UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 5:
A Millennium of Change in the Middle East
The Reconquest of Spain
The Middle East was not the only battleground between Islam and the West during the Late Middle Ages. In the eighth century, most of the Iberian Peninsula had also been conquered in the name of Islam. Muslim emirs ruled Iberia from the Mediterranean coast north to the present-day city of Zaragoza, leaving a small, sparsely populated Christian frontier to the north.
The Muslim emirates of Spain were known collectively as al-Andalus. Al-Andalus prospered during the early Middle Ages, while Christian Europe floundered in the Dark Ages. Many of Spain’s most famous cities---Granada, Cordoba, and Malaga----became major population centers under Muslim rule. Muslim Cordoba, for example, was a bustling regional center of trade and commerce under the emirs. Its population swelled to more than 300,000, at a time when the population of London was less than 20,000.
By 1000, however, Christian Europe was gaining strength, and al-Andalus was growing weaker. During the eleventh century, Spain’s Christian nobles and warlords began la Reconquista, or the reconquest of Spain. La Reconquista was a lengthy process rather than a specific dramatic event; it took place in fits and starts over 400 years. Nevertheless, these wars to recapture Iberia from the Muslims were essential elements of the creation of modern-day Spain and Portugal.
In the Middle Ages, Iberia was referred to as “the Spains.” Christian Iberia consisted of a handful of separate kingdoms. In the eleventh century, the most significant ones were Aragon, Castile, Barcelona, Navarre and Leon. The nobles of these Spanish kingdoms began la Reconquista by supporting a series of defensive and offensive wars against the Muslims. Support also came from France---a territory that had been briefly invaded and constantly threatened by Islamic armies.
One of the first significant leaders of the reconquest was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (better known as El Cid). El Cid was an independent warlord who accepted funding from a variety of Christian sponsors. This pioneer of the Reconquest was more of a mercenary than a crusader. He frequently entered into temporary alliances with one Muslim emir while battling another. El Cid reconquered Muslim holdings in Valencia, where he established a kingdom of his own. But this was not to last; the “reconquered” Valencia was itself reconquered by the Muslims after El Cid’s death in 1094.
By the end of the 1100s, further consolidation had taken place among the Christian kingdoms. Portugal emerged as a distinct kingdom, while Castile and Aragon dominated the rest of Christian Spain. This consolidation accelerated the Reconquest, as the Christian communities of the peninsula were now able to more efficiently pool resources and manpower. Portugal, Castile, and Aragon led a loosely allied effort against the Muslim south.
The Christian forces gained momentum early in the thirteenth century. In 1212, Alfonso VIII of Castile assembled an army of 60,000 for a massive offensive against the Muslims. Alfonso was victorious; and a half century of Christian victories followed. By 1260, the Christian kingdoms of Iberia had rolled back al-Andalus to the southernmost portion of the peninsula.
(end of chapter excerpt)
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Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
