A Brief History of Spain (Part Two)

When the Roman Empire fell apart in the fourth century, Germanic tribes from the north swept into Spain to fill the power vacuum.  One of these tribes, the Visigoths, gained dominance and reunited the peninsula with their capital at Toledo.  The Visigoth kings converted to Christianity, and Hispania became a Christian kingdom.

The Visigoth rule, however, was weak, and the kingdom faced a threat from the Moslem caliphate which had expanded across North Africa.  In 711, a Moslem army, composed mostly of Berber tribesmen known as the Moors, swept across the Strait of Gibraltar and within seven years had conquered almost all of the peninsula.  Only a small area in the mountainous north had remained under the control of the Christians. 

The Moors were to remain in Spain for more than seven centuries.  They established their capital at Córdoba in the southern region of Al-Andalus (which we know today as Andalucía).  A large portion of the population converted to Islam.  Christians and Jews were required to pay a special tax, but were allowed to practice their religions.  Throughout much of the Moorish occupation, there was a remarkable coexistence of the three religions. 

Córdoba was at that time the largest, richest, and most cultured city in Western Europe.  It had a population of 500,000 people.  It was a commercial, financial and intellectual center.  It's great mosque was one of the marvels of the world, and it boasted a university and the largest library in the world at that time.  Its philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, and scholars, who revived the knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans, influenced the rest of Europe, and helped to bring it out of the "Dark Ages".

(image from the web)
The Mosque of Córdoba

In the far north, the Christian kingdom of Asturias, had resisted the Moslem invasion.  The Asturian king, Pelayo, defeated the Moors at the Battle of Covadonga in 722.  This victory marks the beginning of the "Reconquista" (Reconquest) in which the Christians, over the span of more than seven centuries, would gradually push the Moors out of the peninsula.  It was an on again, off again crusade.  There were periods when the Christian and Moorish kingdoms lived in peace.  There were periods when the Moors would reclaim land lost to the Christians. But the Moors were gradually pushed further and further south.  The old Visigoth capital of Toledo fell to the Christians in1035, Córdoba in 1236, and Sevilla in 1248.  Finally the only Moorish territory was the Kingdom of Granada in the far south.  There the Moorish culture had its final expression in the beautiful palace of the Alhambra.

(image from the web)

The Alhambra Palace

The most famous Christian warrior of the "Reconquista", and the national hero of Spain, was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, commonly known as "El Cid"  In 1094 he conquered the Mediterranean port of Valencia.  The story of "El Cid" was the basis of the earliest epic poem in Spanish literature, "El Cantar de Mío Cid" (The Song of My Cid).

The Christian territories were made up of numerous kingdoms including  Asturias, Galicia, León, and Navarra.  The counts of Barcelona ruled Cataluña and for a time it was an important commercial and political power whose influence stretched throughout the Mediterranean.  By the 1400s the two kingdoms of Castilla and Aragón controlled virtually all of Christian Spain.  In 1469, Queen Isabel I of Castilla (we know her as Isabella) married King Fernando II (Ferdinand) of Aragón.  Although they continued to rule their separate kingdoms, their marriage was to bring about the eventual creation of the modern nation of Spain. 

Isabel and Fernando were devout Catholics and are referred to as "Los Reyes Católicos" (The Catholic Monarchs). On January 1, 1492, the combined armies of their two kingdoms captured Granada, the last Moorish stronghold, and brought to an end the 781 year long Islamic presence in Spain. 

(image from the web)

Fernando II and Isabel I
(the couple that we call Ferdinand and Isabella)