CONVIVENCIA AND RECONQUISTA: A HISTORY AMONG

MUSLIMS, JEWS, AND CHRISTIANS IN MEDIEVAL IBERIAN

PENINSULA

HIST-419 AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL
UNIVERSITY

BY YUNUS DOĞAN
1793710
PROF. DR. MUSTAFA SOYKUT

JANUARY 2016
ANKARA
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................ 2

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................. 5

A. HISTORIOGRAPHY’S POLEMIC WITH THE DEFINITION OF

“CONVIVENCIA” .................................................................................................................... 5

CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................... 10

A. THE POSITION OF MUSLIM AND NON-MUSLIM IN SOCIETY ........................ 10

B. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND TOLERANCE ......................................................... 16

C. CULTURAL INTERACTION BETWEEN MUSLIMS, JEWS AND CHRISTIANS 20

CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................................. 24

A. RECONQUISTA: END OF CONVIVENCIA .............................................................. 24

B. COLLAPSE OF SOCIAL CO-EXISTENCE AND RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE .... 28

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 31

CHRONOLOGY OF RECONQUISTA ................................................................................... 33

MAPS OF RECONQUISTA ...................................................................................................... 35

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 38

1
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank to my renunciative advisor Prof. Dr. Mustafa Soykut who had an

active role in spite of all his busyness while I was writing this thesis. Actually, he made me

curious about Medieval European history with the courses that he gave and the articles we have

read with him. Because of the effectiveness of articles and his contributions to these, I really

become interested with Medieval European history, especially Medieval Iberian Peninsula. So, I

could be able to write on that topic thanks to him. Because of all these factors, I have written this

thesis about ‘Convivencia and Reconquista in Medieval Iberian Peninsula.’

Moreover, I owe a debt of gratitude to Asst Prof. Evrim Türkçelik for his contributions

and attention to my thesis. I had some problems such as citation, shaping the content and

following it and especially, finding sources about my topic. However, I was able to handle all of

these problems in a short period with his great attention and sensibility, and I could make that

work more understandable and descriptive.

2
 ABSTRACT

It is not common in world history to come across with a time period that offers a co-

existence of three religions as the one in medieval Spain. It is true that the beginnings and ends -

the Arabic invasion of Spain and the Christians Reconquista- of this time period contain many

wars, persecutions and executions; but despite of the beginnings and ends, it can be easily

realized that in medieval Spain a time period of peaceful co-existence was created with social

cooperation, religious tolerance and cultural impact.

This project mainly focuses on two topics: the first one is the co-existence of three

religions in the time period of medieval Spain known as the “convivencia” and the second one is

the time period called as “Reconquista” that is the end of convivencia and conquest of Iberian

Peninsula. For the former one, this project concentrates on social, religious and cultural co-

existence rather than political one. It includes an analysis of how this peaceful history was

created by examining social and religious tolerance of society and as well as cultural impacts of

Muslims, Jews and Christians on each other. For the latter part, this project focuses on the end of

convivencia by examining how cultural and religious coexistence of Iberian society collapsed

and explaining Reconquista in a historiographical perspective.

3
 INTRODUCTION

Convivencia is a technical Spanish term which first emerged as a part of famous debate

about Spanish historical identity in 1948. With the basic meaning, it depicts the condition when

two or more of the Abrahamic religions managed how to exist together congruously in medieval

Spain. On the other hand, to extend its meaning, convivencia includes not only living together

harmoniously but also it means some substantial level of toleration and respect for individual

beliefs and religious practices, as well as positive mutual effects between two or three significant

religious traditions. This toleration and interaction played an important role in many area of life

such as culture, economy, and religion and so on in medieval Spain. However, we mustn’t forget

that this toleration and interaction was not totally performed.

For studying on convivencia, it is an attractive prospective because it contains many

secrets for someone who studies on medieval Spain in term of social, political, economic,

religious and as well as cultural. There are a lot of modern Iberianists, historians and philologists

who embrace this notion in order to solve its mystery. In addition, many social scientists have

taken advantages from it in order to explain some crucial issue by giving it different meaning for

special situation or condition. To clear it, in her article “Beyond convivencia: critical reflections

on the historiography of interfaith relations in Christian Spain” Maya Soifer wrote in a clear

manner:

“....to medievalists caught in the perennial battle against the libellous of the “ Dark Ages;” to
Hispanists who could administer it as an antidote for the scourge of Spain’s “ Black Legend;” and to
some Jewish historians who visualized a “Golden Age” of Jewish culture in medieval Sepharad.” 1

1
Soifer, Maya , Beyond convivencia: critical reflections on the historiography of interfaith relations in Christian
Spain, Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 1:1, (London: Routhledge, 2009), p.20

4
 CHAPTER I

A. HISTORIOGRAPHY’S POLEMIC WITH THE DEFINITION OF

“CONVIVENCIA”

Convivencia is a highly complex and fragile issue both in today and also past. The reason

behind this issue comes from the term convivencia itself, because it is not a stable term, that is

the definition and the understanding of this notion can be changed from person to person or from

time to time. While convivencia is understood by some scholar as a simple model that can be

guide for us in order to understand the medieval Spain in deep, however for other scholar it may

be dangerous because of being too complex.

For growing number of social scientists the definition of convivencia and its context have

been a problem for over half a century and many of these scientists re-define the concept of

convivencia or prefer to replace it with more analytical term which will be better for

understanding the relationship between Jews- Christians-Muslims in medieval Spain. For

example, while some they examined the term with all of its aspects, the other tried to narrow it

and by this way tried to explain it as a technical definition of social interaction between members

of different religious group regardless of its other aspects. 2 Or some Spanish historians instead of

using convivencia, they prefer to use the term “coexistencia". Their aim for choosing

coexistencia is that their notion is a physical coexistence of three major religion or communities

in the same cities. It is not necessary to show us a social integration between these groups. In

other perspective, some of them like Francisco Garcia Fitz try to separate convivencia into

2
Ibid, p.21.

5
categories such as social convivencia or cultural convivencia and so on, and analyse each of them

to get a conclusion.3

At the end this problem about definition of convivencia has turned to one of the more

controversial issue within the social scientists. So to understand this controversial issue, in deep,

this thesis will try to examine some significant approaches which belong to famous social

scientists who deal with this concept from different disciplines.

The word "convivencia" was used firstly by Ramon Menendez Pidal, the grandfather of

modern Spanish philology. In his history of the Spanish language (Origines del Espanol, 1926),

he examined this term in a philological perspective rather than historical one. He used the term

of " convivencia de normas" to describe contemporaneous presence of phonetic variations

between regional types of early Romance in Iberian Peninsula. For example, he analysed the

word for "old" which come from the Late Latin vetulus, and realized that this word survived as

biello in Aragones, bieyu in Leonese and viejo in Castilian. 4 After examined many examples of

these variations, he concluded that convivencia was not a static term for using of describing

balance of power, contrary it was a dynamic concept which related to competition. 5In brief, it

can be finalized that for Pidal, the convivencia meant conflict, rivalry between powers and

victory.

However, for convivencia, becoming prominent as a part of the controversial issue about

Spanish identity is grounded to Americo Castro, student of Pidal. Similar with his colleagues,

3
Ibid, p.23-24
4
Szpiech, Ryan, “The Convivencia Wars: Decoding Historiography’s Polemic with Philology” in A Sea of
Languages: Rethinking the Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History, ed. Karla Mallette et al., (University of
Toronto, 2013), p.137
5
Ibid, p.137

6
Castro intended to analyse the mystery of modern Spain but, by contrast with his colleagues, he

did not use the general term such ad "political liberalism" or "technological innovation" and so

on. Instead of using these terms to explain the mystery of Spain, he probed to the medieval Spain

which were the era that Christians, Muslims and Jews had lived together. Moreover, he claimed

that this togetherness of Christians, Muslims and Jews had played an important role to solve

enigma of modern Spain. To clarify this point, it could be looked at what Ryan Szpiech said in

his article about the definition of convivencia according to Castro:

“……. Americo Castro, who applied the term to describe not the competition of linguistic
variants but the social coexistence of peoples, specifically of medieval Jews, Christians, and
Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula.”6

From this quotation, it is easy to realize that Castro's concept of convivencia is more

idealistic which depends on interaction of cultural elements, while Menendez Pidal's approach is

more competitive and mechanistic. Therefore, differently from the "competitive sense" intended

by Pidal, Castro made the term of convivencia "historiable". 7

After this definition, many historians had a great deal of difficulty with accepting the

Castro’s notion, and they try to criticize and reconsider this approach of convivencia. One of

these criticisms came from Thomas Glick. In a seminal article “Acculturation as an Explanatory

Concept in Spanish Identıty” (Glick & Pi-Sunyer 1969), Thomas Glick and Oriol Pi-Sunyer

discussed the convivencia of Castro. According to them, the Castro’s concept of convivencia

6
Ibid, p.137
7
Dodds, D. Jerrilynn & Glick, F. Thomas & Mann, B. Vivian, Convivencia Jews, Muslims, and Christians in

Medieval Spain, (New York: George Braziller, 1992), p.2

7
which depends on cultural blending is a true concept, however this notion is very weak in order

to improve anthropological theories that help us to understand the mechanism of acculturation.8

For understand the Glick’s point of view, his book “Islamic and Christian Spain in the

Early Middle Ages” (1979), will be more helpful. In this book, he focused on agriculture,

urbanization and commerce, social structure and ethnic relation. He basically tried to show the

role of mixture of social, political, economic and cultural factors that create relation between

these religious communities.

In brief, for Glick, Castro’s determination about existence of cultural interaction in

medieval Spain is basically true, but it needs to get a new point of view. Firstly, convivencia has

to be purified from Castro’s idealist language, then historians need to give importance to

studying social, demographic, and political factors in order to explain the mechanism of

acculturation.9

Some historians focused on content. They opposed to approach the idea of convivencia as

a romantic term, and they included more pragmatic factors to its content. Mark Meyerson, in

(The Muslim of Valencia in the Age of Ferdinand and Isabel: Between Coexistence and Crusade)

investigated the “economic foundations” of convivencia. In this way, he tried to explain the

existence of social relationship except from religious and culture. In short, he stressed the

important role of dynamics of marketplaces on preventing violence between different groups.10

8
Wolf, Baxter Kenneth, Convivencia in Medieval Spain: A Brief History of an Idea,
Religion Compass (Blackwell, 2009), p.75

9
Soifer, Maya , Beyond convivencia: critical reflections on the historiography of interfaith relations in Christian
Spain, Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 1:1, (London: Routhledge, 2009), p.21

10
Wolf, Baxter Kenneth, Convivencia in Medieval Spain: A Brief History of an Idea,
Religion Compass (Blackwell, 2009), p.81

8
 On the other hand, other historians rejected to using the term of convivencia, and they

gave preference to another terms. For example, recent historians who study on ethnic relations in

medieval Spain, addressed one of major weakness that underlies Castro’s notion of convivencia.

According to them, Castro could not interpret the social dynamics of contact and conflict

between the three groups and could not achieve to understand the mental processes which are

shaped and determined by social dynamics. Furthermore, they did not accept the Castro’s

explanation of relationship among the three groups as idealized or romanticized. It just presents

positive side of cultural contact while underestimates the negative ones. Due to all of these

reasons, they have approached to convivencia in a different perspective and have used the term

“coexistence” instead of it.11

In brief, the convivencia has been studied by many historians, Iberianists and philologists

over half a year. While some of them have investigated this concept in linguistic way, the others

have tried to make it a subject of history. On the other hand, some of scholar have preferred to

interest with its context rather than its linguistic function. Or while some scholars like Mark

Meyerson, have included more pragmatic factors such as economy, the others like Thomas Glick

and Oriol Pi-Sunyer, have investigated mechanism of acculturation and social dynamics.

Now, from all of these theories and recent studies, it can be said that explaining

convivencia and its content was not succeed. However, despite of this failure or using another

term such as peaceful coexistence, acculturation, and daily interaction, it is true that convivencia

still is an important subject that one can study on it from different of ways.

11
Dodds, D. Jerrilynn & Glick, F. Thomas & Mann, B. Vivian, Convivencia Jews, Muslims, and Christians in
Medieval Spain , (New York: George Braziller, 1992), p.2

9
 CHAPTER II

A. THE POSITION OF MUSLIM AND NON-MUSLIM IN SOCIETY

For understandıng how Jews, Christians and Muslims have created a peaceful coexistence

in medieval Iberian Peninsula, it have to be taken a glance at society of medieval Spain at that

time, that is the position of Christians and Jews in Al-Andalus and the Muslims under Christians

reign, because this peaceful society which was created by these three communities was much

better when compared with other society in the rest of Europe. However, it is significant to point

out that this togetherness or convivencia was not a one-sided success that is this peaceful society

did not just based on Muslims or Islam; it was the achievement of these three groups by showing

tolerance towards each other in different parts of peninsula such as in Islamic Caliphate of

Cordoba, in Norman Palermo, in Christian Northern Spain or in Christian Toledo. To understand

the society deeply, it will be perfect to start with the life of non-Muslims in Al-Andalus.

It is obvious that when the position of non-Muslims in Al-Andalus is examined, it can be

realized that they were given more rights than any minorities in the rest of Europe. First of all,

they were not distinct from Muslims. Contrary to this, Jews and Christians were included to

Islamic society. Besides they created common values by sharing customs, ideas and life styles.

Their statue was determined by religious law which was based on Qur’an. According to Islam,

both groups- Christians and Jews- were accepted as the “People of the Book” (ahl al-kitab), or

the “People of the Contract” (ahl al-dhimmah) in connection with giving them divine inspiration.

So for this reason, they were guaranteed protection. 12

12
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.115

10
 In the basic sense, depending on this protection and privilege, it was permitted to believe

and practice their own religion, to divorce, to have governing marriage, to join family and civil

affairs and to own property. Besides that, they had right to own their jurats and laws, even

though the case between Muslims and non-Muslims.13 In addition, it is important to mention

that to engage with economic affairs such as trade, agriculture and industry; to benefit from

education and medicine was allowed for non-Muslims. However, in addition to all these, they

faced with some restrictions. For instance, they were forced to pay a poll tax (jizyah) and a land

tax (kharaj) for protection. Moreover, they were not allowed to spread their own beliefs and to

arm against Muslims.

All of these rights and restrictions were guaranteed by laws and became an integral part

of social life. However, it is necessary to state that these laws were disregarded in some cases.

For example, in theory, it was forbidden to build new churches or synagogues, and to engage

with governmental position, but in practice, it is easy to see that non-Muslims built new religious

places, and they took some positions in government.14

The Jews in Al-Andalus: The great Arab conquest and rise of Islam in Iberian Peninsula

strengthened the bond between Muslims and Jews. Before conquest of peninsula, Jews of Iberian

Peninsula lived under restriction of Visigoth. With the conquest, Jews approved the Arabs as

their liberator from oppression and this led to start a long period of Jews-Arabs togetherness. For

most of scholars, in this period, the life of Jews was much better in Iberian Peninsula than in the

rest of Europe. However, it is significant to highlight that this time period of peace was not be

13
O’callaghan, F. Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain, (Cornell University: New York, 1975), p. 145
14
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.115

11
created only with the efforts of Muslims. The most important point in this situation was the

positive responds of Jews to this effort. At first, they engaged with Arabs, and utilized the

opportunities which were given to them. If it will be looked from a broad perspective, it can be

realized that the Jews had a religious freedom and they did not keep away from being involved in

economic, social, political and cultural life. From a deeper perspective, Jews community in Al-

Andalus had right to be ruled by their chief rabbi, and it was allowed to live according to their
15
own life and traditions. Despite living in their own quarter, they took places in society and

economy. They engaged with various jobs such as agriculture, trade and banking in economic

life, and made significant contribution to it. In addition to all of these, one of the most important

points is that many young and talented Jews were appointed in government. One of these

governmental officials was Hasdai ben Shaprut. During the reign of Abd Al-Rahman III, one of

the most important rulers of Muslim Spain, Hasdai ben Shaprut was appointed as close adviser

and court physician and many times he held important diplomatic and financial responsibilities.16

Another example is from the Taifa of Granada. A talented and young man, called Samuel ibn

Nagrilla, took a place as vizier or prime minister in the court of Muslim ruler of Granada.

Moreover, he became the head of Jewish community and one of the most important poets of the

Golden Age of Jewish literature.17

In brief, this time period brought the Golden Age of Jewish, especially in literature and

philosophy. Under the Arab-Muslim influence, not only the Jewish thought and philosophy were

developed, but also Jewish law and religious practices were put in order. Moreover, Hebrew

15
O’callaghan, F. Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain, (Cornell University: New York, 1975), p. 152
16
Jayyusi, K. Salma, The Legacy of Muslim Spain, (E.J. Brill Publisher: Netherlands, 1992), p.190
17
Menocal, Rosa Maria, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of
Tolerance in Medieval Spain, (Little Brown: Boston, 2002), p. 39-40

12
language systematized its grammar and vocabulary. Most importantly, in this time, the Judaism

started to develop and at the end it took its final shape.18

The Mozarabs: With the invasion and conquest of Iberian Peninsula by Muslims,

situation of population became change. Many of Visigoths left Spain, but a great number of

Christians stayed in peninsula and settled in the heart of Muslims in Al-Andalus. These

Christians, who lived among Muslim population, were called as “Mozarabs” which refers to

Christians who created a harmony with Muslims and adopted lifestyle of Muslims in terms of

dressing, architecture, Arabic language and literature.19 Their life style was as good as Jews. Like

Jews, they were accepted as “People of the Contract” and they had to pay taxes for protection.

They remained faithful to Christianity, and had rights to own their court, their own judges and

worship in their religious places. In society, they settled in major cities such as Cordova, Seville,

Granada, Valencia and Toledo. It is the fact that their statue was not equal with Muslims,

however despite this inequality and living in their own quarters, they did not lose their contact

with social life. They usually engaged with agriculture and commerce.20

On the other hand, their role in government and military was remarkable. Mostly, they

took part in Muslims armies as mercenaries, and fought against their co-religionists from the

north. Besides, the talented mozarabs especially in diplomacy were appointed to important posts

in court of Muslim rulers.21

18
Goitein, S.D, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages, (Schocken: New York, 1974), p. 157
19
Reilly, F. Bernard , The Medieval Spain, (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1993), p.60
20
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.118
21
Ibid, p.119

13
 In short, the Mozarabs lived in tranquillity under Muslim rule. They enjoyed religious

freedom and joined social life. They were interested in Arabic language and culture, and spoke

both Arabic and Romance. They also contributed to social, economic and intellectual life of

country. In addition to all these, knowing both Arabic life styles and Christians customs;

speaking Arabic and Romance; interacting with Muslims in Al-Andalus and with Christians of

north Spain made contribution of their important role in society, because by this way they served

as a cultural bridge between Muslims and Christians to the north and they affected the north of

Spain in different aspects.22

Muslims of Al-Andalus and Mudejares: After looking the position of Jews and

Christians in society, now it must be examined the social life and statue of Muslims in Medieval

Spain. When looking to their life, it will be better to divide this topic into two; the Muslims in

Al-Andalus and the Muslims under Christians rule, because while they were predominant in

society of Al-Andalus, on the other hand they were minority in Northern Spain, and this situation

affected their statue.

To begin with, in Al-Andalus, there is no certain information about the number and

strength of Muslim population in the very beginning of conquest. However it is certain that they

were minority and they tried to increase their population by adoption and marriage with native

population. For Muslim, the primary source of law was Qur’an because it contains the words of

God. In theory, all Muslims are equal, but in Al-Andalus, they were divided according to many

differences such as racial origin, wealth, learning and social classes. The principal division was

22
Ibid, p.119

14
between Berber (the people of Maghrib) and Arabs.23 However, despite this division, after

increasing their power and number especially during the Umayyad Caliphate and Caliphate of

Cordoba, Muslims took control of social, economic and political life of country. They became

own large land, towns and fortress. They joined to social and economic life and were interested

in trade, industry and agriculture with Jews and Christians. Moreover, they attempted to spread

their religion and language.24 By building the Mosque of Cordoba and Alhambra of Granada,

they contributed to developing of cities. Shortly, in Al-Andalus, Muslims created a harmonious

society with Jews and Mozarabs for contribution to every aspect of life.

However for understanding convivencia, it has to look at the position of Muslims under

Christian’s population and rule especially in north of Spain and in Christian Toledo. It is very

difficult to give the exact number of Muslims who lived under Christians rule. However, with the

fall of Toledo in 1085, a large number of Muslims started to live among Christian majority.

These Muslims were called as Moros, and some of them converted to Christianity. Yet, the great

majority of these Muslims continued to live their religion under Christians. They were called

“Mudejares”, which means “permitted to remain”, which refers to Muslims who lived among

Christians population.25

These Muslims had to pay taxes in return for living and protection. Basically, they were

allowed to worship, own their customs and local government. Mostly, they engaged with

agriculture, arts, architecture and commerce.26 They also contributed to the intellectual life in

23
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA ,2015), p.105
24
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.111
25
Ibid, p.120
26
Ibid, p.120

15
Christians territories. For example, in Christian Toledo, under Bishop Raymond, Jewish,

Christian, and Muslim scholars translated many Arab texts, and many works of Aristoteles into

Hebrew, Latin and Romance.27 Moreover, both Mudejeras and Jews joined to the administration

in certain extend. They improved good relations with Christian rulers in Castile and took places

in administration.

Briefly, in Medieval Spain, the people of three religions achieved to live together in

peace and create a social convivencia by working together, living in same quarter, and being

friends. Although their statue was not equal, they did not keep away from joining to every parts

of life. Their life standards were much better when compared with other parts of Europe.

B. RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES AND TOLERANCE

For someone, who study on history of Medieval Iberian Peninsula in order to understand

convivencia, must look into the religious tolerance between these religion, especially between

Christianity and Islam, because in Medieval Iberian Peninsula, the most notable difference

between people was religion. For this reason, it will be very weak work of convivencia without

touching to religious attitudes in Spain.

To give a brief back ground, from the beginning of Islam the history between Christians

and Muslims witnessed many wars. In fact between Christianity, Islam and even Judaism, there

are many common beliefs such as “belief in one God, Creator of all things, Rewarder and

27
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA, 2015), p.110

16
Punisher on the Day of Judgement; moral codes and common traditions.”28 However the conflict

among these religions has continued from beginning to the present by both the pen and the

sword. The reason behind this conflict based on economic, politics and religious interests. Yet

the main reason is religion. Scholar, Norman Daniel, touch on this subject in his work "Islam and

the West." He has shown that the reason behind the Christians' negative attitudes towards Islam

base on the fact that the Christians do not accept the Qur'an as true, and Muhammed as prophet.

Moreover, they thought that Qur'an is forgery because it is a complex dicta without style and

content.29

However, on the other hand, in Al-Andalus, it can be seen that there were religious

tolerance and congenial life between Christian, Muslims and Jews, from eight century to the end

of eleventh century. Moreover, this religious tolerance or religious convivencia could be seen not

only among community, but also it was common in ruling class, both in Al-Andalus and in

Christian north of Spain.

To begin with, it was common that Christian kings, princes or Muslim rulers adopted the

dresses, customs and institutions of each other’s. In addition, it is the fact that Christian kings

and Muslim rulers embraced the three communities. At this point, Alfonso VI, the conqueror of

Toledo, will be the best example. After fall of Toledo, Christians, Jews and Muslims continued

to live with each other in a peace. Alfonso VI declared himself as “the king of three religions.”

At that time, Muslims and Christians joined to armies of each other and fought together against

common enemy. Alfonso VI benefited from skills of Jews and Muslims. Moreover, when he was

28
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.121
29
Ibid, p.122

17
 30
defeated by his brother, Muslim court of Toledo opened its doors for him. Another good

example is the Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), the national hero of Spain. When he conquered

Valencia, he took care of problems of his Muslim subject. When he was exiled from Alfonso's

court in 1081, he was accepted with a great honour and respect by al- Muktadir, the ruler of Taifa

state of Saragossa and he fought for Muslim rulers of Saragossa.31

On the other hand, in society this religious convivencia occurred in different aspects.

There are a lot of evidences which demonstrate that people of three religions showed a

significant degree of tolerance towards each other and allowed both religious conversion and

intermarriage between Muslim man with a Christian and Jewish women. For example one of the

ablest rulers of Muslim Spain, Abd al-Rahman III, was the grandson of a Christian princess.32

Also the opposition of this, marriage between Christian man and Muslim women, was possible.

For instance, Alfonso VI of Leon married with Zayda, the daughter-in-law of al Mutamid, the

ruler of Seville between 1069 and 1091.33

Apart from society, these religious attitudes were effective in economic area. People from

different religions joined economic activity by respecting beliefs of each other. When Jews and

Muslims went into a partnership for a store and its profit, they agreed on sharing profits

according to their respective to Sabbaths that is Jew took all profits on Friday and Muslim took it

on Saturday.34 Finally, it can be mentioned that the most effective example of religious tolerance

30
Ibid, p.123
31
Hitchcock, Richard, Muslim Spain Reconsidered :From 711 to 150, (Edinburgh University Press: Great Britain,
2014), p.132
32
Roth, Norman, Jews, Visigoths and Muslims in Medieval Spain, New York, E.J.Brill, 1994), p. 58-59
33
Ibid, p. 58-59.
34
Vaughan, Lindsey Marie, Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain, (University of
Tennessee Honors Thesis projects, 2003), p.16

18
can be seen in “communication in sacris” which means to participate in religious rituals of one

religion with people of other religions. In Toledo, this was very common and people of these

three religions shared their religious rites. While Jews sponsored Christians baptism, at the same

time Christian reciprocated at circumcisions. In addition Muslims could go to the celebration of

Mass with their Christians friends, and it was not unusual to listen Muslims musicians in

Christian churches at that time. Or it was very common to see Christian or Jewish children living

with non-Christian people for years.35 Even, it can be seen that In Cordoba, Muslims and

Christians used the same mosque for worship, one part was used as a mosque for Muslims, and

another part was a church for Christians.36

In brief, it is obvious that in Medieval Spain, especially in Cordoba, Granada, Christian

Toledo and Christian north of Spain, both population and the ruling class showed a significant

degree of religious tolerance towards each other and this demonstrates that it did not matter

whether dominant religion was Islam or Christianity for convivencia in Spain. The important

point was the attitudes of people towards each other, and they achieved religious convivencia

from eight century to the end of the eleventh century by respect and tolerate each other.

35
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA ,2015), p.112-113
36
Vaughan, Lindsey Marie, Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain, (University of
Tennessee Honors Thesis projects, 2003), p.14

19
 C. CULTURAL INTERACTION BETWEEN MUSLIMS, JEWS AND
CHRISTIANS

Another important factor of convivencia in Medieval Spain was cultural interactions

between Muslims, Jews and Christians. Living side by side, participating to the some interests,

interesting with religious each other and even fighting together or opposing side led these three

communities to learn and adopt the culture of each other’s, and this interaction constituted a

cultural umbrella which included art, architecture, economy, and mostly language and literature.

Architecture: After the conquest of Iberian Peninsula, the Muslim rulers with the

contributions to the local populations, Jews and Christians, started to developed cities in term of

architecture. They introduced the Arabic architectural style and at the same time, they were

influenced from architecture of local style. So this led to be created an architecture style which

contained some elements from Arabic, Byzantine, and Vizigothic architecture. They built a lot of

libraries, mosques, bridges, gardens and palaces; and some of them such as the Mosque of

Cordoba, the Giralda, the Alcazar at Seville and the Alhambra of Granada, were masterpieces of

Islamic architecture which had no parallels in Europe at that time.37 Moreover, this new style of

architecture influenced both Christians and Jews. Many Christian churches and Jewish

synagogues were decorated with Muslim inscriptions.38 Also, this architecture impact crossed the

37
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA, 2015), p.105
38
Vaughan, Lindsey Marie, Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain, (University of
Tennessee Honors Thesis projects, 2003), p.16

20
lines of Iberian Peninsula. For example, the king of Sicily, Roger II, decorated his Palatine

Chapel with Byzantine mosaics, Latin Christian pillars and Arab scenes of hunting.39

Intellectual life: If we look at intellectual interaction, it can be seen that this interaction

showed itself in language and literature. Firstly, the majority of population was bilingual, and

many Jews learned and spoke Hebrew, Arabic and Latin. In addition, this interaction affected

many Spanish words; many modern Spanish and Portuguese names of agricultural products

come from Arabic, such as aceituna from al-zaytuna, azucar from al-sukkar and arroz from al-

ruz. Moreover, it can be seen that some technical terms have been influenced from Arabic

language like noria from naura or acequia from al-saqiya.40

Even today, Spanish words which begin with al-, can be influenced from Arabic

language.41 In literature, many Muslim rulers gave importance to benefit from skills of Muslims,

Jews and Christians artists, and philosophers and so on. One of these rulers was Al-Hakam II. He

created a court which was filled with philosophers, poets, artists and he built a library included as

many as 400,000 volumes.42 On the other hand, many Christian kings such as Alfonso X -king of

Castille-sponsored translation of Arabic works. Under his sponsorship, both the Qur'an and the

Talmud were translated into Latin. Also we know that a Spanish Christian, Ishaq b. Valezquez

made an Arabic translation of the Gospels in the year 946 AD. This translation is proof of a trend

39
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA ,2015), p.108
40
O’callaghan, F. Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain, (Cornell University: New York, 1975), p. 155
41
Vaughan, Lindsey Marie, Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain, (University of
Tennessee Honors Thesis projects, 2003), p.20
42
O’callaghan, F. Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain, (Cornell University: New York, 1975), p. 158

21
away from Latin and towards Arabic.43 Moreover, by benefiting from translation of Arabic

astronomical texts, he had constituted a group of astronomers which included Arabic scholars

and Yehuda ben Moses Cohen, a Jewish astronomer. This group produced the Alfonsine Tables

in 1252 CE which would be a guide in Spain until emerging of ideas of Copernicus.44 Apart from

translation of works of positive sciences, many non-Muslims were influenced from Arabic

language and they preferred to use it in poems and songs. One of them was Moses Ibn Ezra,

Jewish Spanish philosopher, linguist and poet. He was a poet who wrote about wine, women and

song in the best Arab manner. The other one was Yahuda Halevi (1085-1143). He wrote several

poems in Arabic.45

Economy: One of the most important points of cultural interaction was economic

developments. In the last centuries of the Roman Empire, economy in Western Europe declined.

However, the conquest of peninsula by Muslims, and cooperation with local population led to

economy developed. Firstly, Muslims introduced three-crop rotation and some exotic plants such

as rice and sugar. They produced many kinds of vegetables and fruits, and some products such as

olives, figs, peaches, apricots and cucumbers which were unknown in rest of Europe. This all

were achieved by contributions of Muslims, Christians and especially Jews. They were willing to

learn these new agricultural techniques and products. 46 In addition to these agricultural products,

43
Fierro, Maribel & Samso, Julio, The Formation of al-Andalus Part 2: Language, Religion, Culture and the
Sciences, (Ashgate Publishing: Great Britain, 1998), p. 8
44
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA ,2015), p.113
45
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.117
46
Vaughan, Lindsey Marie, Convivencia: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Medieval Spain, (University of
Tennessee Honors Thesis projects, 2003), p.18

22
the Muslims developed the irrigation systems in Medieval Iberian Peninsula. These systems had

influenced over the irrigation systems of Valencia and Murcia to the present days.47

To sum up, thanks to living side by side and religious tolerance, these three communities

created a cultural convivencia which contained using Arabic, Byzantine and Visigothic elements

in architecture; translation of Arabic works into Hebrew and Latin; constructing many libraries,

palaces, gardens; affecting each other in literature; and introducing new techniques in economy.

Moreover, this cultural convivencia spread to not only Al-Andalus, but also to Christian north of

Spain, Portugal and even to Sicily.

47
O’callaghan, F. Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain, (Cornell University: New York, 1975), p. 155

23
 CHAPTER III

A. RECONQUISTA: END OF CONVIVENCIA

Reconquista has been described as a war against Muslims in order to eject them and re-

conquer the territories which had once belonged to Visigoth kingdom. However, the Reconquista

is not a single war, rather it is a long period of wars which started with the Arab conquest in 711

and finished with re-conquest of Granada by Christians in 1492. This long period of wars has

been very important for scholars who study on convivencia, history of Iberian Peninsula and

national identity of Spanish. Because of being very important for scholars, the debates over

Reconquista have been continued over half a year. Many scholars have started to speak on

Reconquista and its problems. They have discussed about some conflicts such as was the

Reconquista real or a myth? Which time period of history of Medieval Iberian Peninsula can be

defined as period of Reconquista? Is it appropriate to accept Reconquista as crusade? Before

examining these debates more deeply, it will be useful to give information about time period that

idea of Reconquista took place in historiography of early middle Ages.

The idea of Reconquista can be dated to the 9th century. It was mentioned in the

chronicles, Prophetic Chronicle, the Chronic of Albelda and the Chronic of Alfonso III, which
48
written in the north kingdom of Asturias. However, the first problem for historians starts at

this point: Does emerging the word of Reconquista in the texts from 9th century mean that the

idea of Reconquista have been started to implement since that time?

48
O'Callaghan, F. Joseph, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain, (University of Pennsylvania: USA, 2003),
p.4

24
 Richard Fletcher rejected this idea by examining that Christians were under power of

Muslims and they could not make powerful efforts against Muslims in ninth, tenth and eleventh

centuries. So, it cannot be said that ninth century chronicles created the ideology of

Reconquista.49 Another scholar who touched on this issue was roger Collins. He argued that in

the eleventh century and early twelfth century were a time period that many dramatic changes

occurred in Spain and in Portugal. With these changes, the possibility of Reconquista came real

and the ideology of Reconquista was first born.50

However the polemics of Reconquista are not limited with these. Another problem in

historiography of Reconquista is about the origin of idea. Many scholars had tried to answer the

question: Did this idea of Reconquista create, or invent or adopt from somewhere? Some

scholars believed that this idea of Reconquista came from Spanish Christians. For example in his

book, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain, Joseph F. O’Callaghan stated that the king of

Asturias-Leon-Castille who declared themselves as heir of the Visigoths, believed that they had

responsibility to reconquer all lands which invaded by Muslims during the Visigothic kingdom. 51

In the same way, Derek Lomax argued that Reconquista was an original idea which was invented

by Spanish Christians after 711, rather than being an artificial term which was created by modern

historians.52

On the other hand, maybe one of the most problematic issue between scholars about

Reconquista of Iberian Peninsula started nearly fifty years ago examining the influences of

crusades on idea of Reconquista. Then scholars started to think about some questions: Was the

crusading activity limited to East or Jerusalem? Can we define the wars against Muslims in
49
Ibid, p.18
50
Ibid, p.18
51
Ibid, p. 4
52
Ibid, p. 4

25
Spain and Portugal as crusade? These questions led scholars to study the concept of Reconquista

more deeply and many of these scholars improved different perspective for the problem. Some

historians have preferred to divide the wars of Reconquista into time periods and started to talk

that the eleventh century wars can be accepted as pre-crusade and twelfth century wars as

crusade. One of these scholars who dealt with this matter was Paul Rousset. He studied on the

characters of these wars and argued that these wars had some similarities with crusade. Like

crusade they had papal bull, had participant from other nation and they were Christians offensive

against Islam. But, on the contrary, these wars did not carry the spirit of crusade, because they

did not have crusading indulgence and did not wear the cross.53 Other scholars who talked about

pre-crusade were Carl Erdman and Derek Lomax. Scholar, Carl Erdman mentioned about

eleventh century conflicts between Christians and Muslims and defined them as proto-crusade.

In the same way, Derek Lomax touched on the statue of Frenchmen who fought in Spain and

stated that their statue can be extended to Frenchmen who fought for Jerusalem.54 On the other

hand, for some historians, these arguments were very weak and were untenable for many

reasons. Firstly, according to William J. Purkins it is clear that although there was a significant

participation of arms-bearers from France to wars against Muslims in Iberian Peninsula, there is

no strong evidence that their motivation was religious.55 Moreover, Angus MacKay and Richard

Fletcher stated that the motivation of eleventh century warfare between Christians and Muslims
56
in peninsula based on political and material interests rather than political ones. Secondly,

53
Ibid, p. 20
54
Purkis, J. William, Crusading Spirituality in the Holy Land and Iberia, c.1095-c.1187, (the Boydell Press: UK,
2008), p. 120
55
Ibid, p. 121
56
İbid, p. 121

26
Purkins continued that most Iberian arms-bearers had no experiences about proto-crusading,

when Pope urban declared the First Crusade in 1095.57

However, in other respects some scholars like Menendez Pidal and Sanchez Albornoz,

examined these wars in favour of crusade and argued these wars were not only for Reconquista

but also for religion.58 While other scholars such as Joseph F. O’Callaghan, defined these wars of

Reconquista as crusade. In his book, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain, he examined

the impact of French crusaders on Iberian Peninsula, and argued that the term crusade cannot be

used only for East. Based on papal bulls which declared war against Islam in peninsula as

spiritual, he continued that the spirit of crusade can be found in Reconquista and it is appropriate

to speak of Crusading Spain.59 But at this point some scholars developed counter arguments.

According to them the Reconquista and crusade are different things because the Reconquista

does not include wars which consecrated by spiritual idea.60 One of them was Hans Eberhard

Mayer. He separated Reconquista from crusade by arguing that the participation of French

knights, which promoted by pope, makes these wars to be recognized as the equivalent of

crusades, however it will be more realistic to recognize them as holy wars rather that crusades.61

To conclude, the concept of Reconquista is a highly problematic issue for scholars over half a

year. Since it is very important for understanding end of convivencia and Muslim- Christian

relationship, Reconquista has been examined by scholars in term of its time period, its definition

and being accepted as crusade. Therefore, it will be examined by scholars for many more years.

57
Ibid, p. 122
58
O'Callaghan, F. Joseph, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain, (University of Pennsylvania: USA, 2003),
p.9
59
Ibid, p.22
60
Jose-Juan Lopez-Portillo (ed.), Spain, Portugal and the Atlantic Frontier of medieval Europe, (Ashgate
Publishing: UK, 2013), p. 54
61
O'Callaghan, F. Joseph, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain, (University of Pennsylvania: USA, 2003), p.
20

27
 B. COLLAPSE OF SOCIAL CO-EXISTENCE AND RELIGIOUS
TOLERANCE

The eleventh century was the turning point for history of medieval Iberian Peninsula

which created a new period for convivencia. This century faced with many political, social and

religious problems which caused the collapse of social co-existence and religious tolerance. The

most important reason behind this situation was the political conflict that started with revolt and

chaos which later turned to a great idea for small kingships of north of Spain in order to expel

both Muslims and Jews from Iberian peninsula. With number of wars Muslims started to lose

against the north of Spain and Portugal. At the end of century, the Muslim kingdom become a

tributary state and their existence opened to attack. This situation led to start a period of

intolerance in Iberian Peninsula for the first time. However, it is pointed out that this intolerance

did not only come from Christians, it simultaneously resulted from both side; by Berber fanatics

in the south and by the Cluniac monks in the north. In Muslim territories both Christians and

Jews started to face with many problems and their existence turned into a vulnerable situation.

Moreover this situation took a turn for the worse with the decree of Almohad ruler, Abd al-

Mu’min, who ordered the expulsion of all non-Muslims who refused to be Muslim.62 On the

other hand, the situation was not different in the north of Spain. This time Muslims had to

struggle with many problems. In addition, their statue got worse when compared with situation

of non-Muslims in Al-Andalus because with the beginning of the twelfth century, the

neighbouring Christian rulers and Papacy interfered with the internal affairs of peninsula and

become playing role on the situation of Muslims. With the success of the First Crusade, the

Papacy started to believe the idea of defeating all Muslims and imposed this idea to Christian

62
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.124

28
rulers of Spain. In the Third Lateran Council (1177), the Papacy declared that the Christians

contact with Muslims was prohibited and also claimed that all properties of conquered towns

must be confiscated and inhabitants must be captive. Also, these regulation were increased with

the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) which decreed that Jews and Muslims must wear special

clothes that make them distinguish from Christians.63 In addition, these attacks to the non-

Christians moved to intellectual area. Many clerics and writers composed many works in order to

discredit Muslims and Jews. One of these writers was Peter Alfonso who converted to

Christianity from Judaism. In his work, he attacked to both Islam and Judaism. Another one was

mark of Toledo. He translated the Qur’an by motivation of showing that the Qur’an was not

related to the Old and New Testaments.64

However, these attacks reached at the top level with the reign of Alfonso X and reign of

Fernando V and Isabella. At the beginning of his reign, Alfonso X (El Sabio) king of Castile,

forged closer ties with non-Christians when he was governor of Murcia. He used the title of

“king of three religions” and set up a commission which include many Muslims and Jews

savants in order to bring high level of culture of Al-Andalus to the Christian north. However

later he started to show his prejudices to the non-Christians. He was very faithful Christian who

believed that there is no merit in any religion other than Christianity. 65 In his Cronica general de

España, he reflected his negative attitudes towards Islam. He mentioned about all conquerors of

Spain without condemnation; however when he talked about the Arabs, he described them as

vile, cruel and dangerous.66 On the other hand, another critical time period which turned to

persecution, forced conversion and expulsion for Muslims and Jews was the reign of Fernando

63
Ibid, p.124
64
Ibid, p.125
65
Ibid, p.125
66
Ibid, p.126

29
and Isabella. The marriage of Fernando and Isabella, los Reyes Catholicos, was a turning point in

history of Spain because with this marriage the unification of Spain was achieved, and it

represented the end of Muslims and Jews existence in Al-Andalus. Unlike other Christian rulers,

Fernando and Isabella regarded conversion to Christianity as a threat to religious unity. For this

reason, during their reign the Inquisition was established whose major task was to solve the

problem of conversos who converted to Christianity.67 However, the strictest regulations come

after the fall of Granada, last Muslim state, in 1492. Fernando and Isabella devoted themselves to

remove all rights of non-Christians to use their customs, language and practice their religion.68 In

1492, they declared an edict ordered to expel of all Jewish without any belongings. Then they

shifted their attention to Muslims, and gave two choice to Muslims; to take sacrament of baptism

or expulsion.69 In brief, at the end all of these attacks of church and kings moved to society.

Being defenceless in society, Jews and Muslims came under attack from Christians who wanted

to take prominent position in society. Many mosques and synagogues were destroyed or

converted to church. These attacks and deterioration in society brought the collapse of religious

pluralism and social co-existence in Iberian Peninsula.

67
Crotty, Robert & Lovat, Terry, Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islam's Special Role in Restoring
Convivencia, (Springer: USA, 2015), p.116
68
Chejne, G. Anwar, Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture, (University of Minnesota: USA, 1974), p.131
69
Ibid, p.131-132

30
 CONCLUSION

The history of Medieval Iberian Peninsula is a unique period of time in world history in

terms of including a coexistence of three Abrahamic religions, their social and religious tolerance

and also collapsing of this peaceful period. The conquest of Iberian Peninsula by Muslim Arabs

let to create a long period of convivencia between Christians, Muslims and Jews, which come to

end with Reconquista of peninsula by Christians. Although the beginning and ending of this

story faced with wars, persecutions and executions, it is a fact that during this time Christians,

Muslims and Jews created a peaceful society in Iberian Peninsula. At the first, this convivencia

started with social statue of communities. As we can see in the second chapter of this thesis,

there was a social equivalent in both Al-Andalus and in Christian North of Spain. For sure, in

both parts of Iberian Peninsula, dominant community in terms of government has a privilege in

society; however this does not mean that the other two communities had no rights in society. On

the contrary, Christians and Jews of Al-Andalus and Muslims of North of Spain had some social

economic and cultural rights in society and they were willing to take part in society actively. On

the other hand, the most distinctness factor between these three communities was religious

difference. However, the people of medieval Iberian Peninsula achieved to overcome this

difference. By giving respect to beliefs, ideas and worship of each other’s, they created a

religious convivencia which let to create a peaceful religious life in society. With this religious

tolerance, they started to learn the religions of the other communities, participate to other

ceremonies and even share same places as a mosque and a church for praying. Afterward, as a

natural consequence of this religious and social convivencia, they also created a cultural

convivencia. Thanks to being involved in an interaction and opening to change; Christians,

Muslims and Jews started to share some cultural elements. Economic and agricultural

31
innovation, Arab language, science and literature which came to Iberian Peninsula with the Arab

conquest, spread quickly to all over the peninsula. In both parts of penınsula, in Al-Andalus and

in Christian North of Spain, people learned both Latin language and Arabic language. In

architectural area, scientific and literature works, they affected each other and created very

valuable and unique works when compared with the rest of Europe.

Unfortunately, this peaceful time period came to end for many reasons. It should be

pointed that it was not fair to put the blame on a specific community’s shoulders. Desire to

conquer all peninsula, intervention of Papacy and other nations, damages of Muslim fanatics

caused to collapse of the peaceful coexistence, end of religious tolerance and of course,

increasing of wars between Muslims and Christians. Escalated tension between Christians and

Muslims reached its high level with the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella; and unification of

Spain. With the fall of Granada, last Muslim state in Iberian Peninsula, in 1492, Muslims and

Jews started to face with many pressures. Establishment of Inquisition and giving two options,

taking sacrament of baptism or expulsion, resulted with expulsion of Muslim and Jews from

peninsula; and total destruction of Convivencia.

In short, as I mentioned above, the history of Medieval Iberian Peninsula was a very

remarkable case for most of the scholars because of its beginning and ending; however, instead

of focusing on just these points; concentrating on the peaceful period of coexistence between

beginning and ending will be very beneficial for understanding of creation of Spain, its history

and culture. The period, which is called as convivencia, enlighten us in order to understand that

how Christians, Muslims and Jews lived in peace, how they affected each other in terms of social

and cultural way; and how the political balance changed between Christianity and Islam in

32
Medieval Age. Shortly, it is very useful and more meaningful to focus on the social life of

convivencia and Reconquista rather than just discussing their definitions and their ways of usage.

CHRONOLOGY OF RECONQUISTA

711 Muslim armies under Tariq Ibn Ziyad arrive the Iberian Peninsula and defeat the
Vizigoths. This marks the start of the Muslim conquest of Peninsula.

713 Toledo falls and Muslims take control of the entire Iberian peninsula as far north
as the Pyrenees.
722 The Christian noble Don Pelayo defeats a Moorish (Muslim) army at the battle of
Covadogna
732 Charles martel defeats Muslim forces from Al-Andalus at the Batle of Poitiers.
750 Kingdom of Astruias established under Alfonso I (739-757).
756 Abd al-Rahman I establishes Umayyad dynasty as amirs in Al-Andalus.
801 Carolingians take Barcelona.
997 Umayyad army led by al-Mansur attacks Santiago de Compostela.

1009-1031 Civil war in Al-Andalus ends in the demise of the Umayyad dynasty and thestart
of the Taifa period.
1035 Beginning of Almoravid movement in North Africa.

1085 Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon Captures Toledo, thus gaining the centre of the
Iberian Peninsula.
1086 Almoravid victory over Alfonso VI at the Battle of Zallaqa.
1092 Almoravids take control of the Andalusian taifas.
1094 The Cid captures Valencia and holds it until his death in 1099.
1110 Almoravids take control of the Taifa of Zaragoza.

33
1118 Alfonso I of Aragon captures Zaragoza.
1128 Alfonso Henriques establishes his rule in Portugal.
1147 Christians capture of Lisbon.
1170 Foundation of the Order of Santiago.
1195 Almohad victory over Castile at the Battle of Alarcos.

1212 Combined forces of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre defeat the Almohads at the
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.
1229 Jaime I of Aragon captures Mallorca.
1235 Nasrid dynasty established in Granada.
1236 Fernando III of Castile conquers Cordba.
1238 Jaime I of Aragon captures Valencia.
1248 Fernando III of Castile conquers Seville.
1266 Alfonso X of Castile captures Murcia.
1469 Wedding of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.
1478 Establishment of the Inquisition in Spain.
1479 Official union between Castile and Aragon under Ferdinand and Isabella.

1492 Ferdinand and Isabella conqures Granada, last Muslim state in Iberian Peninsula.
This marks the end of the Reconquista.
1492 Jews expelled from Castile and Aragon.
1502 The Muslim of Castile are forced to choose between conversion to Christinity or
exile.

1525 The Muslim of Aragon are forced to choose between conversion to Christinity or
exile
1609-1614 Moriscos expelle from the Iberian Peninsula.70

70
Constable, Remie Olivia (ed.), Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources,
(University of Pennsylvania Press: USA, 1997), p.383-385

34
MAPS OF RECONQUISTA

35
36
 71

“Islamic Spain and the Reconquista”, Historical Atlas of Mediterranean, accessed January 02,2016
71

http://explorethemed.com/reconquista.asp

37
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