). Royal knights were mainly nobles with a close relationship with the king, and thus claimed a direct Gothic inheritance.[citation needed]
Royal knights in the early stages of the Reconquista were equipped with mailhauberk, kite shield, a longsword (designed to fight from the horse), javelins, spears and anaxe. Noble knights came from the ranks of theinfanzones 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 ofCastile because offueros (charters) with the crown. Both noble and common knights wore padded armour and carried javelins, spears and round-tasselled shield (influenced by Moorish shields), as well as a sword.[citation needed]
Thepeones werepeasants who went to battle in service of theirfeudal lord. Poorly equipped, with 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. Thelongbow, thecomposite bow, and thecrossbow were the basic types of bows and were especially popular in the infantry.[citation needed]
In the early Middle Ages in Hispania, armour was typically made of leather, with iron scales. Head protections consisted of a round helmet with nose protector (influenced by the designs used byVikings, who attacked during the 8th and 9th centuries) and a chain mail headpiece. 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.[citation needed]
Steel swords were the most common weapon. The cavalry used long double-edged swords and the infantry short, single-edged ones. Guards were either semicircular or straight, but always highly ornamented with geometrical patterns. Spears and javelins were up to 1.5 metres long and had an iron tip. The double-axe—made of iron, 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.[citation needed]
This style of warfare remained dominant in the Iberian Peninsula until the late 11th century, when lance tactics entered from France, although the traditional horse javelin-shot techniques continued to be used. In the 12th and 13th centuries, soldiers typically carried a sword, a lance, a javelin, and either bow and arrows or crossbow and darts/bolts. Armor consisted of a coat of mail over a quilted jacket, extending at least to the knees, a helmet or iron cap, and bracers protecting the arms and thighs, either metal or leather.[citation needed]
Shields were round or triangular, made of wood, covered with leather, and protected by an iron band; the shields of knights and nobles would bear the family's coat of arms. Knights rode in both the Muslim style,a la jineta (i.e. the equivalent of a modern jockey's seat), a short stirrup strap and bended knees allowed for better control and speed, or in the French style,a la brida, a long stirrup strap allowed for more security in the saddle (i.e. the equivalent of the modern cavalry seat, which is more secure) when acting as heavy cavalry. Horses were occasionally fitted with a coat of mail as well.[citation needed]
Around the 14th and 15th centuries heavy cavalry gained a predominant role, including knights wearing full plate armor.[citation needed]
The new Christian hierarchy demanded heavy taxes from non-Christians and gave them rights, such as in theTreaty of Granada (1491) only for Moors in recently Islamic Granada. On 30 July 1492, all the Jewish community—some 200,000 people—were forcibly expelled.[122] The next year, theAlhambra decree ordered the expulsion of practicing Jews, leading many of them to convert to Catholicism. In 1502, Queen Isabella I declared that conversion to Catholicism was compulsory within the Kingdom of Castile.Holy Roman Emperor Charles V imposed the same religious requirement on Moors in the Kingdom of Aragon in 1526, forcing its Muslim population to convert during theRevolt of the Germanies.[123]
Making things more complex were the many former Muslims and Jews known asMoriscos,Marranos, andConversos, who shared ancestors in common with many Christians, especially among the aristocracy, causing much concern over loyalty and attempts by the aristocracy to hide their non-Christian ancestry. Some—the numbers are debated—continued to secretly practice their religions and use their languages well into the sixteenth century.[124][125] Those that theSpanish Inquisition found to be secretly practicing Islam or Judaism were executed, imprisoned, or exiled.[citation needed]
Nevertheless, all those deemed to be "New Christians" were repeatedly suspected of illegally continuing in secret to practice their religions. Variouscrimes against the Spanish state including continued practice of Islam or Judaism. New Christians were subject to many discriminatory practices starting in the sixteenth century.[126]
The many advances and retreats created several social types:[citation needed]
TheMuwallad: native Iberians under Islamic rule who converted to Islam after the arrival of the Muslim Arabs and Berbers.
TheMozarabs: Christians in Muslim-held lands. Some of them migrated to the north of the peninsula in times of persecution bringing elements of the styles, food and agricultural practices learned from the Andalusians, while they continued practicing their Christianity with older forms of Catholic worship and their own versions of theLatin language.
"New Christians": Jews converting to Christianity calledconversos, or pejorativelyMarranos. Jews converted to Christianity voluntarily or through force. Some wereCrypto-Jews who continued practicingJudaism secretly. All remaining Jews were expelled from Spain as a consequence of the 1492Alhambra Decree, and from Portugal in 1497. Former Jews were subject to theSpanish andPortuguese Inquisitions, established to enforce Christian faith and practice, which often resulted in secret investigations and public punishments ofconversos inautos-da-fé ("acts of faith"), often public executions by burning the victim alive[128]
Moriscos: Muslimconversos. Muslims who converted to Catholicism. A significant number were Crypto-Muslims who continued practicing Islam secretly. They ranged from successful skilled artisans, valued and protected in Aragon, to impoverished peasants in Castile. After the Alhambra Decree the entire Islamic population was forced to convert or leave, and at the beginning of the seventeenth century a significant number were expelled in theexpulsion of the Moriscos.
Since the 19th century, traditional Western and especially Iberianhistoriography has stressed the existence of theReconquista,[129] a continual phenomenon by which the Christian Iberian kingdoms opposed and conquered the Muslim kingdoms, understood as a common enemy who had militarily seized territory from native Iberian Christians.[28] However, modern scholarship has challenged this concept of a "reconquista" as anational myth tied to Spanish nationalism.[130][131] The concept has served the idea "that Spain is a nation shaped against Islam", contributing to "a largely biased and distorted vision of the Iberian medieval past, aimed at delegitimizing the Islamic presence (al-Andalus) and therefore at legitimizing the Christian conquest of the Muslim territory."[132] Among other arguments, one of those advanced by scholars is that "no military campaign lasts eight centuries."[133] The term "reconquista" in this sense first appeared in the 19th century, and only entered the dictionary of theRoyal Spanish Academy in 1936, with the rise ofFrancisco Franco.[134] The concept of the reconquista continues to have significance and has even experienced a resurgence in modern politics—especially for the extreme right Spanish partyVox, but also more broadly amongxenophobic and especiallyIslamophobic conservatives in the West, with the influence of the doctrine of a "Clash of Civilizations".[132]
Some noblegenealogies show the close, though not numerous, relations between Muslims and Christians. For example,Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, whose rule is considered to have marked the peak of power for Moorishal-Andalus Hispania, married Abda, daughter ofSancho Garcés II ofNavarra, who bore him a son, named Abd al-Rahman and commonly known in a pejorative sense asSanchuelo (Little Sancho; in Arabic:Shanjoul).[citation needed]
After his father's death, Sanchuelo/Abd al-Rahman, as a son of a Christian princess, was a strong contender to take over the ultimate power in Muslim al-Andalus. A hundred years later, KingAlfonso VI of Castile, regarded as one of the greatest medieval Spanish kings, designated his son (also named Sancho) by the Muslim princess refugeeZaida of Seville, as his heir.[citation needed]
TheReconquista was 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 seven centuries. Some populations practiced Islam or Christianity as their own religion during these centuries, so the identity of contenders changed over time.[citation needed]
It is noteworthy that the popular heroEl Cid, whose name is very much associated with the Reconquista, had at one part of his career actually fought for the Muslim rulers ofZaragoza, whom he defended from its traditional enemy, the ChristianAragon. The most important achievement of El Cid's career, the conquest of thekingdom-city of Valencia, was actually achieved in close alliance with theBanu Hud and other Muslim dynasties opposed to theAlmoravids.[135]
In 1558, the armies of KingHenry II of France managed to conquer the city ofCalais, which had been under English rule for centuries. QueenMary I of England considered the loss of Calais as the greatest disaster of her reign.[136] The region around Calais, then-known as theCalaisis, was renamed thePays Reconquis ("Reconquered Country") in commemoration of its recovery by the French.[137] The French were certainly aware of the Spanish Reconquista, and since at the timePhilip II of Spain was Queen Mary's consort, use of this term might have been intended as a deliberate snub to him.[138]
Currently, festivals calledmoros y cristianos (Spanish),moros i cristians (Catalan),mouros e cristãos (Portuguese) andmouros e cristiáns (Galician), which all mean "Moors and Christians", recreate the fights as colorful parades with elaborate garments and many fireworks, especially on the central and southern towns of theLand of Valencia, likeAlcoi,Ontinyent orVillena.[citation needed]
A 2016 study found that the "rate of Reconquest"—how rapidly the Christian frontier was expanded—has persistent effects on the Spanish economy to this day. After an initial phase of military conquest, Christians states incorporated the conquered land. When large frontier regions were incorporated at once, the land was mostly given to the nobility and the military orders, with negative effects on long-term development. The incorporation of small regions, on the other hand, generally allowed for the participation of individual settlers and was more likely to fall under the auspices of the crown. This led to a more equitable distribution of land and greater social equality, with positive effects on long-term development.[139]
As the Christian kingdoms completed their conquest of territory on the Iberian Peninsula, they shifted their impetus elsewhere, even to theMaghreb, which is located across the Strait of Gibraltar. A Castilian Crown-sanctioned punitive expedition against Tetouan, a corsair stronghold, was launched as early as 1399–1400.[140] Theconquest of Ceuta in 1415 marked the beginning of Portuguese expansion in Africa. Thereby, it allowed Portugal to exert control over Castilian and Aragonese trade through the Strait, and it also allowed Portugal to establish a powerbase for the launching of raid expeditions in Muslim-ruled lands.[141] Some 15th-century political writers promoted the idea of a "Gothic Monarchy", an heir toRome, that included territory across the Strait.[142]
The African enterprise which was undertaken during the rule of theCatholic Monarchs was nominally endorsed by papal bulls and it was also financed with donations which were used to pay the crusade tax, even if it was viewed with some suspicion by the Papacy.[143] Conquest efforts in Africa on the part of the Catholic Monarchy by and large stalled following the death of Ferdinand II of Aragon.[144] The model of conquest and repopulation by Christian powers in the Peninsula was however never reproduced in Northern Africa, and with the conquered territory—a fortified mark with very few fortresses scattered along an extensive coastline—merely adopting a defensive role, it allowed for Ottoman expansion in the region.[145]
Christopher Columbus's initial 1492voyage to the Americas was predicated on the completion of the Granada War, with the Spanish monarchy only able to assent to his overseas journeys once it had completed the process of defeating the Moors.[149] Columbus's views of the New World and the Christian convictions that shaped his actions there were influenced by historical European anti-Muslim ideas that had underpinned the Reconquista itself;[150] he believed that by his voyaging, he would be able to reach theGrand Khan of Asia and create a coalition that could attack the Middle East from both sides and thus bring Jerusalem back under Christian rule.[151]
An army parade in Granada attended byfar-right sympathizers who are waving theFrancoist flags (2 January 2016)
Along with the rhetoric of thecrusades, the rhetoric of the 'Reconquista' serves as a rallying point in the political discourse of the contemporaryfar-right in Spain, Portugal and, more broadly, it also serves as a rallying point in the political discourse of thefar-right in Europe.[152] Frequently, references to the Reconquista and the crusades are allegorically played asinternet meme by 21st-century online far-right groups which seek to conveyanti-Muslim sentiments.[153] The theme has also been used as a major rallying point byidentitarian groups in France and Italy.[154]
The annual commemoration of the surrender of Sultan Boabdil in Granada on 2 January acquired a markedly nationalistic undertone during the early years of theFrancoist regime and, since the death of the dictatorFrancisco Franco in 1975, it has served as glue for extreme right groups by facilitating their open-air physical gatherings and providing them with an occasion which they can use to explicitly state their political demands.[155] ASpanish Legion unit usually parades and singsEl novio de la muerte ("Boyfriend of death").[156] Thefar right has also waged aculture war by claiming dates in the history of the Reconquista, such as the aforementioned 2 January or 2 February, regional festivities for the relatedautonomous communities (Andalusia andMurcia).[155]
^While it is largely spelled in the same way, the pronunciation of it varies among the different languages which are spoken on theIberian Peninsula as well as in neighboring territories. The pronunciations of it are as follows:
French:[ʁəkɔ̃kɛt], spelledReconquête;Reconquista commonly used as well.
^Arabic:الاسترداد,romanized: al-Istirdād,lit. 'the Recovery', although it is more commonly known asسقوط الأندلسsuqūṭ al-Andalus 'the fall ofal-Andalus'.[2][3]
^Caraccioli, Mauro José (2021),"Narratives of Conquest and the Conquest of Narrative",Writing the New World, The Politics of Natural History in the Early Spanish Empire, University Press of Florida, pp. 14–38,ISBN978-1-68340-170-4,JSTORj.ctv1gt9419.6, retrieved11 September 2024,La Reconquista: a 700-year military and cultural campaign against the Moorish Caliphates of Southern Iberia that culminated in the joint reign of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile as Reyes Católicos.
^Boase, Roger (4 April 2002). "The Muslim Expulsion from Spain".History Today.52 (4).The majority of those permanently expelled settling in theMaghreb orBarbary Coast, especially in Oran, Tunis, Tlemcen, Tetuán, Rabat and Salé. Many travelled overland to France, but after the assassination of Henry of Navarre by Ravaillac in May 1610, they were forced to emigrate to Italy, Sicily or Constantinople.
^"Islamic Encounters".www.brown.edu.Brown University. Retrieved25 May 2023.Between 1492 and 1610, some 3,000,000 Muslims voluntarily left or were expelled from Spain, resettling in North Africa.
^"La reconquista es un mito".Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). 2 November 2013.Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved13 September 2019.
^abGarcía Fitz 2009, pp. 144–145 "Hay que reconocer que la irrupción de este concepto en la historiografía hispánica del siglo XIX, con su fuerte carga nacionalista, romántica y, en ocasiones, colonialista, tuvo un éxito notable y se transmitió, manteniendo algunos de sus rasgos identitarios más llamativos, a la del siglo XX. [It is necessary to recognize that the emergence of this concept in Iberian historiography of the 19th century, with its strong dual nationalistic, romantic and, at times, colonialist emphasis, had a remarkable success and was transmitted, retaining some of its most striking features, into the 20th century.]"
^abcdefMcKitterick, Rosamond; Collins, R. (1990).The New Cambridge Medieval. History 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 289.ISBN978-0521362924. Retrieved26 July 2012.By the later ninth century some of the distinctive ideology of the later 'Reconquista' had come into being. Christian writers, such as the anonymous author of the so-called 'Prophetic Chronicle' of 883/4, could look forward to the expulsion of the Arabs from Spain, and a sense of both an ethnic and a religious-cultural divide between the inhabitants of the small northern kingdoms and the dominant elite in the south was marked in the writings of both sides. On the other hand, it is unwise to be too linear in the approach to the origins of the 'Reconquista', as tended to be the way with Spanish historiography in the earlier part of the twentieth century. Periods of peaceful co-existence or of limited and localised frontier disturbances were more frequent than ones of all-out military conflict between al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms. As has been mentioned, the former never made any serious effort to eliminate the latter. Moreover, as in the case of relations between the Arista dynasty in Pamplona and the Banü Qasi, the mutual interest could be a stronger bond than ideological divisions based on antagonistic creeds. These tendencies were, if anything, to be reinforced in the tenth century.
^Kinoshita, Sharon (Winter 2001). "'Pagans are wrong and Christians are right': Alterity, Gender, and Nation in theChanson de Roland".Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies.31 (1):79–111.doi:10.1215/10829636-31-1-79.S2CID143132248.
^DiVanna, Isabel N. (2010). "Politicizing national literature: the scholarly debate around La Chanson de Roland in the nineteenth century".Historical Research.84 (223):109–134.doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2009.00540.x.
^Bolorinos Allard, Elisabeth. "The Crescent and the Dagger: Representations of the Moorish Other during the Spanish Civil War."Bulletin of Spanish Studies 93, no. 6 (2016): 965–988.
^Eugènia de Pagès, "La 'Reconquista', allò que mai no va existir",La Lamentable, 11 July 2014,lamentable.orgArchived 28 August 2017 at theWayback Machine
^Martín M. Ríos Saloma, "La Reconquista. Génesis de un mito historiográfico",Historia y Grafía, 30, 2008, pp. 191–216,redalyc.orgArchived 4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine, Retrieved 12 October 2014.
^"Yo no entiendo cómo se puede llamar reconquista a una cosa que dura ocho siglos" ("I don't understand how something that lasted eight centuries can be called a reconquest"), inEspaña invertebrada. Quoted by De Pagès, E. 11 July 2014.
^abRuiz De La Peña. La monarquia asturiana 718–910, p. 27. Cangas de Onís, 2000.ISBN9788460630364 / Fernández Conde. Estudios Sobre La Monarquía Asturiana, pp. 35–76. Estudios Históricos La Olmeda, 2015.ISBN978-8497048057
^Juan-Manuel Trillo-Santamaría & Valerià Paül, 'The Oldest Boundary in Europe? A Critical Approach to the Spanish-Portuguese Border: TheRaia Between Galicia and Portugal',Geopolitics, 19:1, 161–181 [167]
^Marin-Guzmán, Roberto (1992). "Crusade in Al-Andalus: The Eleventh Century formation of the Reconquista as an Ideology". Islamic Studies. 31 (3 (Autumn)): 295.
^The Circle of War in the Middle Ages: Essays on Medieval Military and Naval History. United Kingdom: Boydell Press, 1999, pp.29-30
^Mann, Horace Kinder. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. United Kingdom: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1915, pp.177-179
^Mann, Horace Kinder. The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. United Kingdom: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1915, pp.177-179
^The Circle of War in the Middle Ages: Essays on Medieval Military and Naval History. United Kingdom: Boydell Press, 1999, pp.29-30
^Sicroff, Albert A. (2010).Los estatutos de limpieza de sangre : controversias entre los siglos XV y XVII.Juan de la Cuesta.ISBN978-1588711779.First published in French in 1960
^The exact number of people executed by the Inquisition is not known.Juan Antonio Llorente gave the following numbers for the Inquisition: 31,912 burnt, 17,696burnt in effigy, and 291,450 reconciledde vehementi (i.e., following an act of penance) (Roth 1964:123).José Amador de los Ríos gave even higher numbers, between the years 1484 and 1525 alone: 28,540 burnt in person, 16,520 burnt in effigy and 303,847 penanced (Roth1964). However, after extensive examinations of archival records, modern scholars provide lower estimates, indicating that fewer than 10,000 were actually executed during the whole history of the Spanish Inquisition (Dedieu, p. 85; Perez, pp. 170–173.), perhaps around 3,000 (Monter, p. 53.).
^García Fitz 2009, p. 146 "Queda claro, pues, que el concepto de Reconquista, tal como surgió en el siglo XIX y se consolidó en la historiografía de la primera mitad del XX, se convirtió en uno de los principales mitos originarios alumbrados por el nacionalismo español. [It is clear, then, that the concept of Reconquista, as it emerged in the 19th century and was consolidated in the historiography of the first half of the 20th, became one of the principal origin myths illuminated by Spanish nationalism.]"
^Holinshed, Raphael (1808) [1586]Holinshed's chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, Vol. 4 (England), Ellis, Sir H. (ed.), London : J. Johnsonet al., 952 p.
^Silva, Tiago João Queimada e (2020). "The Reconquista revisited: mobilising medieval Iberian history in Spain, Portugal and beyond". In Horswell, Mike; Awan, Akil N. (eds.).The Crusades in the Modern World.Routledge. pp. 57–65.ISBN978-1-138-06607-6.
^Šima, Karel (2021). "From Identity Politics to the Identitarian Movement. The Europeanisation of Cultural Stereotypes?".National Stereotyping, Identity Politics, European Crises. Brill. pp. 75–94.doi:10.1163/9789004436107_006.ISBN978-90-04-43610-7.S2CID236580880.
Barton, Simon.Beyond the Reconquista: New Directions in the History of Medieval Iberia (711–1085) (2020)online
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Brescó, Ignacio, and Floor van Alphen. "Chapter 4 – Reenacting the Reconquista Myth? Some Reflections on Moros y Cristianos Festivals in Spain" inHistorical Reenactment (Berghahn, 2022)doi:10.1515/9781800735415-006
Dedieu, Jean-Pierre (1987)L'Inquisition. Les Editions Fides
Deyermond, Alan (1985). "The Death and Rebirth of Visigothic Spain in theEstoria de España".Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos.9 (3):345–367.
Fábregas, Adela, ed. (2021).The Nasrid kingdom of Granada between East and West : (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries). Leiden: Brill.ISBN978-90-04-44234-4.
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García Fitz, Francisco,Guerra y relaciones políticas. Castilla-León y los musulmanes, ss. XI–XIII, Universidad de Sevilla, 2002.
García Fitz, Francisco (2009)."La Reconquista: un estado de la cuestión"(PDF).Clío & Crímen: Revista del Centro de Historia del Crimen de Durango (in Spanish) (6).ISSN1698-4374.Archived(PDF) from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved12 December 2019.
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Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas, 2018, "Was the Portuguese Led Military Campaign against Alcácer do Sal in the Autumn of 1217 Part of the Fifth Crusade?" Al-Masāq 30:1doi:10.1080/09503110.2018.1542573
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