- The Battle of Guadalete in 711 marks the conquest of most of Hispania by the Muslims; only the Kingdom of Asturia, which corresponds to the North of Spain, remains Christian.
- Despite the reconquest of Catalonia by Charlemagne towards the end of the century and the recurrent Christian interventions in Spain, the Reconquista does not really begin until the end of the XI e century, encouraged by Pope Urban II.
- At this time and after several centuries of domination, the Moorish Caliphate of Cordoba broke up into a multitude of divided kingdoms and taifas while the Christian kingdoms joined forces. Nevertheless, and despite the prerogative of a crusade, the Reconquista remains a slow war of reconquest made up of isolated actions that are hampered by the interplay of alliances and internal wars.
11th century - 15th century
Characters
Urban II
Ferdinand I st
Alexander II
Procedure
Many raids are launched throughout the VIII th century, reinforced by the action of Charlemagne who took over Catalonia towards the end of the century.
Alfonso the Great, King of Asturias, launches a reconquest at the end of the IX th century but was slowed down by the division of Asturias:Castile and Navarre separated.
In the XI th century, the division of the caliphate of Cordoba leads to the attempted reconquest by the Kings of Navarre and Castile; isolated and subject to political competition from other Christian kingdoms, they will not bear fruit.
The battle of Tora in 1006 marks the beginning of the reconquest; in the XI th century, the Caliphate of Cordoba broke up and the alliance of Christian countries grew stronger.
In 1037, King Ferdinand I st united Galicia and Castile, then allied with the kingdom of Navarre in order to begin the real Reconquest:this began in 1063 with the promise of indulgences by Pope Alexander II. Twenty years later, nearly half of present-day Spain has been reconquered.
At the end of the century, the kingdom of Toledo and Andalusia were taken over at the same time as the religious fervor on the Moorish side increased. The situation turned around definitively with the Christian victory of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 following the launch of a new crusade which strengthened the alliance of the Christian kingdoms of Spain led by Ferdinand I st .
Following the opening of the South, Portugal also began the reconquest while the capture of Majorca and the Balearic Islands by Ferdinand I st in 1229 deprived the Moors of access to the sea and accelerated their fall.
Only the kingdom of Granada remains, which will last another two centuries; indeed, the kingdoms of Spain are seated in development and trade. The kingdom of Castile will reconquer it in 1492, marking the end of the Reconquista .
Consequences
- The Reconquest shaped a fighting Spanish society and anchored the religious feeling sometimes to the point of fanaticism, but paradoxically reinforced local particularisms at the same time as it forged a strong national feeling.
- It made it possible to (lately) unify Spain through the marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile “the Catholic” at the end of the 14th th century; this will lead to the expulsion of more than 160,000 Sephardic Jews from Spain.