Reconquista is translated from Spanish as. Reconquista in Spain

In the middle of the 8th century, the Arab possessions in Spain separated from the caliphate and formed an emirate with its center in Cordoba. Since the 10th century, the ruler of the Muslim possessions in Spain - Andalusia - wore the title of caliph. Christians called the Arabs and Berbers who lived in Spain Moors: after all, the conquerors came from the region in North Africa - Mauritania. In today's lesson you will learn about the era of conquest (reconquista) of the territory of Spain occupied by Muslim Christian rulers.

Rice. 1. Reconquista in Spain ()

The Reconquista (Fig. 1) began immediately after the Moors conquered Spain and lasted about eight centuries. During the Reconquista, gentlemen received new lands and positions in the conquered territory. Peasants, participating in wars, acquired not only land, but also personal freedom. Cities newly founded or recaptured from the Moors sought self-government and various rights. All participants in the wars with the Moors dreamed of capturing rich booty. In addition to the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula, French and Italian knights at times took part in the Reconquista. Popes more than once called on Christians to take Crusades against Muslims in Spain. During the Reconquista, the kingdoms of Castile (translated as “Land of Castles”), Aragon, and Navarre in the Pyrenees Mountains were formed in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. In the west of the peninsula, the kingdom of Portugal emerged from Castile.

Around 1030, the Cordoba Caliphate broke up into dozens of independent principalities. From the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 13th century, the greatest successes were achieved in Recon-Kist. Weakened by internecine wars, the Muslim principalities became easy prey for Christian rulers. At the end of the 11th century, Christians occupied the city of Toledo and soon moved the capital of the Kingdom of Castile to it. Later, Aragon took possession of the large Muslim center of Zaragoza, and the Portuguese took Lisbon and made it their capital. Christian pressure on the south increased.

In 1212, the combined forces of Castile and other Christian states of the peninsula crushed the Moorish troops in the battle of the village of Las Navas de Tolosa. The forces of the Moors in Spain were completely undermined. In the following decades, Castile occupied the largest Muslim principalities with centers in Cordoba, Seville and others. Aragon asserted its power in the Balearic Islands, the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, and later in southern Italy. The Moors were left with only a rich region in the south - the Emirate of Granada.

Many Jews have lived in the Pyrenees since Roman times. One of the centers of Jewish culture of the Middle Ages arose in Muslim Spain. Jews were farmers, artisans, traders, and the most educated participated in governing the country: they carried out trade and diplomatic missions, served as doctors, ambassadors, and were in charge of collecting taxes. But from the 12th century, after the invasions of fanatical Berbers, Jews began to be forced to convert to Islam. Many Jews, not wanting to abandon the faith of their ancestors, fled north to the Christians. For a long time, the attitude towards Jews in Christian Spain was much better than in other countries. But from the end of the 14th century, when the Re-Conquest was nearing completion, persecution and persecution of Jews began. They were given a choice: baptism or death. Many accepted martyrdom for the sake of their faith, others chose to convert to Christianity, hoping to wait out the storm and return to their faith in the future. Baptized Jews were not, however, recognized as having equal rights with Christians.

The states that emerged on the Iberian Peninsula were class monarchies. At first, in Castile, the kings convened the highest secular and ecclesiastical nobility for council. Later, representatives of townspeople and even free peasants began to be invited to meetings. This is how a meeting of representatives of the classes arose - cortes (from the word “court” - royal court). The Cortes in Castile, like the Estates General in France, were divided into three chambers. The Cortes approved new taxes and participated in the publication of laws. Estate institutions also arose in other kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula. But the Castilian Cortes were the first parliament in Europe with the participation of peasants.

At the end of the 15th century, the last stage in the unification of the country began. In 1479, under the rule of the married couple Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon (Fig. 2), the two states were united into a single Kingdom of Spain. Navarre was divided between Aragon and France. Now the time has come for the complete expulsion of the Moors from Spain. In 1492, after a 10-year war, the troops of Ferdinand and Isabella took Granada. Two Christian kingdoms remained on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula - Spain and Portugal.

Rice. 2. Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon ()

The recon-cyst was carried out under the slogan of the struggle of Christians against Islam. The Moors surrendered Granada on the condition that they and the Jews retained their property and faith. But these promises were not fulfilled. Many Muslims and Jews had to move to North Africa. A significant part of the traders and artisans left Spain, which turned out to be a heavy loss for the country. It was not for nothing that Ferdinand and Isabella called themselves “Catholic kings”: they wanted to make Spain a purely Christian country. The Moors and Jews who were forced to accept baptism who remained in Spain were under constant surveillance: the church sought to convict them of apostasy from the true faith, to accuse them of heresy and witchcraft. The Inquisition was established to exterminate heretics in Spain. It was led by the fierce and merciless Thomas Torquemada, invested with the title of “Grand Inquisitor” (Fig. 3). During the 10 years that Torquemada was at the head of the Inquisition, thousands of people were burned at the stake, many more were tortured and imprisoned. The execution of heretics in Spain was called auto-da-fé (“work of faith”).

Rice. 3. Tomas Torquemada ()

Immediately after the capture of Granada, the king and queen issued a decree expelling all Jews from the Kingdom of Spain. 120 thousand people had to leave the country within three months. Leaving their homes and property, the exiles headed to Muslim countries, the Spanish colonies in America or the Netherlands.

Bibliography

1. Agibalova E.V., G.M. Donskoy. History of the Middle Ages. - M., 2012
2. Atlas of the Middle Ages: History. Traditions. - M., 2000
3. Illustrated world history: from ancient times to the 17th century. - M., 1999
4. History of the Middle Ages: book. For reading / Ed. V.P. Budanova. - M., 1999
5. Kalashnikov V. Mysteries of history: The Middle Ages / V. Kalashnikov. - M., 2002
6. Stories on the history of the Middle Ages / Ed. A.A. Svanidze. M., 1996

1. Historic.ru ().
2. Wholehistory.ru ().
3. Edengarden.ru ().

Homework

1. Which segments of the population of the Iberian Peninsula participated in the Reconquista?
2. What Christian states arose on the Iberian Peninsula?
3. How and when did the Reconquista end?
4. Why did the expulsion of Jews and Moors have negative consequences for the development of the country?

In the 8th century, the territory of modern Spain was captured by the Arabs, who almost unhindered occupied the entire Iberian Peninsula, excluding only the irreconcilable Asturias. Eight centuries passed from the moment King Rodrigo fell under the Damascus blade until the Catholic sovereigns Ferdinand and Isabella raised the cross over Granada. This eight-hundred-year expulsion of the Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula is called in history the Reconquista - the Reconquest.

In the summer of 1492, an elderly sailor rushed in despair along the Spanish coast, trying in vain to hire a ship's crew. There were no free hands in any port. Thousands of people randomly loaded onto any floating craft, be it a ship or a miserable little boat. In the sultry southern air there was a great cry that had no end. The panic in this human anthill was as if the Iberian Peninsula was about to go under water: this is how people flee from a sinking ship.

Meanwhile, in Granada, recently occupied by Christians, festive fireworks soared into the sky, drums thundered victoriously, and the Spanish troops rejoiced. Queen Isabella, tidied up and washed, changed her already snow-white undershirt every day to the delight of her subjects.

The unknown sailor who lost his footing in search of a crew was named Christopher Columbus. And in order to understand what caused the panicked flight of an entire people from Spain - this truly biblical exodus, which almost indirectly prevented the discovery of America - to find out what Granada has to do with it and what the queen’s underwear has to do with what is happening, we will have to turn back eight pages of history , each of which is a century old.

Culprit La Cava

“West is West, East is East, and they cannot come together,” the poet remarked an eternity after the events described. He was not mistaken - poets in general rarely make mistakes. The West and the East have different worldviews, different philosophies - in this sense they are truly dissimilar. If we talk about the history of mankind, then the East sometimes had the opportunity to converge with the West, or rather, to bump heads, to boil in a single cauldron, smelting new, unprecedented forms of culture and life from the steel and wax of human relations.

By the time the Arabs invaded the peninsula, the concept of “Spain”, of course, did not exist. Here at that time the kingdom of the Visigoths was located. Little is known about them. Let's say that it was not those wild Germans who came from the north who destroyed ancient Rome, but tribes that had already been ground down and partially cultivated by Rome. Back in the 4th century, the Visigoths adopted Christianity, although not of the canonical kind, but of the Arian sense, where the human nature of Christ came to the fore. It is an honor to descend from the Goths. Until now, speaking about the antiquity of the family and its undoubted nobility, the Spaniard will say: “This one is ready.” The last ruler of this mysterious people was the ill-fated King Rodrigo.

Ancient Spanish romances brought to us a dramatic story of love and betrayal, as a result of which the Visigothic kingdom fell and Spain found itself in the power of the Arabs for eight centuries. This happened, of course, because of a woman who, as they say in folk Spanish romances, was called La Cava. She was the daughter of the ruler of Ceuta, the powerful Count Julian. It was with her that the Visigothic king Rodrigo fell in love:

“What is it Troy! What Elena
Next to this beauty.
All of Spain, perhaps
I would burn in fire like Troy”...
(Hereinafter - translation by A. Revich).

It is unbecoming for kings to say such words! Especially if they had previously had ominous and prophetic dreams! - dreams about the invasion of foreigners. Burning with passion, Rodrigo lost his head so much that he committed a very unroyal act: having lured the beauty into a trap, he took her by force. Sobbing bitterly, La Cava told her father everything, and he vowed to take revenge on Rodrigo. At night, he secretly opened the gates of the guard fortress on Gibraltar to the Arabs, and their hordes poured into Spain. Rodrigo fell in the first battle. The chronicles tell the story of what happened a little differently, building a historical edifice not on the follies of passion, but on a major game of political interests. It is known that the unlucky King Rodrigo reigned for only a year: from 710 to 711. Before him, the king of the Visigoths was a certain Vititsa, who before his death bequeathed the kingdom to his son Agila, unloved by the Visigothic nobility. Dissatisfied feudal lords rebelled and proclaimed Rodrigo king. A civil war actually began in the country. This is where the Arabs enter the scene, having long encroached on the fertile lands of Andalusia. The Arab Caliphate, centered in Damascus, was powerful and truly immense. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, which increasingly expanded its possessions. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Arabs had conquered all of northwestern Africa, the indigenous population of which were warlike Berber tribes. A supporter of the Crown Prince of Agila, Don Julian, commandant of the Ceuta fortress, which actually controlled the Strait, which is now called the Strait of Gibraltar, entered into a conspiracy with the Arab and Berber military leaders. No one then imagined that the consequences of a simple military agreement would be so catastrophic. The allies were offered to defeat Rodrigo's army, and as a reward receive the treasury of the capital city of Toledo.

In the spring of 711, an Arab army of seven thousand under the command of Tariq entered the European continent. Of course, it crossed on ships provided by Julian, since the Arabs did not have their own fleet at that time. The rock on which Tariq landed received his name: Gibraltar means “Tarik’s mountain”... But then something incomprehensible happened: Aguila suddenly invited Rodrigo to join forces in the fight against a common enemy. What was it? The lack of communication between Aguila and Julian, who did not have time to inform the prince that he was acting in his interests? Or did Aguila turn out to be a decent person and the methods of the Seutian commandant seemed unacceptable to him? Or is everything simpler, and the noble proposal only masked a trap set for Rodrigo? It seems so: after all, having moved the army to the south to help the royal army, Aguila himself evaded command and for some reason chose to stay in the north.

Until now, in schools in Arab countries, Tariq’s appeal to soldiers before battle is memorized as an example of eloquence: “O people, where to run? The sea is behind you, the enemy is in front of you, you have nothing but steadfastness and patience...” Between July 19 and July 26, 711, a battle took place whose name to the ears of the Spaniards sounds like the sound of a funeral bell: the Battle of Guadaleta. Rodrigo was completely defeated. The flanks of his army were led by the brothers of the late King Vititsa - Agila's uncles. They couldn't withstand the blow. Most likely there was a banal betrayal. Rodrigo was killed, according to some sources, in this battle, according to others - in the next one. In any case, here traces of him are lost. As for La Cava, the chroniclers are silent about her. For some reason, I still think that it existed.

"Look around, Don Rodrigo,
Where is your land and your glory?
All of Spain was destroyed
Your whim and La Cava..."

Thus, in a Spanish romance, the death of an unlucky king is mourned with reproach.

Meanwhile, the Arabs, on light horses, and mostly on mules, fulfilling the terms of the treaty of alliance, moved straight to Toledo. From 711 to 718 they occupied almost all of Spain. True, Christian uprisings sometimes broke out in their rear, but on the whole the campaign unfolded successfully. The refugees brought the sad news to the Pope: Christianity on the Iberian Peninsula had come to an end.

How could this happen? How did a Christian state, in a few years, almost completely come under Muslim rule, and many of its residents, without much hesitation, exchanged the cross for the crescent? The solution to this mystery sounds somewhat paradoxical: the aborigines accepted Islam because no one forced them to do so...

Asturias - a stronghold of irreconcilables

The caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty were far from Islamic fanaticism. By the time of the capture of Spain, Islam was a very young religion - not even a century had passed since the death of the Prophet Mohammed. Lovers of the joys of life, patrons of free secular poetry and various sciences, the Umayyads were not aggressive towards the peoples of the occupied territories. They did not seek to forcibly convert the inhabitants of the conquered lands to Mohammedanism: they did not chop off the heads of civilians, did not pour molten lead down their throats, in a word, they did not do anything that, say, Rus' got used to during the Mongol-Tatar invasion.

A few decades after the conquest of Spain, the Umayyad dynasty fell. It was replaced by the Abbasid dynasty. The capital of the caliphate was moved from Damascus to Baghdad. The escaped Umayyad, nicknamed the Stranger, or Disinherited, took possession of Cordoba and in 756 proclaimed himself ruler of the independent Emirate of Cordoba. His name was Abdarrahman I.

As historians say, in foreign policy the Arabs of that era were not inclined to bloodshed on the occupied lands: everything came down to more or less regular fleecing. Residents were subject to tribute, which, in essence, was the main economic goal of Arab military campaigns. The Islamic poll tax turned out to be much lighter than the onerous taxes that the Visigothic nobility levied on the local population. It was reconciling. Women, children and other socially vulnerable elements were automatically exempted from taxes. And most importantly, all those who converted to Islam had equal rights with the winners and did not pay any tribute. In addition, the commandments of Mohammed, in the opinion of the Roman and Visigothic aborigines with their weakly rooted Christianity, differed little from the commandments of Christ. Even the polygamy of the Arabs did not strike the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula as a shocking novelty: here everyone had seen enough of the free morals of the Visigothic elite, where even representatives of the clergy openly appeared with their concubines, not paying much attention to the proceedings carried out from time to time by Rome on this sensitive issue. If we add to all that has been said that Spain at that time was sparsely populated and in many places there was simply no one to repel the tireless Arab cavalry, we will understand how the Muslims quickly advanced north in such a short time.

However, the fate of nations, like the fate of individual people, is difficult to predict. Who will make the next decisive move in the great and exciting game of life? Maybe for someone who doesn’t relax after grabbing a jackpot, and doesn’t lose heart after losing in smoke?

One small area in the north remained unconquered - Asturias.

Guerilla Kings

The heir to the Spanish throne still bears the honorary title of Prince of Asturias. In the city of Oviedo in Asturias, the prestigious Prince of Asturias Prize for achievements in the field of science and art is awarded annually - the national equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Laureates arriving at the award ceremony traditionally stay at the best hotel in the city. It's called "Reconquista". All this is a tribute to respect and memory of those distant times, when from here, from Asturias, the reconquest of Spain from the Arabs slowly but steadily began.

After the defeat of the Visigothic troops, their remnants took refuge in the Asturian mountains. It was then that a new hero, the legendary Don Pelayo, soon appeared. Who he is is not really known. Nowadays they would say “charismatic leader”, “passionary personality”. It was he who achieved the unity of the Visigoths who survived the battles to fight the invaders and already in 718 inflicted a strong defeat on the Arabs at the Battle of Covadonga.

The Vascons are another people on the territory of modern Spain who did not succumb to the victorious Muslim conquest. The Vascons were the ancestors of the Basques, semi-wild inhabitants of the Pyrenees mountains. Noble Visigothic counts with their family pride, court etiquette and swords passed down by inheritance, and Vascon highlander shepherds dressed in homespun shirts, whose favorite weapons were huge boulders rolling from the rocks onto the heads of the enemy - these two forces did not allow the Arabs to rest on their laurels, disturbing them with unexpected guerrilla attacks.

“From somewhere, this unbroken donkey, Don Pelayo, stuck his head on our heads! - the Muslims exclaimed. - Surrounded, he is able to do without food. His warriors are dying of hunger, but they do not give up. For weeks they eat nothing but wild honey!” It happened that the Arabs lifted the siege and left, consoling themselves: “Three dozen stubborn donkeys, Allah is with them! What danger can they pose to the all-powerful caliphate? However, there was danger. And it consisted in the fact that Christians felt: these countless and invincible ones can and should be beaten! In 724, the Visigothic nobility, together with the Basques, defeated the Muslims near the city of Ainsa. There are rumors among the people about a miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary at the site of the battle.

Arab march

At that time, Spain, conquered by the Arabs, was called Al-Andalus or Andalusia. The capital of Andalusia was Cordoba. It was ruled by an emir subordinate to the caliph seated in Damascus.

But being the Emir of Cordoba is not easy! In the distance is the watchful eye of the caliph, who fears, not without reason, that the distant emirate may desire autonomy. Local leaders also strove to separate from Cordoba and become independent emirs in Toledo or Zaragoza. Christians raised their voices, and then there was the difficult international situation: either the Vikings would come from the sea and burn flourishing Seville, or the Franks would pull their forces to the Pyrenees.

By the way, it was after the terrible devastation of Seville by the Vikings in 845 that the Emir of Cordoba, Abdarrahman II, made a great decision: to build a fleet capable of protecting Andalusia from attacks from the sea. Soon the Arab fleet of Spain became one of the strongest in Europe. Alas, for many centuries he gave birth to a new disaster in the Christian world - Saracen piracy. The Arabs everywhere made Christian captives lifelong slaves in galleys. Later, during the Reconquista, the growing Christian monasteries took upon themselves the work of ransoming the unfortunate. To this day, when passing by the Toledo Cathedral of San Juan de los Reyes, you can see garlands of rusty shackles on its walls. Each such chain testifies to a freed prisoner.

But let's return to the Arab rulers. Another problem for them is the heterogeneity of the Arabs themselves, the secret and overt confrontation between the Syrians, Yemenis, and Berbers. The Emir of Cordoba did not manage to sit in his place for long. As they would say in our time, there was a high turnover of personnel. All that was heard was: the emir was recalled, deposed, executed, expelled, killed right in the mosque... Naturally, the emir’s special anger was caused by the unification of his Muslim conspirators with Christians. Here they punished everyone indiscriminately.

One of these punitive expeditions was the forced march of Arab troops into the territory of modern France. The operation, initially directed against the Duke of Aquitaine, who had offended the emir, was distinguished by unprecedented cruelty. The Arab army advanced along the route Zaragoza - Pamplona - Roncesvalles - Bordeaux - Poitiers - Tours. Villages and cities burned. Murders, looting and all kinds of outrages became commonplace. Now it’s hard to imagine, but the emir’s army was almost near Paris - it’s a stone’s throw from Poitiers to Paris! About the same as from Tver to Moscow. France could be the caliph's next acquisition in Damascus - it was something to gasp at!

And here the Frankish commander Charles Martel comes into play. In 732, a grandiose battle took place near Poitiers, a real battle of nations, where the emir’s troops were defeated and driven back by the Franks, and the emir himself was killed. And although the Arabs more than once made forays against Christians, they never again managed to advance so far into Europe, much less gain a foothold there for a long time.

In 736, the rebel Basques temporarily expelled the Arabs from Pamplona. In 750, the Christian king Alfonso I, as a result of a series of victories, recaptured all of Galicia. Sixteen years later, Christians successfully repulse a Muslim cavalry raid near Alava.

But the year 778 unexpectedly showed how complex the situation in the Pyrenees actually was and how conflicting interests competed on the peninsula. The clang of swords and the death rattle of the battle horn merged in one sorrowful word - Roncesval.

Roncesvalles detective, or the case of the plundered train

The Battle of Roncesvalles is legendary. The French epic, created in the 11th-12th centuries, tells about the campaign of the Frankish emperor Charlemagne against the Spanish Moors, about the heroic death of Charles’s nephew, the noble Count Roland, in the Roncesvalles Gorge of the Pyrenees and about Charles’s terrible revenge on the treacherous Saracens for his death. The events described are most directly related to the Reconquista: Christians are trying to oust Muslims from European territory. The heroic epic presents us with a bloody conflict between two religions, two worldviews and, ultimately, the same clash between East and West.

The Arab governor of Zaragoza, Suleiman ibn Arabi, came in 777 with an embassy to the Frankish king Charles. Suleiman asked Charles for help in the fight against the Cordoba emir Abdarrahman I. The Zaragoza governor swore by Allah that, as a reward for his support, the gates of Zaragoza would be opened without a fight - he just had to immediately set out on a campaign. Karl moved south. The pass overgrown with dense forest in the Pyrenees Mountains and the gloomy Roncesvalles Gorge passed the king's paladins safely - the mountain spurs were deserted. Only in Pamplona did Charles’s soldiers meet people. They were half-wild Basques, silently watching from under their brows the magnificent foreign army. Having stocked up on goat cheese, the army moved on. Alas, the gates of Zaragoza were closed. The embarrassed Suleiman continued to swear that they would certainly be opened, they just had to lay siege to the city and wait until it ran out of food and water. Days passed after days, but stubborn Zaragoza did not give up. Finally, intelligence reported to Charles that the Emir of Cordoba had moved a large army against Zaragoza. The king sensed something was wrong: behind, behind the wide yellow river, was the city bristling in defense, ahead were the approaching troops of the emir. Isn't this a trap? Isn't it a provocation from the very beginning?

Charles ordered to seize Suleiman and put him in chains, and send his sons as hostages with a convoy to France. After which he turned his army around and rushed back to the Pyrenees. The return from this completely inglorious campaign seemed to be successful. The French soldiers had already set foot on the green hills of Gascony, but the lagging convoy, commanded by the king's favorite nephew, Roland, was still missing. A day later, a worried Karl ordered the horses to be turned around. In the Roncesvalles Gorge, called the “Valley of Death” by chroniclers, a terrible sight opened up to the French. Empty overturned wagons, horses dying under the rubble of rocks and piles of dead bodies, mutilated and naked. Among them they found the body of Count Roland. It was clear that he and his companions repelled the attack to the last, back to back. Nearby lay Roland's richly decorated horn, covered in blood, which he was supposed to blow in case of danger. The robbers, who took everything, for some unknown reason did not touch him. Who so treacherously attacked the lagging convoy in the narrowest place of the Roncesvalles gorge? These were hardly Arabs - the Pyrenees Mountains were not their territory. And the savage nature of the attack - throwing boulders down, and the fact that the dead were completely robbed and even stripped, everything pointed to the Basques. But something else is even more mysterious: Suleiman’s sons were not found among the dead. What actually happened? Was the Zaragoza governor a provocateur? Did the Muslims collude with the Basques to rescue their own? Or did they just set the freedom-loving mountaineers against Charles’s warriors, hinting to them that the Franks had come to the local forests to encroach on the ancestral rights of the local inhabitants? Or maybe the Basques acted independently, and took hostages with them so that, on occasion, they could dictate their terms to the Muslims? Or did the mountaineers simply take pity on the captives and let them go?

Be that as it may, history tied a tight knot in Roncesvales in 778: Christians who came at the call of Muslims to fight other Muslims were killed by Christians!

However, there is another version, a mystical one. According to legend, somewhere near the Roncesvalles gorge, in the mountains, the famous Grail cup full of Christ's blood is kept secret from people. The Franks actually made their campaign in search of her, and all the ups and downs with the Arabs are just a cover for the true goal. However, according to legend, no one is allowed to approach the Grail with impunity, and, therefore, it is not surprising that the detachment led by Roland fell victim to unknown forces under very vague circumstances...

The riddle of Roncesval has not been solved to this day. “The Song of Roland” speaks only of the struggle of Christians with the Saracens. This is natural, considering that it was created much later, in an era when the Christian world was increasingly united, supporting the Spanish Reconquista.

Santiago - Matamoros

The Spanish philosopher Ortega y Gasset was inclined to doubt the fighting spirit of his compatriots. He noted, not without malice, that among a people endowed with a thirst for military feat, the reconquest of their own country does not last for eight centuries. One may not agree with this, if only because the Spanish people, as such, did not yet exist in the first centuries of the Reconquista. It was an Ibero-Romano-Gothic population. As a people endowed with unique national characteristics, the Spaniards were formed precisely in the process of the Reconquista. The fight against a common enemy strengthened and united them, and left its mark on their character type. They say “proud as a Spaniard”, why would that be? Almost all travelers to Spain noted the freedom of the Spaniards from class prejudices: the peasant in this country always behaved with the dignity of a grandee, and in the attitude of the servant to the master there was never a trace of humiliation or ingratiation. In general, the distinction between peasants, artisans and knights was not as obvious in Spain as in other countries of medieval Europe. The reasons should be sought precisely during the Reconquista, when all layers of society fought with Muslims on equal terms, and cities and peasant communities that found themselves on the border and were forced to guard this border received special rights and freedoms enshrined in the codes of laws - fueros. Peasants free from feudal dependence formed independent unions - begetria. The free and rebellious spirit of the Begetria laid the foundations for an independent national character. In a word, this country was not crippled by the vices of serfdom.

For unification, a certain common banner, a single shrine was needed. That is why the discovery of the relics of St. James in Santiago in Galicia, in the town of Compostela, in the 9th century is so important in the history of the Reconquista. Saint James becomes the banner of the Reconquista. "Santiago!" - the battle cry of Christians. The peaceful apostle receives the nickname “Santiago Matamoros,” that is, “Santiago the Slayer of the Moors.” He is still considered the patron saint of Spain.

Santiago de Compostela was raided. The Arabs destroyed the church dedicated to Santiago, but did not desecrate the tomb itself, and did not even touch the monk who guarded it. "What are you doing here?" - they asked him. “I pray to the saint,” was the calm answer. The attackers appreciated the foreigner’s courage and treated the Christian shrine with respect. True, the bells were removed from the bell tower and transported on the shoulders of Christian slaves to Cordoba to be melted down into lamps for the famous mosque. When King Fernando III of Castile finally took Cordoba on June 29, 1236, the lamps cast from the bells were sent back to Santiago - already on the shoulders of Muslim slaves.

To this day, the pilgrimage route from France runs to Santiago de Compostela. The first pilgrims walked along it, leaning on a staff and singing songs about the death of the brave Count Roland.

Another banner of the Reconquista was Sid the Warrior, who led the fight against the Moors in the 11th century. Ruy Diaz de Bivar, or Cid Campeador, the hero of the Spanish epic “The Song of Cid,” is a real person. With his exploits in the war against the Muslims, he glorified Spanish weapons. Both the epic and folk romances pay tribute to him, describing him as a man of honor, a fighter for justice, an invincible warrior-hero. The real Sid was not such a paragon of virtue as the imagination of storytellers portrays him. While defending Christianity, he nevertheless willingly served both the Spanish kings and the Muslim emirs. However, the growing self-awareness of the people, who increasingly felt themselves to be a single nation, simply needed a hero-symbol, a shining example to follow.

As for Sid’s courage, even the hostile side unconditionally recognized it. The Arab chronicler wrote: “This man was the scourge of his time, but due to his love of glory, wise strength of character and heroic valor, he was a true miracle of the Lord.”

Return of Toledo

The Reconquista proceeded on its own. The border of the Christian world slowly but steadily moved from north to south. Some areas changed hands several times: Christians paid tribute to Muslims, then vice versa. New Christian kingdoms arose on the conquered lands: Aragon, Navarre, Castile, Leon, Catalonia. It happened that their kings were at enmity with each other, often attracting one or another Moorish ruler to their side to resolve the dispute. But it happened that kingdoms entered into alliances and formed various kinds of unions on a family or business basis: the union of Navarre and Aragon, Aragon and Catalonia, Castile and Leon.

Alas, sometimes the unity achieved with such difficulty suddenly collapsed due to someone’s political shortsightedness. Thus, King Fernando I (1037-1065), who united under his rule the two large Christian kingdoms of Castile and Leon and even assumed the title of emperor, dying, unexpectedly divided his possessions between his children.

The eldest son Sancho got Castile, the middle son Alfonso got Leon, the youngest Garcia got Galicia. The old man did not offend his daughters either, leaving each a flourishing city. The results were immediate: Sancho, who, by the way, had the legendary Sid in his service at the time, went to war against everyone at once. During numerous military vicissitudes, the ill-fated Garcia died in prison, Sancho himself was killed by a man sent by his own sister, and the middle brother Alfonso became king. It is easy to imagine what advantages such feuds gave to Muslims!

True, the middle brother, having become Alfonso VI, ruler of Castile, Leon and Galicia, decisively took up the sword and conquered the glorious city of Toledo from the Muslims. On May 25, 1085, the united troops of the Spaniards triumphantly entered the former capital of the Visigothic kingdom. This was a significant milestone in the centuries-old history of the Reconquista. But Alfonso VII, the ruler of Leon, was not content with the title of king and in 1135 he was crowned in the Leon Cathedral as Emperor of all Spain, although, of course, not all of Spain had yet been conquered by Christians.

Crossing of three religions

It would, however, be a deep mistake to believe that war and hostility are the only conditions for the coexistence of peoples on the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. Here, despite everything, during the stay of the Arabs, an extremely harmonious way of life developed, and the richest Andalusian culture was born.

Almost the entire population was bilingual: they spoke El Romance and colloquial Arabic. Many knew classical Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew. Arabs, Jews, and Spaniards communicated freely, traded, and entered into marriage alliances. This continued for centuries, almost until the very end of the Reconquista. In this Spain it would be absurd to talk about purity of blood and show religious intolerance.

In addition to Christians, Muslims and Jews, the Muwallads lived here - Christian Spaniards who converted to Islam. Mozarabs are Spanish Christians who live in the Arab Emirates and Caliphate, but have retained their religion while adopting Arab culture and language. Mudejars are Arabs who remained in Spanish territories after the reconquest, retaining their faith, but becoming carriers of not so much purely Arab, but rather Arab-Spanish, Andalusian culture. Finally, the Moriscos are Arabs or muwallads who, after the final expulsion of the Arabs from Spain, adopted Christianity. Cultures mixed, peoples mixed.

For an example, let's go back a little, to the beginning of the 10th century, to Cordoba, where Emir Abdarrahman III came to power. Good emir. Orthodox. Only his eyes are blue and his hair is brown. He paints them so as not to embarrass his subjects.

By the way, this same blond emir would break his formal dependence on Baghdad, announcing in 929 the creation of an independent Cordoba caliphate. This will be a great kingdom. What is one Cordoba mosque worth: a magical forest of columns and intertwining arches, in which a person gets lost, as if in eternity, with a happy feeling, as if this is what he wanted all his life.

The University of Cordoba was also highly respected. People came here to study from France, England, and Germany. Cordoba was famous throughout the world for its libraries. The library of Caliph al-Hakam II consisted of at least four hundred thousand volumes. Here, in Cordoba, was born the poet Ibn Hazm, the author of “The Necklace of the Dove,” one of the best books about love. The famous philosopher Averroes lived here, translator of Aristotle into Arabic, who also left works on physics, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, religion and law.

The Arab cities of Seville and Granada were beautiful and rich with the luxurious Moorish palace of the Alhambra, where the soul rests among fountains, pools and myrtle gardens, and the honeycombs of carved ceilings and niches seem to reproduce in its entirety the molecular structure of the Universe and the complex, but not at all disorderly connection between of its inhabitants.

The different groups of the population generally existed in harmonious balance. If this was not an earthly paradise, then, in any case, a certain reflection of the heavenly city, which, as we know, exists outside of religious strife. A cathedral, a mosque, a synagogue - this is the normal cityscape of Granada or Toledo. During the reconquest, Catholics, however, were inclined to open their cathedrals in mosques and synagogues. To this day in Toledo the phrase strikes the ear: Synagogue of the Dormition of the Mother of God! And yet, the Castilian kings, starting with the enlightened sovereign Alfonso the Wise, for a long time called themselves “kings of three religions.” The monarch, returning from a campaign, was greeted by the people who poured out to meet him in three languages: Arabic, Spanish, and Hebrew.

A famous school of translators was created in Toledo, which enriched Europe with the works of Averroes and Avicenna.

The Spaniards say: “Where the olive tree does not grow, the border of Arab rule lies.” Olive grows almost throughout the country, as do wonderfully smelling orange groves, peaches, and almonds. Throughout the country, water still gurgles melodiously in acequias - local irrigation ditches. Here, on a hot day, you suddenly realize like never before: this murmuring sound and life itself are one. A trickle of water, the bitterness of an olive, an orange filled with sweetness - this is also the merit of the Arabs, the fruit of their scientific knowledge and painstaking centuries-old work. A merit that the “Christ-loving army”, moving further and further south for decades, chose to happily forget about.

Papal blessing

Since the 11th century, the Reconquista has moved forward uncontrollably. In view of the obvious Christian threat, the Mauritanian emirs turned for help to a new political force in the Muslim world - a militant alliance of Saharan Berber tribes calling themselves the Almoravids. They were cruel and fanatical rulers. The name of their strong-willed and ruthless commander Yusuf ibn Teshufin (Tashfin) terrified everyone without exception. In 1086, Yusuf inflicted a crushing defeat on the troops of the Leonese king Alfonso VI the Brave on the Rio Salado (Salt River). For the first time, militant Islam reigned in Spain. Even local Muslims preferred to come under the rule of the King of Castile and pay him tribute rather than endure the oppression of the Almoravids. Yusuf without hesitation deposed the local emirs and proclaimed himself ruler of Spain (1090-1091). By 1111, all of Muslim Spain except Rueda was subject to Almoravid rule.

The Almohads (“united”), who replaced the Almoravids, turned out to be even more fanatical. They oppressed Christians, carried out pogroms against Jews, and burned priceless Arab libraries.

Christians resisted the new invasion with varying success - they, as always, were hampered by internecine strife.

Finally, the Pope responds to the Spanish king's calls for help. In the spring of 1212, Pontiff Innocent III proclaimed a crusade against the infidels with absolution for all crusaders. On July 16, at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolos, the largest Christian army utterly defeats the Almohad army. The power of Muslim Spain has been undermined forever. This is the turning point of the Reconquista.

Turning over the pages of history, you discover a paradoxical truth: kings are not born - they are made.

In the last three centuries of the Reconquista, the rulers of Castile and Aragon came to the fore. The Aragonese ruler Jaime I the Conqueror began the reconquest of the Balearic Islands in 1229, completing it in 1235. In 1238, Jaime I entered Valencia. He expelled the Muslims from Murcia.

And Fernando III the Saint, ruler of Castile and Leon, rejected the proposal of the French king Louis IX for Spanish participation in the campaign against the Eastern Muslims, explaining briefly: “I have enough of my Moors!” And in 1236 he victoriously entered Cordoba, and in 1248 - into Seville.

Here the chroniclers' testimonies differ. Some claim that the capture of Seville was orderly and noble. Others... Others say that after a long siege, when the inhabitants, exhausted by hunger and epidemics, finally capitulated, they were ordered to leave their homes without property. From three to five thousand people - look for more such populous cities in that era! - wandered along the roads homeless. And the Christian sovereign, the destroyer of the Moors, entered the ghost town. Four years later he died there from the plague. Fernando the Saint founded the most beautiful cathedrals in Burgos and Toledo, as well as the famous University of Salamanca. I would like to think that he was subsequently canonized precisely for this.

To the sound of swords

XIII and XIV centuries - the height of the Reconquista. The Christian population of the Iberian Peninsula increasingly recognizes itself as Spaniards, Catholics and loyal subjects of kings. We can say that during this period the reconquest becomes a conscious, purposeful movement, the task of which is the final displacement of Muslims from Europe. Orders of knighthood begin to play a significant role in the defense of newly conquered areas.

The events of that era include many feats and examples of valor on both sides. Treason, betrayal, manifestations of extreme cruelty and fanaticism also left their bloody mark on the history of the Reconquista.

In 1292, for six months, the Spaniards besieged the fortress of Tarifa on the Mediterranean Sea. In the end, the Arabs, exhausted by hunger, were forced to surrender. The knight Alonso Perez Guzman, nicknamed the Good - El Bueno, volunteered to defend the fortress in case of new attacks. His name thundered throughout Spain, but for this he paid a truly exorbitant price.

The Muslims did not keep themselves waiting: quite soon they besieged Tarifa, and they were commanded by a Spaniard, a certain Don Juan, who boasted that he would take the fortress with small forces in a way known to him and already proven. This method was as follows: don Juan grabbed the son of Guzman the Good and, standing under the walls of the fortress, publicly promised to cut his throat if the commandant refused to open the gates. Alonso Guzman did not flinch at the sight of the crying child and answered: “I raised my son to fear the enemies, and not so that he would become a tool in their hands! Why are you delaying? Maybe you don't have a knife? Here, take mine!” And he contemptuously threw his dagger from the wall to the blackmailer. The enraged Don Juan cut the boy's throat in front of everyone, and the Muslims, who were horrified, were ashamed and retreated from the walls of the fortress.

True, Tariffa’s misadventures did not end there. In 1340 it was again besieged. This time from the Moroccan side. On October 30, Christian troops clashed with the enemy on the Rio Salado (Salt River). One of the largest battles of the Reconquista took place here, in which the Moors were completely defeated.

On August 21, 1415, Portuguese troops took Ceuta almost without a fight - the same ill-fated fortress from which the seizure of the Iberian Peninsula began seven hundred years ago.

And in 1487 it was Malaga’s turn.

Granada "colors of Isabel"

Rome, meanwhile, demands from the Christian rulers of Spain more stringent measures against infidels in the newly conquered territories: what does this mean - they don’t want to kiss the cross? Force by any means!

But the Spanish sovereigns hesitate and not at all out of the goodness of their hearts - it simply seems unnatural to them to oppress a good half of their subjects. But everything changes with the accession of Fernando of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who went down in history under the name of the Catholic kings. Their marriage in 1469 united the two largest kingdoms of Christian Spain. From that time on, the Spanish kings finally ceased to be “kings of three religions.” From now on they represent only one faith and are completely subordinate to Rome.

In 1487, King Fernando besieges Malaga. The siege and capture of this major port is an endless series of brave forays, heroic attacks and equally brave resistance. This is an endless list of the wounded, killed and died from disease in the camps of both opponents, this is famine within the walls of Malaga, individual deadly attempts by the besieged to conclude a separate truce, and even a failed armed attempt by a half-mad Muslim dervish on the life of Queen Isabella, who came to support her knights.

The Emir of Granada, Boabdil, provided unexpected military and economic assistance to Christians, hoping in this way to protect himself in the future. But - he didn’t know the Catholic kings well.

Four years after the fall of Malaga, this couple, in which Isabella played the leading role, began to prepare for a campaign against the last stronghold of Islam - Granada. Preparations took the entire year 1491. The Emirate of Granada, caught in a hostile circle of Christians, was doomed. The Christian rulers borrowed money for the military campaign from the terrified Jews, imposing unaffordable taxes on the synagogues, or even simply robbing them completely. In 1491, a protracted siege began, during which Queen Isabella shared with the soldiers all the hardships of camp life. Her appearance on horseback under the walls of the besieged city caused howls of delight. The Queen vowed not to change her shirt until the Castilian flag flew over Granada. Days passed by. The snow-white royal underwear gradually deteriorated, acquiring a grayish-yellow color. The Spaniards have since called this exquisite shade “Isabel color.” In January 1492, Boabdil, the last emir of Granada, left the Alhambra weeping. He left through an inconspicuous door in the back wall of the fortress. This door can still be seen today. It was locked from the moment the inconsolable emir crossed its threshold. And high in the mountains there is a village called Moor's Sigh. From there, the exile looked back at the beautiful city below for the last time, and his mother allegedly said: “Cry like a woman over what you couldn’t protect like a man.” True, historians dryly comment: “The phrase is fictitious.”

From the heroic Mount Tariq on Gibraltar to the sad Sigh of the Moor near Granada - the circle is closed. An era has ended.

We're back where we started. To the panicky flight of the Moors and Jews, to whom the Catholic kings set a strict condition: to leave the country within three months. The Jews, by the way, were expelled somehow at the same time, having fallen under the hot hand. Or maybe everything was much simpler, and they were dealt with so as not to repay the debts? The first wave of exiles was followed by a second, a third: Moriscos, Mudejars, Crosses - all those without whom Andalusia was orphaned. At the same time, “brilliant poetry, astronomy, and architecture, which had no equal in Europe, were doomed to destruction,” Federico Garcia Lorca would say several centuries later. Ahead of the country lay the Inquisition and an unprecedented scale of mass repressions. Could something like this have been dreamed of by Don Pelayo, the brave founder of the Reconquista? At what point do the persecuted turn into persecutors, and is this inevitable? This is truly a mystery of history. However, in the significant year of the capture of Granada, along with the end of the Reconquista, the formation of the Spanish people and the Castilian language was completed: 1492 was also the year the first Spanish grammar was published. The country was finally united. America was discovered, since Columbus nevertheless set off on his great voyage from the provincial port of Palos, recruiting a team to visit prisons. Ahead were colonial gold and the Spanish Golden Age, but this is a completely different story with other mysteries. By the way, Spanish champagne is called Cava. The title has a hint: drink, but don’t lose your head, otherwise you might end up without a kingdom.

Reconquista - chronology

April 30, 711- a mixed Arab-Berber (Moorish) army under the command of the tribal leader Tariq ibn Ziyad is transported from Africa to the Iberian Peninsula through Gibraltar (the modern name comes from the distorted Arabic Jabal Tariq, “Mountain of Tariq”).
July 19, 711- Battle of Guadalete. Death of King Rodrigo. The collapse of the Visigothic kingdom, which existed from the beginning of the 6th century.
711-718- the peninsula falls under Muslim rule completely - with the exception of only a narrow strip in the north, the current province of Asturias, where the remnants of the Visigothic nobility were strengthened.
718- Don Pelayo, supposedly the former bodyguard of King Rodrigo, elected by the Asturian king, defeats the Muslims in the Covadonga valley. The Reconquista begins.
732- Battle of Poitiers. The Muslim advance is repulsed by Charles Martell in the heart of the Frankish kingdom. Further Arab advance into Europe was stopped forever.
738-742- Taking advantage of the military clashes between the Berbers and Arabs, Alfonso I, king of Asturias, made a series of successful raids on Galicia, Cantabria and Leon.
791-842- reign of Alfonso II of Asturias. Numerous clashes between Christians and Muslims occur with varying success, but in the end the Christians manage to gain a foothold on the banks of the Duero River.
874- Wifredo the Shaggy, Count of Barcelona, ​​seeks virtual independence from the Franks and begins to actively oppose the Moors, whose possessions are located to the south and southwest of modern Catalonia. This is how a new focus of the Reconquista arises.
905-925- Basque king Sancho Garces strengthens the Kingdom of Pamplona. This is another outpost of the Reconquista in the northeast of the peninsula.
939- Battle of Simancas. Ramiro II of León (930-950) defeats the Cordoba caliph Abdarrahman III. However, the jubilation of Ramiro II is overshadowed by the uprising of the Castilians led by Count Fernand Gonzalez (930-970), who declares himself the de facto ruler of Castile.
978-1002- the reign of Almansor in Cordoba (Muhammad ibn Abu Amir, nicknamed al-Mansur - “The Winner”), who seized the military initiative from Christians and forced them to pay tribute to the Arabs.
1020- Alfonso V of Leon (994-1027), who assumed the title of King of Castile, Leon and Asturias, convenes a council in Leon, which approves a set of constitutional laws (fueros).
1000-1035- consolidation of another part of Christian Iberia. Sancho III the Great, King of Navarre, expands the borders of his possessions to the south. True, after his death many of his achievements were lost again. Regular pilgrimages of Christians to the relics in Santiago de Compostela begin.
1031- collapse of the Cordoba Caliphate.
Around 1030 to 1099- the life and exploits of Count Ruy Diaz de Bivar, nicknamed Cid Campeador, the legendary warrior of the Reconquista, the hero of the epic “Song of Cid,” as well as numerous later works by Corneille, Herder and others.
1037-1065- Fernando I, King of Castile and Leon, captures Coimbra and forces the Muslim rulers of Toledo, Seville and Badajoz to pay him tribute.
1065-1109- the reign of Alfonso VI the Brave, king of Leon (from 1065) and Castile (from 1072), one of the most famous warriors of the Reconquista era. Christian reconquest of Toledo (1085). Declaration of Tolerance towards Muslims.
1086- Concerned about the successes of Christians, the Muslim rulers of Granada, Seville and Badajoz are asking for military assistance from the Almoravids - an association of warlike tribes of Sahrawi Berbers who, by the 11th century, had created a vast empire stretching from Senegal to Algeria. At the end of the 11th century, the outstanding commander Yusuf ibn Teshufin (ibn Tashfin) became the leader of the Almoravids.
1086- Battle of Salak. Yusuf defeats the army of Alfonso VI.
1090 -1091- Yusuf deposed the Andalusian emirs and proclaimed himself supreme ruler.
1094- the army of the legendary Sid occupies Valencia, where Sid will be an independent ruler until his death.
1111- The Reconquista is “rolling back”. Almost all of Muslim Spain is subject to the Almoravids.
1118- Alfonso I of Aragon took Zaragoza.
1135- Alfonso VII of Leon proclaims himself, in the face of a common danger, “emperor of all Spain” (in fact, this is not the entire Iberian Peninsula).
Around 1140- the appearance of the Spanish national epic “Song of Cid”.
1151- the third and final wave of the Muslim invasion of Spain. This time the Almohads (“united”) came - adherents of a special teaching within Islam known as “unitarianism”. Manifestations of extreme Islamic fanaticism. Persecution of Christians.
1162- Alfonso II of Aragon becomes simultaneously Count of Barcelona. Thus, the northeastern "corner" of Spain is also united into a powerful state.
1195- the last severe defeat of Christians during the Reconquista - the battle of Alarcos. Almohad troops attacked the sleeping Castilian camp.
July 16, 1212- the climax of the Reconquest. The famous Battle of Las Navas de Tolos. The united Castilian-Leonese, Navarrese, Aragonese, and Portuguese troops defeat the Muslim army. Many knights who came from all over the Christian world also took part in the battle.
1229-1235- Jaime I of Aragon, the Conqueror, recaptures the Balearic Islands.
1238- Jaime I of Aragon enters Valencia.
1230-1252- reign of Fernando III the Saint, King of Castile and Leon. Christian troops triumphantly occupy the main cities of southern Iberia - Cordoba, Murcia, Jaen and Seville. Only the Emirate of Granada remains in Muslim hands.
1218- founding of the University of Salamanca.
1252-1284- reign of Alfonso X the Wise in Castile. The flourishing of sciences and arts, nurtured by centuries of interpenetration of religions and cultures. Publication of the first Code of Laws.
1309- Fernando IV of Castile (1295-1312) hoists the Christian banner on the Cape of Gibraltar.
1340- Battle of Rio Salado. Victory of the troops of Alfonso XI of Castile over the Muslims.
1350- Alfonso XI of Castile, who repeatedly tried to take Granada, dies. The Spanish states seem to have forgotten for a century about the small Islamic enclave in the southern part of the peninsula.
1469- Isabella I of Castile and Fernando (Ferdinand) II of Aragon enter into a marriage alliance. The actual foundation of the Kingdom of Spain, the establishment of an absolute monarchy.
January 2, 1492- the fall of Granada and the flight of the last emir Boabdil. Ferdinand and Isabella renounce the title of monarch of three religions and proclaim themselves Catholic Kings. Muslims and Jews are expelled from Spain.

The main states that existed on the Iberian Peninsula during the Reconquista

Visigothic Kingdom
The Visigoths entered the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of the 5th century. The capital of the Visigothic kingdom was the city of Toledo. In 711, the Visigothic state was destroyed by Arabs who came from Africa.

Kingdom of Asturias
Founded around 718 by the Visigothic aristocrat Don Pelayo. During the first centuries of the Reconquista, it occupied a small piece of land in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.

Kingdom of Navarre
It was located in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Provided constant resistance to both Muslims and Franks. During the Reconquista, as a rule, it opposed the Muslims in an alliance with Castile-Leon and independent Aragon.

Spanish Stamp
At the beginning of the 8th century, the territory of modern Catalonia was occupied by the Arabs. They were soon ousted by the Franks, who formed the state of the Spanish Mark on the conquered lands. In the 9th century, the Spanish March was divided into virtually independent counties, but formally this territory was considered the possession of the French kings until 1258. The Arabs called this region Alfaranja - “land of the Franks”.

Kingdom of Leon
One of the oldest Christian states on the territory of modern Spain. Formed in 909-910. It got its name from the city of the same name (Roman “legion”). In 924 it also included the territories of Galicia and Asturias.

Kingdom of Castile
Castile was part of the Kingdom of Leon. In the 930s, Count Fernand Gonzalez proclaimed himself the head of a new entity - an independent Castile. In 1037 León and Castile were reunited. This union fell apart and was restored again during the Reconquista.

Kingdom of Castile and Leon
Formally existed since 1037. The main driving force of the Reconquista and the core of the future Spain. It was his troops who played a key role in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolos, during the capture of Cordoba, Murcia, Seville and, finally, Granada.

Kingdom of Aragon
Formally proclaimed in 1035. During the Reconquista, Aragon showed itself to be a formidable military force. The troops of Pedro II of Aragon contributed greatly to the victory at Las Navasda Tolos.

County and Kingdom of Portugal
The County of Portugal was created in 1095. In 1139, Count Alfonso Henriques won a major victory over the Moors, winning the Battle of Ourique and proclaiming himself the first king of Portugal.

Emirate of Cordoba and Caliphate
Known in the Arab world as Al-Andalus. It existed as an emirate since the conquest of Spain by the Arabs, and as a caliphate since 929, when Emir Abdarrahman III proclaimed himself caliph - sovereign, independent of the ruler of the faithful in distant Baghdad. Until 1031, this state was perhaps the most prosperous in Europe. Under the blows of Christians moving from the north, as well as as a result of internal strife and invasions of semi-savage Berber hordes from Africa, the caliphate fell, breaking up into emirates.

Reconquista in faces

Don Pelayo, first king of Asturias (died 737)
He came from a noble Visigothic family. He took part in the battle of Guadalete, which was unfortunate for his fatherland. He raised an uprising against the Muslim rulers, which ended in a successful battle for the Goths with a many times superior enemy at Covadonga.

Almansor (Muhammad ibn Abu Amir), the greatest of the rulers of the Cordoba Caliphate (940-1002)
The man who almost caused the Reconquista to fail. He was nicknamed Almansor after suppressing one of the rebellions. “Al-Mansur bi-Allah” means “the winner inspired by Allah.” Although not a caliph, he ruled in the caliph's name and during his 20 years of unlimited dictatorship he introduced significant civil and trade reforms, as well as carried out 57 successful expeditions against Christians.

Cid Campeador, legendary commander of the Reconquista (circa 1030-1099)
Real name Ruy Diaz de Bivar. Born near Burgos. Served King Sancho II and, after his death, his brother and political opponent Alfonso VI. He had serious disagreements with both kings, as a result of which Cid was expelled from the kingdom twice. At certain periods of his life he was in the service of Muslim emirs, participating in their wars among themselves. The nickname Sid is from the Arabic “seid” (lord), Campeador means “warrior” in Spanish. Hero of the national epic "Song of Sid".

Yusuf ibn Teshufin (ibn Tashfin) (died 1106)
Muslim commander, leader of the Almoravids. At the end of the 11th century, at the call of the Andalusian emirs, he came to the Iberian Peninsula from the African coast to fight the Christian danger. In the decisive battle of Salak (1086), he inflicted a crushing defeat on the troops of the Leonese king Alfonso VI. He deposed the Andalusian emirs and proclaimed himself the supreme ruler of Muslim Spain (1090-1091). Became a serious obstacle to the Reconquista.

Alfonso X the Wise, King of Castile and Leon (1221-1284)
He became famous for his great learning and wisdom. He openly proclaimed the synthesis of Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures at his court. The Toledo poetic, scientific and translation school achieved such fame under him that even Batu Khan from the other side of the world asked to send him Spanish “literates”. This monarch is known as a major legislator, a talented poet and the greatest chess player of his era. In alliance with Aragon, he led a successful fight against the Arabs.

Boabdil, last emir of Granada (1460-ca. 1527)
Boabdil is a corruption of the Spanish word. Real name is Muhammad Abu Abdullah. In his youth, he was distinguished by his militant disposition, as if not noticing the hopelessness of any active actions on the part of Muslims in Spain in the 15th century. As soon as he ascended the throne, he bravely invaded Castile and was immediately captured. Having lost Granada, he was forced to cross to North Africa, where he died.

Natalia Vanhanen

In ancient times, between 182 and 19 BC, the tribes living on the lands of the Iberian Peninsula, the Lusitanians, Celts, Cantabri and others were conquered by Rome. In the second century AD, Christianity entered Spain. After the fall of Rome in 410, power in Spain passed to the barbarian Visigoths, who created their own state on the peninsula. The first Visigothic king to rule all of Spain was Svintila (621–631). The capital of his kingdom was the city of Toledo. In 711, a massive Muslim invasion of Spain began from the south, from Morocco. It was attended by Berbers and (to a lesser extent) Arabs.

The Muslims were called to Spain by the Christian feudal lords Agila, son of Vititsa, who had not shared power with the Visigoth king Roderic, the son of Vititsa, who was removed from the throne by Roderic; Oppa, Archbishop of Seville and Aguila's uncle, and Count Don Julian, governor of Ceuta, a fortified city on the African shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, who provided the Arabs with four of his ships

The goal of the reconquista was the conquest of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula by Christians from Muslims.

The progress of the reconquista. Briefly

• 711, July 19-26 - Defeat of the Visigoths by Muslims near the Guadaletta River in the Khanda tract
• 711-717 - Toledo, Zaragoza, Seville, Cordoba, all other cities of Spain up to the Pyrenees mountains came under Muslim rule
  At the same time, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, beyond the Cantabrian Mountains and the Bay of Biscay, the Christian Visigoths chose as their leader the Gothic feudal lord Pelayo, who led the struggle of Christians against the Moors. In 718 (according to other sources in 722), Pelayo defeated an Arab detachment sent against him in a battle in the Covadonga valley: “In the time of Anbasa, a wild ass named Pelayo appeared on the land of Galicia. From then on, he began to protect the Christians who still remained in Spain from the Muslims. They captured Asturias and prepared to march into the lands of the Franks, then they defeated Pamplona in Galicia and there were no more non-Muslim lands left there. But there remained a rock where a king named Pelayo defended himself with three hundred soldiers. The warriors of Islam did not stop attacking him. Pelayo's soldiers were dying of hunger, but they did not give up. They had almost no food except honey, which they obtained from bees in the cracks of the rock. The situation became painful for the Muslims and finally they decided to leave, saying: “Thirty wild donkeys, what harm can they do to us?”

  The Battle of the Covadonga Valley is considered the beginning of the Reconquista

• 719 - The Arabs, having crossed the Pyrenees, invaded France, but in 732 between Tours and Poitiers they were defeated by the Frankish army of Charles Martell, which ended their campaign in Europe

  Pelayo created the kingdom of Austria in northwestern Spain, west of the Basque Country, with its capital in the village of Cangas de Onis

• 737 - Death of Pelayo, the title of king passed to his son Favila
• 738 - Beginning of civil strife among the Muslim rulers of Spain, which continued throughout their rule on the peninsula. Shiites and Sunnis, Berbers and Arabs, emirs of cities and provinces - all fought with each other.
• 739 - Death of Favila. His sister's husband, Alfonso I, became King of Austria.
  Mid-8th century - Taking advantage of the war between the Berbers and Arabs, Alfonso made a series of attacks on Arab territories in Galicia, Cantabria and Leon, captured Braga, Porto, Viseu, Astorga, Leon, Zamora, Salamanca, Simancas, Avila, established a new border with Austrian possessions Muslims along the Duero River.
• 778 - The Frankish king Charlemagne crossed the Pyrenees Mountains and took from the Arabs the areas located on the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. He created the so-called Spanish March in those parts, which included the Basque country and Northern Catalonia with Barcelona. However, Karl soon retreated. The Arabs have returned.
• 791 - Alfonso II became King of Austria. Asturias finally established its rule in Galicia, Leon and Castile.
• 798 – Capture of Alfonso II of Lisbon
• 811 - The Spanish Stamp is Christian again
• End of the 8th century - In the upper reaches of the Aragon River, the most sparsely populated, inaccessible and backward areas of the Spanish Pyrenees, a small Christian state was created, which became the County of Aragon
• 813 - An ark containing relics was found in Asturias, which were attributed to the Apostle James. The veneration of relics was an important episode of the Reconquista that inspired Christians. Throughout the 9th century there were wars between Muslims and Muslims, Christians and Christians, Christians and Muslims, Spaniards and Normans. Cities and regions passed from hand to hand, were plundered, destroyed, and rebuilt.
• 874 - Count of Barcelona Wifredo Shaggy, achieved independence from the Franks and began to actively oppose the Moors, whose possessions were located to the south and southwest of Catalonia. A new focus of the Reconquista has emerged
• 905 - Part of the County of Aragon was occupied by the Basques, who founded the Kingdom of Navarre
• 910 - The Asturian kingdom became known as Leon (Leon is a region located in the northwest of the plateau, in the Esla River basin. The name is given in honor of the city of the same name)
• First half of the 11th century - the southern borders of Leon advanced to the Central Cordillera - a mountain range in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula
• 1035 - The County of Aragon became the Kingdom of Aragon
• 1037 - Creation of the united kingdom of Leon and Castile
• 1085 - King Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon captured Toledo and appointed it as the capital of the state.
• 1086 - The Sahrawi Berbers, called to help by the emirs of Granada, Seville and Badajoz, defeated the army of Alfonso VI at the Battle of Salak.
• 1094 - Formation of the Portuguese County
• 1111 - Almost all of Muslim Spain came under the rule of African Berebers
• The middle of the 12th century - another strife in the camp of Muslim rulers
• 1147 - The Portuguese reconquered the entire coastal region to the lower reaches of the Tagus River, including Lisbon
• 1135, May 26 - King Alfonso VII of Galicia, Leon and Castile was crowned Emperor of all Spain and from 1139 began an active struggle against the Muslims who controlled Southern Spain
• 1151 - Invasion of Spain by the Almohads - representatives of the state in North Africa and a special teaching within Islam, the third and final wave of the Muslim invasion
• The second half of the 12th century - a fierce struggle with varying success between the northern Christian states of Spain and the southern Muslim states
• 1195 - The Almohad army defeated the army of King Alfonso VIII of Castile. Alfonso was besieged in the fortress of Alarcos. The castle was taken by storm, but Alfonso VIII with a small detachment escaped from the encirclement. The Muslims returned to Seville.
• 1212 - The most important battle of the Reconquista at Las Navas de Tolosa (in the Tolosa River valley). Victory of the united Christian army from Castile, Navarre, Aragon, Portugal over the Muslims
• 1228 - The counts of Barcelona recaptured the island of Mallorca from the Muslims.
• 1230-1252 - The Spaniards took Cordoba, Murcia, Jaen, Valencia and Seville, the island of Menorca and the Pitius Islands from the Arabs. Only the Emirate of Granada remains in Muslim hands.

In the 8th century, Arabs professing Islam captured significant territories on the Iberian Peninsula. This caused retaliatory actions by Christians living in these lands. The process of the Pyrenees returning their lands was called the “reconquista”.

Background

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Visigothic Kingdom (named after one of the ancient Germanic tribes) was formed on the territory of the Iberian (Iberian) Peninsula in 418. It was they who were the first to encounter Arab-Berber (Moors) troops on these lands. In 709, the Muslims captured the city of Ceuta (south of the Strait of Gibraltar), from where in 711 they headed to the peninsula.

The invaders did not encounter significant resistance: the Visigothic king Roderic was busy with military operations in the northern part of the country, and the common population hoped for improved living conditions. Having hastily entered into battle with the Muslims near the Guadalete River, the Visigoths suffered a crushing defeat, which led to the fall of the entire kingdom.

The Muslims were able to resist only in the north of the former kingdom. There, in 718, the Visigothic aristocrat Pelayo founded the kingdom of Asturias, which began military operations against the invaders.

Rice. 1. The Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century.

Data

The main incidents that influenced the course of the reconquista are collected in the table:

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The Reconquista lasted about 770 years. The main reasons that the confrontation dragged on for so long are considered to be regular feudal clashes. The kingdoms and counties involved in the reconquest fought among themselves for territory. In addition, from the 1370s the kingdoms were involved in the Hundred Years' War. But there was not complete agreement among Muslims either, which led in 1031 to the collapse of the Cordoba Caliphate into separate emirates. The largest of them is Granada.

Rice. 2. Isabella Ι of Castile.

Results

The year of the end of the reconquest is considered to be 1492, when not a single Moorish ruler remained on Spanish territory.

The completion of the reconquista on the Iberian Peninsula led to the following results:

• Formation of centralized states: during the period of reconquest, the kingdoms of Portugal (initially part of Castile), Castile (originally the border region of Asturias), Aragon, Navarre were formed;
• Unification of Castilian and Aragonese lands into the Kingdom of Spain through dynastic marriage;
• Expulsion of Muslims and Jews from the peninsula, Christianization of those who wished to remain;
• The appearance of many military adventurers who needed to be occupied with something. The conquest was ideal for these purposes - the conquest of America from 1492;
• A mixture of Arabic and European culture.

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