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RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION ence close to the church of a spring enclosed by ma- from North Africa who overthrew the Visigothic king- sonry of the same period. It is likely that the site was dom in 711. Modern historians have questioned the part of a royal estate. validity of this traditional concept, but Derek Lomax ROGER COLLINS pointed out that the Reconquest was “an ideal invented by Spanish Christians soon after 711” and developed Bibliography in the ninth-century kingdom of Asturias. Given the failure of the Muslims to occupy the Collins, R., Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity, entire Iberian Peninsula, several tiny, independent 400–1000. London, 1983, 108–45. kingdoms and counties emerged in the foothills of the Navascue´s, J. M. de. La dedicacio´n de San Juan de Ban˜os. Palencia, 1961. Cantabrian and Pyrenees mountains, namely, Asturias, Thompson, E. A. The Goths in Spain. Oxford, 1969, Leo´n, Castile, Navarre, Arago´n, and Catalonia. The 199–210. idea of reconquest originated in Asturias, where King Pelayo (718–737), the leader of a hardy band of moun- taineers, proclaimed his intention to achieve the salus RECEMUND Spanie—the “salvation of Spain”—and the restoration Bishop of Elvira and caliphal secretary (mid-tenth cen- of the Gothic people. His victory over the Muslims at tury). Known to the Arabs as Rabi ibn Sid al-Usquf, Covadonga in 722 is traditionally taken as the begin- the Christian Recemund served as a secretary under ning of the Reconquest. A ninth-century chronicler af- the caliph Abd al-Rah.ma¯n III (929–961). In 953 he firmed that the Christians would wage war against the was sent by the caliph as an ambassador to Otto I of Muslims by day and night “until divine predestination Germany (936–973), where he managed to defuse a commands that they be driven cruelly thence. Amen!” potentially volatile situation caused by a previous ex- Two ideas were linked here. First there was the deter- change of letters that were apparently less than sensi- mination to expel the Muslims considered as unlawful tive to the religious inclinations of their recipients. The intruders who had seized land belonging by right to caliph rewarded Recemund for his services with the the Christians. Secondly, the task of restoring the Visi- recently vacated see of Elvira. While in Germany, Re- gothic monarchy to its fullest extent was attributed to cemund met Liutprand of Cremona, who subsequently the kings of Asturias and their later successors in Leo´n dedicated his Antapodosis to him. Even as bishop, Re- and Castile who were hailed as heirs of the Visigoths. cemund continued to serve as an ambassador for the The reconquest was a war to recover territory, but it caliph, traveling to Constantinople and Jerusalem. also had a religious character because of the fundamen- With the accession of Al-H. akam II in 961, Recemund tal opposition between between two mutually exclu- dedicated to him a calendar written in Arabic which, sive societies. interestingly enough, included references to Christian Despite the bravado of the chroniclers, the Chris- holy days, even some that commemorated a few of the tian rulers were in no position to offer serious opposi- martyrs of Co´rdoba. Recemund was a contemporary tion to Muslim ascendancy during the three hundred of Hasdai ibn Shaprut, the Jewish physician and intel- years following the initial invasion. Almost every year lectual who also served Abd al-Rah.ma¯n III as ambas- the emirs and caliphs of Co´rdoba sent their armies to sador. ravage Christian lands, though never to conquer them. KENNETH B. WOLF A no-man’s-land extending along the Duero river from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of Arago´n separated Bibliography Christian and Muslim territory, but many years elapsed before the Christians were emboldened to settle that Colbert, E. “The Martyrs of Co´rdoba (850–859): A Study region. Until the late eleventh century, Islamic rule in of the Sources.” Ph.D. Diss., Catholic University of America, 1962, 382–86. the northeast reached as far north as the foothills of Dozy, R., ed. Le Calendrier de Cordoue. Trans. C. Pellat. the Pyrenees. In these circumstances one could hardly 2d ed. Leiden, 1961. speak of reconquest. Nevertheless, the breakup of the Caliphate of Co´r- doba early in the eleventh century and the emergence RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION of the petty Muslim kingdoms known as ta¯’ifas ena- The Reconquest and the concomitant task of repopula- bled the Christian princes to make significant progress tion are the essential threads running through the his- in the Reconquest. Alfonso VI of Leo´n-Castile tory of medieval Spain. Spaniards have long believed (1065–1109) captured Toledo in 1085 and won control that their forebears waged nearly continous warfare of a long stretch of the Tagus River. However, the over seven hundred years to expel the Muslim invaders Almoravids, a Muslim sect from Morocco, defeated 697 RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION 0100 200 miles León-Castile under Fernando 0 100 200 kilometers Conquests of Alfonso VI Taifa of Zaragoza Aragon under Alfonso I Mondoñedo Catalan counties Santiago de Compostela . R Oviedo o iñ Lugo M León Orense Túy Astorga ATLANTIC KINGDOM OF Pamplona OCEAN Braga Carrión Burgos Estella ARAGON Sahagún Nájera Oporto E Jaca br Zamora Palencia Castrojeriz o Calahorra R Narbonne Valladolid . Lamego D Huesca uero R. Osma Tudela Viseu Salamanca Coimbra Gormaz Zaragoza Barbastro Urgel Berlanga Segovia Vich Gerona Medinaceli Lérida Sigüenza T Ávila Barcelona ajo R. Soria Madrid Talavera Tortosa Tarragona Santarém Toledo KINGDOM OF ARAGÓN Lisbon Badajoz Mérida G AND CATALAN uadiana R. COUNTIES ASSOCIATED WITH BARCELONA _ MURABIT EMPIRE IN IBERIA Valencia Júcar R. Denia Córdoba Guadalquivir R. Seville Murcia Granada Málaga Cádiz Almería Mediterranean Sea Tarifa Reconquest and Repopulation. End of eleventh century Iberia. him at the battle of Sagrajas in 1086 and unified Is- in 1212, with the help of a papal bull of crusade, he lamic Spain by swallowing the ta¯’ifas. Christians once redeemed himself and routed the Muslims at Las again found themselves on the defensive. As Almora- Navas de Tolosa. As a consequence the southern fron- vid power waned the Christians again achieved impor- tier of the kingdom of Toledo was secure and the road tant gains when Alfonso I of Arago´n (1104–1134) con- to Andalusia was opened. Moreover, the balance of quered Zaragoza on the Ebro River in 1118 and Afonso power had now been tipped once and for all in favor I of Portugal (1128–1185), with the aid of a fleet of of the Christians. northern crusaders on their way to the Holy Land, Pressing forward from the Guadiana to the Gua- seized Lisbon at the mouth of the Tagus River in 1147. dalquivir Rivers, Fernando III of Castile-Leo´n From this point onward the Reconquest assumed (1217–1252) captured Co´rdoba (1236), Jae´n (1246), the character of a crusade as numerous papal bulls and Seville (1248) and also received the submission equated the struggle against Islam in Spain with the of the Muslim kingdom of Murcia. At the same time wars in the Holy Land. The conflict intensified in the the Portuguese occupied the Alentejo and the Algarve second half of the twelfth century when the Almohads, thereby completing the territorial expansion of their another Muslim sect from Morocco, halted the Chris- kingdom. In the east Jaime I of Arago´n (1213–1276) tian advance and ravaged Christian territory. In 1195 subjugated the Balearic Islands and conquered the the Almohads gained an extraordinary triumph at kingdom of Valencia (1238). In that way the Crown Alarcos over Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158–1214), but of Arago´n consisting of Arago´n proper, Catalonia, and 698 RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION Christian lands Muslim lands Santiago de Compostela . R o iñ 0100 200 miles M León 0 100 200 kilometers Túy ATLANTIC Pamplona OCEAN Toulouse Burgos Oporto NAVARRE D Narbonne uero R. Tarazona E Huesca b ro Salamanca R ARAGON Coimbra Saragossa . Lérida LEÓN-CASTILE PORTUGAL Madrid Caspe Taj Barcelona o R. Tarragona Santarém Toledo Tortosa Lisbon Badajoz Mérida Guadiana R. I S L A N D S I C Minorca Valencia A R L E Palma Júcar R. A B Córdova Majorca Ibiza uadalquivir R. Seville G Jaén Murcia Formentera Granada Antequera Málaga GRANADA Cádiz Almería Mediterranean Sea Gibraltar Tangier Ceuta MOROCCO Reconquest and Repopulation. End of thirteenth century Iberia. Valencia reached its fullest extent within the peninsula. tured the port of Tarifa in 1292 and his son Fernando Thus by the middle of the thirteenth century all of IV(1295–1312) seized Gibraltar in 1309, though it Islamic Spain, with the exception of the kingdom of was lost in 1333. Alfonso XI (1312–1340) stemmed Granada, was ruled by the Christians. The kings of the final Moroccan invasion at Salado in 1340 and Granada were forced to pay tribute as vassals of the gained Algeciras in 1344, but died during the siege of kings of Castile-Leo´n. Gibraltar. For the next century and a half the re- Only Castile-Leo´n had a frontier contiguous to the conquest was left in abeyance as the kingdom of Gra- kingdom of Granada and so had a realistic chance for nada was not considered a serious threat and no further further peninsular acquisitions. In the late thirteenth intrusions from Morocco took place. and fourteenth centuries the principal concern of the As the Muslims withdrew before the Christian ad- Castilian kings was to seize control of the ports on the vance, reconquered territory had to be repopulated or Strait of Gibraltar in order to prevent further incursions colonized.

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