Western Civilization

Christian Reconquest: The Spanish

Kingdoms

Much of Spain had been part of the Islamic world since

the eighth century, and Muslim Spain had flourished in

the early Middle Ages. Cordoba became a major urban

center with a population exceeding 300,000 people.

Agriculture prospered, and Spain also became known

for excellent leather, wool, silk, and paper. Beginning

in the tenth century, however, the most noticeable

feature of Spanish history was the weakening of Mus-

lim power and the beginning of a Christian recon-

quest that lasted until the final expulsion of the

Muslims at the end of the fifteenth century. The

reconquista (ray-con-KEES-tuh), as the Spaniards

called it, became over a period of time a sacred mis-

sion to many of the Christian rulers and inhabitants

of the peninsula.

By the eleventh century, a number of small Chris-

tian kingdoms in northern Spain were ready to take

the offensive against the Muslims. Rodrigo Dıaz de

Vivar, known as El Cid (“The Master”), was the most

famous military adventurer of the time. Unlike the

Christian warriors of France, El Cid fought under either

Christian or Muslim rulers. He carved out his own

kingdom of Valencia in 1094 but failed to create a

dynasty when it was reconquered by the Muslims after

his death.

By the end of the twelfth century, the northern half

of Spain had been consolidated into the Christian

kingdoms of Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Portugal,

the last of which had emerged by 1179 as a separate

kingdom (see Map 10.2). The southern half of Spain

remained under the control of the Muslims.

In the thirteenth century, Christian rulers took the

offensive again in the reconquest of Muslim territory.

Aragon and Castile had become the two strongest

Spanish kingdoms, and Portugal had reached its mod-

ern boundaries. All three states made significant con-

quests of Muslim territory. Castile subdued most of

Andalusia in the south, down to the Atlantic and the

Mediterranean; at the same time, Aragon conquered

Valencia. The crucial battle occurred in 1212 at Las

Navas de Tolosa (lahss nah-vahss day tol-LOH-suh).

Alfonso VIII of Castile (1155–1214) had amassed an

army of sixty thousand men and crushed the Muslim

forces, leading to Christian victories over the next forty

years. By the mid-thirteenth century, the Moors, as the

Spanish Muslims were called, held only the kingdom of

Granada, along the southeastern edge of the Iberian

Peninsula.

The Spanish kingdoms followed no consistent policy

in the treatment of the conquered Muslim population.

Muslim farmers continued to work the land but were

forced to pay very high rents in Aragon. In Castile,

King Alfonso X (1252–1284), who called himself the

“King of Three Religions,” encouraged the continued

development of a cosmopolitan culture shared by

Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

Atlantic

Ocean

Mediterranean Sea

(^) Ebr
o (^) R
.
(^) Tagus (^) R
.
Gu
adiana^ R. Valencia
Las Navas
de Tolosa
Granada
Córdoba
Toledo
Lisbon Barcelona
Rome
Palermo
Tunis
Algiers
Corsica
Sardinia
CAT
AL
ON
PORTUGAL IA
LEON
NAVARRE
ARAGON
CASTILE
SICILY
ANDALUSIA
Pyr
Douro R. enees
0 200 400 Miles
0 200 400 600 Kilometers
Christian reconquests, 1000–1100
Christian reconquests, 1100–1250
Christian reconquests, 1492
MAP 10.2Christian
Reconquests in the Western
Mediterranean.Muslims seized
most of Spain in the eighth
century, near the end of the
period of rapid Islamic expansion.
In the eleventh century, small
Christian kingdoms in the north
began thereconquista, finally
conquering the last Moors near
the end of the fifteenth century.
Q How do you explain the
roughly north-to-south
conquest of the Muslim
lands in Spain?
The Emergence and Growth of European Kingdoms, 1000–1300 227
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