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Spain History - Reconquest Period (739 - 1479)
This period in the peninsular which has become known as the "Reconquest
Period" possibly can be taken as commencing when the previously mentioned Count
Pelayo started his excursions in 718 into parts of the northern area. The
Asturias, from where he originated, first made their capital at
Oviedo but as
they spread their control they later moved south and established a new power base at
León. His son-in-law Alfonso I created the Kingdom of León in 739. This was to
eventually become the capital of the Kingdom of Asturia-León. Some of their
rulers enjoyed descriptive names like Sancho the Fat, Wilfred the Hairy and
Ordoño the Bad!
(To assist any reader we have below the geography of the old provinces and
their major towns of mainland Spain, moving across and downwards from the
north-west to the south-east.)
Galicia (North West)
Main Towns: El Ferrol – La Coruña - La Toja - Lugo – Orense - Pontevedra -
Santiago de Compostela - Vigo
Asturias (North)
Main Towns: Gíjon – Luarca – Oviedo – Ribadesella
León (Central North West)
Main Towns: Astorga – León – Medina del Campo - Palencia - Riaño – Salamanca
- Valladolid - Zamora
Old Castílle (North & Central)
Main Towns: Ávila - Burgos – El Escorial - La Granja – San Rajael - Santander
- Sartillana – Segovia
Biscay (North)
Main Towns: Bilbao – Guernica – San Sebastián – Victoria
Navarre (North)
Main Towns: Irún - Pamplona – Sanguesa
Aragon (North East & Central)
Main Towns: Canjrane – Huesca – Saragossa
Cátalunia (North East)
Main Towns: Barcelona - Gerona – Lérida - Lioret del Mar - Puigcerda – Ripoll
- Seo de Urgel – Sitges – Tarragóna – Tarrasa
Estremadura (West Central)
Main Towns: Badajoz – Mérida
New Castílle (Central)
Main Towns: Aranjuez – Cuenca - Guadalajara – Madrid – Toledo – Manzanares
Valencia (Central East)
Main Towns: Alicante - Bencarló - Castellón de la Plana – Elche – Valencia
Andalusía (South)
Main Towns: Algeciras – Almeria - Arcos de la Fronteira – Baeza - Cádiz –
Córdoba - Granada - Huelva – Jaén – Málaga - Palos – Ronda - Seville – Úbeda
Murcia (South East)
Main Towns: Cartegna - Murcia
As the influence of the Christian forces increased so did their number of kingdoms.
After the defeat of his forces on the Zaragoza expedition, Charlemagne took control
of the north-east corner of the peninsular including Barcelona. This area became
know as the Spanish March (Marca Hispanica). Between this area and the Kingdom of
León was created the Kingdom of Castille and that to the north that
of Navarre. In 932 Fernán Gonzalez became the first Count of
Castille. In 951 the Moors recognized the independence of both León
and Navarre. Lying between two kingdoms the state of
the Basques remained as always untouched and independent. History records that the
marital ties were essential in staying alive and in control of each kingdom. Family
feuds were a constant threat. The mother of the Queen of Navarra was
Fernán
Gonzalez's mother-in-law, the great aunt to Abd-er-Rahman, and also the grandmother
to Sancho the Fat.
The vision that appeared to a hermit in the 9th Century relating to the almost
neglected story of St. Santiago and the subsequent sudden appearance of his possible
corpse gave ready fuel to the Christian movement. Conveniently, and just before a
major battle, King Ramiro I of Galicia announced prior to combat that he had
experienced a visitation from the Saint. His army later charged into battle waving
banners carrying red crosses on a pure white background shouting "Santiago". The
Moors are recorded as immediately fleeing for their lives and Saint Santiago thus
became the patron Saint of Spain.
As the rule of the Moors declined the rule of the northern Christians grew. A
system of "Fueros" was introduced giving limited power to local representation -
this move was 100 years before such steps were taken in England. Then popular
representation (mainly nobles), was instituted in the creation of the "Cortes"
which acted as a parliament under the control of the King. However, the progress
of the Christians was slow mainly due to their internal struggles and the threat
of Moor attacks on isolated outposts. The situation was fueled upon the death of
a King by the system that the kingdom was divided between his surviving sons and
thus creating jealousy.
The kingdom of León was the initial leader in the Re-conquest until the setbacks
suffered from the attacks by Al Mansur. The state of Navarra took up this position
under King Sancho III (1005-1035). He had married the sister of the Castilian ruler
and gained control of Castille placing in power his son Fernando
(1035-1065). The son then
occupied the kingdom of León and assumed the title of Fernando I (Emperor of the
Spains) and later in 1055 his army commences the future conquest of
the peninsular. The kingdom of Aragón went through a period of having many
different monarchs each for a short time. In the north-east the future region of Catalonia was in the 11th
Century controlled by the able Count Ramon Berenguer I. When the ambitious King
Fernando I took possession of both areas of Castile and León he made both the
towns of Toledo and Zaragoza his vassals. ln his lifetime the captured territory
stretched from Valencia across to the Atlantic coast in the west.
Unfortunately for the immediate future the then divided kingdom was inherited by
his sons and war commenced between Alfonso VI of León and Sancho IV
of Castille. The
young knight El Cid (Rodrigo Diáz de Bivar) from near Burgos fought on the side
of King Sancho and went on to make history in many ways. The romantic history
attached to El Cid is a combination of truths and fable. The Christians adopted
him as their national hero. After King Sancho was murdered possibly by his brother
in 1081 El Cid was sent into exile. El Cid moved to Zaragoza, a Moorish city under
vassalage to the new King Alfonso VI. This new king became a military leader and
swept his army all the way south to Gibraltar. He also reintroduced the Latin Mass
in place of the Mozarabic rite previously performed in churches. The King's most
outstanding achievement was when he captured Toledo in 1085 but again with the
able assistance of El Cid.
After the defeat of King Alfonso VI at Badajoz in 1086 by the Almoravids under the
able leadership of Yusuf who promptly made the town of Toledo his capital until
usurped by the Almohades. The northern Kings were close to panic, the Galicians
even made a request for protection to William the Conqueror who had now been ruler
of England for twenty years. Alfonso sought the help of El Cid who had in the
meantime become in most respects the ruler of the city of Valencia. Sadly, the hero died in
1099 and the story told is that they won the ensuing battle by lashing his body to
his charger and upon believing him to be alive the Moors turned and fled.
Apparently, the true story is that his followers held Valencia against the Moors
for three years before they had to capitulate.
The intrusion on
the scene of a new tribe of Moors by the name of Almoravids caused the northern kingdoms to solve their differences and unite as a
single force. In 1118, King Alfonso I of Aragón led his forces to retake Zaragoza
and making it his capital. His brother, who was a monk, was supposedly the father
of the Infanta Petronilla who was married to Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Catalonia
in 1137. This marriage was to unite the wealthy trading state of Catalonia to the
more impoverished kingdom of Aragón. It is reputed that in the 12th and 13th
Centuries "not a fish dared show itself in the Mediterranean without having the
markings of Aragón on its tail".
Meanwhile, on the western side of the peninsular the country of Portugal was born.
Alfonso IV had two daughters, one marrying Raymond of Burgundy and their son
reigned Castille as Alfonso VII, the other marrying Henry of Burgundy and as a
wedding present in 1093 they received land that was to become the future Portugal.
Alfonso Henriques was to inherit this land in 1112 to later declare
Portugal in 1139 as an independent kingdom.
It was about this time that the idea of a "Holy War" began to take hold in the
minds of the Christian kings. To kindle this fire the rebuilding of the shrine at
Santiago de Compostela was commenced and it soon became the most celebrated
pilgrimage in Europe to be undertaken by the faithful. At the same time a chalice
claimed to be the "Holy Grail" (the drinking cup from the Last Supper), and brought
to the peninsular in the 4th century became another popular shrine. To add to this
religious move the Knights banded themselves into monastic Orders and rode to battle
in white mantles bearing large red crosses. They vowed war on the "infidel" and
devotion to "God and the ladies". The successful knights received land in conquered
territory as their reward for battle. Many of the present day aristocrats can trace
their estates back to this period.
The Moors had now united under the leadership of Add al-Mumin and his new
reinforcements from the North African tribe of Almohades. They successfully
destroyed the cream of Christian knights in battle in 1195 at Alarcos near Toledo.
The ruling Pope called for a new crusade and in June of 1212 knights and men from
various parts of the peninsular and Europe gathered at Toledo to march south. On
the plains at Las Novas de Tolosa they met with the Almohades and severely defeated
them claiming that they had killed some 60,000 of their enemies. This battle was
the beginning of the eventual fall of the Moors rule in the peninsular. Apparently,
after the dust of this battle had settled the victorious Christians did not enter
into a period of bloody revenge, instead they slowly returned again to an open type
of society that on the surface enjoyed religious tolerance.
In Portugal King Afonso III with European assistance drove the Moors out of the
Algarve and thus ridding his lands completely of Moorish control. Aragón successfully
took possession of Valencia and the Balearic Islands, and King Ferdinand III of
Castille celebrated in 1248 his victory in taking Córdoba by reconsecrating the Great
Mosque as a Cathedral and reinstalled the original bells having been brought back
from Santiago. In return for the help in taking Seville he granted Mohammed-ibi-Alhamar
and the ruler in Granada, their independence as vassals of his enlarged kingdom. A
paradox of the history of the peninsular to this date is the example of King Fernando's
tomb in the Cathedral in Seville which has an epitaph in four languages, Latin,
Castilian, Hebrew and Arabic. In 1253 Castille ends their ongoing
war with Portugal whilst in 1285 France briefly invaded Cátalunia.
The successor to Ferdinand's throne was his son Alfonso X who was instrumental in
binding the three religions together under his rule. He was also a man of great
cultural interests and wrote the famous "Cantigas de Santa Maria" which records for
prosperity medieval society. He also had translated many major Latin works into the
Castilian language thus making it the official one of the kingdom. The remaining
Moors scattered through the many towns were allowed to stay and fitted into the new
society but bearing the title of "mudejars" (permitted to stay). The later abdication
of Alfonso brought his son Sancho to the throne. The nobles turned against him and
died soon after. The Queen Mother Maria de Molina stepped in to successfully defend
the throne against the nobles in favour of her grandson. Meanwhile on the south coast
of the peninsular the Moors had once again landed and taken possession of Gibraltar,
Algeciras and Tarifa. The siege of Tarifa is marked in history because its defender
Perez de Guzman, when told he had to surrender or the Moors would murder his son,
threw down his knife from the rampart and said "Here is the weapon to do it, but I
will never surrender". The Moors were destroyed using artillery for the first time
in European history at the battle of Rio Salado in 1340. Algeciras was retaken four
years later by King Alfonso XI.
The kingdom of Aragón-Catalonia spread its wings by sea and began to conquer
territories to the east. They added Sardinia and Sicily and later in the early 1300s
they also succeeded in acquiring a small duchy close to Athens. These successes were
mainly made in the reign of Pedro IV who built Barcelona into the Iberia's greatest ship
builders and the most powerful trading city. Their great cathedral
was commenced in 1298. The Castilians were always very
independently minded. When their Parliament made the oath of allegiance to a new
King they used the following words. "We who are as good as you, swear to you who are
no better than we, to accept you as our king and sovereign lord, provided you accept
all our liberties and laws; bit if not, not".
The Castilians were quick to note the activities of their neighbours and promptly
developed their sea port of Cartagena and the then readily accessible port of Seville.
The Genovese merchants took control of the trading and kept it for the next two
centuries. The Castille crown was permanently in debt and through the centuries turned
to the Jews for loans. In the middle 1300s the various kingdoms began to show less
tolerance in society and Muslims were forced to wear certain style of clothing and
hair styles. Jews began to be blamed for topical problems and there commenced an
undercurrent of anti-Semitic feeling although no positive step was taken. This was
in contrast to other European countries such as England and France where Jews had
already been expelled "en masse". For example the Jews tended to carry the
blame for spreading the plaque named Black Death that swept Europe in 1340s. One
third of the Europe’s population died from this disease and although all the states
were hit, the state of Aragón was particularly badly affected.
In the reign of Pedro I of Castille (1350-1369) the anti-Semitic feeling was further
aroused when the King chose to surround himself with Jewish advisers. His reputation
for cruelty was well earned after he inherited the throne at the age of 15. He
murdered brothers, half-brothers, cousins, friends, an archbishop, and he was also
suspected murdering his own mother. When living in the Alcazar he added the Red King
of Granada and 37 of his courtiers to his list. All were supposedly murdered as
Pedro had decided to possess a priceless ruby worn in the turban of the Muslim ruler.
This same ruby was given later as a reward to Edward the Black Prince of England who
had helped Pedro in 1367 to defeat an army of rebels led by Pedro's half-brother Enrique. This same jewel
now resides in the imperial crown on show in the Tower of London. The aristocrats
of Castile and León according to recorded history were noted at the time for being
very aggressive and also subject to strong envy. Fittingly, Pedro was later killed
by this same brother in a heated discussion. History records that a
fleet composed of French and Castilian boats was defeated in 1380
off the coast of Ireland. The most historically event in this period
was the crushing defeat in 1385 of the Castilian army at Aljubarrota
in Portugal ensuring them the latter of some independence for a long
period. Later Enrique II was to wear the
crown bringing the House of Trastamara to the throne of Castille which ruled until
the Hapsburgs in 1516.
The 15th Century opened with little change of the Iberian map of states since 1250
but a change was on the horizon. A weak King Juan II was to rule Castille
from 1454 for a period of 48 years as a puppet of a courtier named Alvaro de Luna who really ran the
state until jealous nobles talked the King into cutting off Alvaro's head. This King
and those who were to follow were subject to manipulation and the aristocracy grew
in wealth and power. One such person was Leonor de Alburquerque who could pass from
one side of Castille to the other without leaving her own estates.
The King Alfonso V of Aragón had added Naples to his possessions in
1435 and was recognized as King of Naples in 1442 by the Pope. At the
death of Martin I of Aragón ended the dynasty commenced with the marriage of
Petronilla and Berenguer. A minor cousin by the name of Fernando of Antequera was
crowned as the new King but he was soon to be involved with a civil war and trading
problems due to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Castille was not in a much better state with a lack of quality in a succession of
Kings. Juan was succeeded by his perverse son Enrique IV. When the Queen gave
birth to a daughter named Juana she was nicknamed "La Beltraneja" after the
attractive courtier Beltran de la Cueva. The King's younger sister was Isabel who
was later to become the Queen and rule with great shrewdness. As Isabel had to be
politically used in marriage the choice given to her was between the King Afonso
of Portugal, or Fernando the heir Aragón. First, a peace agreement was signed in
1411 between Castille and Portugal as the preference was for the first on the
list. Unfortunately he was much older than Isabel whilst the other was handsome
and young. Isabel had her way and a wedding took place in October of 1469 between
Isabel and Fernando. Unfortunately, when Enrique IV died in 1474 he named Juana as
legal successor. However the Castille nobles named Isabel as Queen,
taking into consideration that they regarded Juana as illegitimate. Juana raised an army with the support
of the other previous suitor Alfonso of Portugal and they met in battle
in 1476 at Toro
where Juana army was defeated. The treaty of Alcacobaça in 1479 confirmed
the claim of Isabel to the throne of Castille and in so doing set in course the
creation of Spain as we see it today.
In the same year the father of Fernando died so that the throne of Aragón passed
to his son. This meant that the two greatest Christian powers in Iberia were as
one in marriage and Spain in theory was born as we recognize it today. The Queen
was noted for her wily intelligence and they proved very capable in ruling together
and built in their lifetime a well defended, strong and successful kingdom. Like
all marriages this does not mean that it was to be without friction. The Castilians
were greater in numbers and did not accept the Aragóns readily into their midst.
Politically they were very different, with the nobles from Aragón having real power
through their parliaments as against the less effectual nobles from Castille who
were much more subject to the will of their King.
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