Medieval Spain: Reconquista
From the Taifa Kingdoms to Isabella and Ferdinand versus Granada (1000-1492)
Jun 22, 2006
The convivencia ("living together") of Muslim Spain could not last. Christian (called Mozarabs) and Jewish minorities remained in Al-Andalus. They were treated well, overall, being "People of the Book" (followers of biblical tradition). Some Jews, especially, became quite powerful as merchants and advisors to the caliphs. Similarly, Jews and Muslims lived in relative peace under the Christians until the mid-14th century, when the Black Death and expanding Christian population hardened religious attitudes. But in times of stress, the majority attacked their vulnerable minorities, regardless of who was in power.
The Muslims also raided the northern Christian kingdoms and the Christians raided the Muslims. The Christians usually got the worst of it. The great 10th century Muslim general Al-Mansur led many raids against the Christians, sacking Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela.
By Al-Mansur's time, the caliphs had become powerless figureheads. Al-Mansur ruled in all but name. His successors, however, wanted the name, too. The resultant unrest ended the caliphate in 1031 and split Al-Andalus into a squabbling group of taifa kingdoms.
The taifa kingdoms paid parias, a tribute in lieu of raids (razzias). But seeing blood in the water, the Christians mounted successful campaigns from the 1030s onward. Castille expanded first, taking Toledo in 1085 and Cordoba in 1236. The Kings of Aragon and the Counts of Catalonia, merging their dynasties in 1137, expanded south from Barcelona along the coast, taking the entire Ebro Valley by 1153 and Valencia in 1238.
To help the Andalusian Muslims, the North African Almoravids and Almohads came in the 11th and 12th centuries. But though they raided with overwhelming military force against the Christians, they could not maintain their victories. Their harsh, conservative views of Islam clashed with the more cosmopolitan attitudes of their Andalusian coreligionists, eroding their support. The Christians finally defeated the Almohads in a decisive victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212.
By 1294, only the Kingdom of Granada remained, surviving by paying tribute until 1492. In that year, Queen Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, called "The Catholic Kings", culminated a century and a half of increasing religious repression by rediscovering the New World through Columbus, conquering Granada and expelling all Jews from Spain. By 1502, they had forcibly converted all remaining Muslims to nominally Christian Moriscos. The Reconquest of Spain was complete.
