THE MUSLIM CONQUEST AND LOSS OF SPAIN 87peated counterattacks. The end came when these failed and the whole
army suddenly broke and fled the field. Muhammad I fled all the way to
Jaen as the Moorish cavalry and infantry became thoroughly mixed and
confused. A massacre followed, and 150,000 Muslim warriors are reputed
to have died that day. The Moorish defeat gave Alfonso VIII control of
central Spain.
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa can fairly be considered among the
most important in history. It was not the end of Moorish Spain, but it
marked the defeat of the last great Muslim army, and the occupation of
the heart of the Peninsula by the Christians. If it was not the end, it was
certainly the beginning of the end.
The war continued until 1235, when Ferdinand III of Castile recaptured
Cordoba. Seville was taken in 1248 and Jaen in 1246. Valencia fell to
King Jaime I of Aragon. Though infighting troubled both sides, it was far
worse among the Moors. Fractured by internal dissent, they were steadily
driven back by the Spanish.
In 1340 Alfonso XI of Castile, supported by Alfonso IV of Portugal,
routed a considerably larger Moorish force at Rio Salado, near Tarika. The
Moorish army was formed of warriors who had recently arrived from
Morocco where the general idea of a holy war against the Christians pro-
vided the Marinid Moorish armies of Spain with a constant supply of
Berber and Arab recruits. Despite this, all that remained of Muslim Spain
was a region along the Mediterranean coast extending from near Gibraltar
to the northeast near, but not including, Cartagena. This last Granadan
stronghold would not last long.
In 1487 the Christians captured the city of Malaga, in the province of
Granada. They then pushed against and laid siege to the capital, Granada
itself. No major assaults were made, as both sides knew that a Muslim
surrender was inevitable. No relief could be hoped for from North Africa.
A capitulation signed in November 1491 set the date of surrender at Jan-
uary 2, 1492. When January 2 arrived, the gates were opened and the
Muslim occupation of Spain ended.
In the end, Muslims occupied Spain, in whole or part, for nearly 800
years. When they arrived and broke the relatively fragile Visigothic grip
on the country, it seemed that the peninsula would be just one more entry
in the enormous list of Arab conquests. Certainly Islam took hold as it
had elsewhere, and certainly the Moorish civilization was enlightened by
European standards. The ongoing native resistance, while undeniably
fierce, was probably no fiercer than in many other lands occupied by the
Arabs and their adherents. Yet at the end, Spain proved to be the only
major nation retaken from its Islamic conquerors. From Africa to India