Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula

Although modern historians doubt to what extent it was reconquest or simply one more conquest, the truth is that this name evokes almost legendary times for us and names like that of the Cid Campeador.

The Reconquest is known as the period between the end of the Arab expansion in the Iberian Peninsula, and the fall of the Kingdom of Granada in 1492.

The starting date is debatable, since for some it could be set after the Battle of Poitiers in 732, in which the troops Charles Martel's franchises stopped the Muslim invasion of the Franco Kingdom, or else in 718, when the reconquest of the kingdom of Asturias.

In any case, it is clear that the historical period of the Reconquest begins shortly after the sudden Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

The Iberian Peninsula supposes, for Christianity, one of the two fronts open against Islam, the other being the containment of the advance on the Byzantine Empire.

The problem with the Reconquest is that the kingdoms that carried it out were not the conquered Visigothic kingdom, although they sought to legitimize their position as heirs of that one.

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The social realitypolitics of the Visigoth kingdom, in which the Visigoths were a ruling elite over a population mostly still heir to the traditioncultural Roman, which led to a treatment of conquerors to conquered.

That would be the reason whereby local populations would have facilitated Islamic conquest in exchange for being subject to less power oppressor than that of the Visigoths and, over time, cultural symbiosis would have given way to a unified society in the countryside Islamic.

Given this, would it not be more legitimate to speak of conquest than reconquest? Although historiology has traditionally opted for reconquest, in more modern times the concept is being revised and many authors are committed to talking about conquest.

As long as the Caliphate was strong, the Christian kingdoms remained on the defensive and surviving, with very little offensive action against the cohesive Muslim kingdom.

It was the division of the Caliphate into numerous kingdoms of taifa, small entities that, added together, did not have all the power that once had the Caliphate, which caused the Christian kingdoms to go on the offensive and begin to reconquer land.

It has also been discussed whether it was a religious struggle from the beginning, or whether this was a secondary factor that did not become more important until later in the reconquest process.

The truth is that there were many alliances between kingdoms on both sides of the border that separated Islam from Christianity in the Iberian Peninsula, sometimes Christians and Muslims to attack other Christians or other Muslims. It is already said that politics (and other interests) lead to gathering strange bedmates ...

The Christian “resistance” to the invasion and the subsequent process of reconquest began in two different settings: the Cantabrian coast and the Pyrenees.

In the first, the leading role is taken by the Visigoths, who will be able to maintain a narrow strip of territory "Free" (with the considerations previously seen that the word deserves) in the north, and in the second case it will be the Franks, who will push from the north, crossing the Pyrenees and establishing control zones to prevent the invasion of his kingdom (case of the famous Hispanic Brand, which later will give rise to various kingdoms, such as Aragon or the counties Catalan).

In the Cantabrian area, more specifically in what would later become the kingdom of Asturias, it is Don Pelayo, a Visigothic nobleman, who rebels against the Muslims, achieving in 722 the victory in the Battle of Covadonga, cited by some scholars as the turning point and, therefore, the starting point for the Reconquest.

From the kingdom of Asturias, and over time, what were called to be the future peninsular kingdoms would be formed: Castilla, León, or Portugal, which would evolve as the Christian advance allowed some of them to expand towards the South.

A little over two centuries mediate between the beginning of Christian "resistance" and the first significant advances in the territory of Islam.

The Reconquest was not a continuous process, but comprised periods of peace and others of confrontation, usually border skirmishes that involved private armies, some mercenaries and local people.

In this context, exceptions such as the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa are situated as confrontations between large contingents of troops.

Parallel to the process of gradual reconquest, and while the Islamic dominions are fragmented and diminished, the Christian kingdoms are consolidated.

This also entails the building of new political-social structures and their foundations.

Towards the middle of the 14th century, in the peninsula there are the kingdoms of Portugal, Castilla y León, Navarra and the Crown Catalano-Aragonesa (a confederation of four independent states but united by the same reigning dynasty and by common interests).

These were opposed in the south by the Kingdom of Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the peninsula.

The final finish of the Kingdom of Granada would come in 1492 by the arms of Castile, but only after having achieved the dynastic union with the Catalan-Aragonese Crown.

In more modern times both so-called Muslim Spain and the Reconquest itself have been idealized.

The first, for more progressive sectors of society, as an Eden of religious, political and cultural tolerance (it is true that it was more so than the kingdoms Christians, but not at all comparable to a modern, open and tolerant society), while the Reconquest has been elevated by sectors Spanish nationalists, who see in this process the beginning of the union of what will end up being Spain, valuing the task of the kingdom of Spain above all others. Castile and Leon.

Photo: Fotolia - Antonio Infante Pere

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