Iberian Christian Kingdoms in Middle Ages 1 Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 2 Iberian Kingdoms in Middle Ages • Important kingdoms and relevant kings • Castilla and Alfonso X, the Wise • Aragón and Jaime I, the Conqueror • The Christian conquest of the Muslim lands • Key moment: Battle of Navas de Tolosa (1212) • Key moment: The Conquest of Granada (1492) • The conquest and the repopulation of the new lands Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 3 Important kingdoms: Castilla and Leon • Castilla and Leon were independent kingdoms, but finally they were unified(the final name was Kingdom of Castilla) • Castilla and Leon was the most important kingdom in the period of the Reconquest Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 4 Important kingdoms: Aragón • Aragon was an important kingdom during the MA • This kingdom was mainly focus on the Mediterranean sea • However, the kingdom will participate in the Reconquest Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 5 Important kingdoms: Navarre • Navarre was the less important kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula • Navarre did not participate so much in the Reconquest for geographical reasons • Navarre was under French influence Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 6 Important king of Castilla. Alfonso X, the Wise • This King was very famous for different reasons: Cultural • He promote culture with the creation of the School of Translation in Toledo: This school translated important works from Arab and Jewish authors to Spanish and Galician. • He spoke several languages and he wrote several books in Galician and Spanish Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 7 Important King of Castilla. Alfonso X, the Wise • Economic • He created the Mesta, an association of sheepherds to promote the wool market in Castilla and improve the roads • The fair of Medina del Campo was one of the most important fairs in Europe. Militar He conquered important cities as Murcia or Sevilla. Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 8 Important King of Aragón. Jaime I • Jaime I conquered important lands for the Crown of Aragón: • Valencia • Balearic Islands • He helped with the conquest of Murcia by Castilla • After Jaime I, the Kingdom of Aragon was focus on the Mediterrean Sea, and in XIV, it was an important Empire with the conquest of Sardinia, Naples, Sicily and Athens. Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 9 Kingdom of Aragon: an Empire in the Mediterranean Sea Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 10 The Christian conquest of the Muslim lands • The Reconquest was a long process (from VIII century to XV century) • After the initial conquest by Muslims, the Christians were able to advance and recover part of the lands • The Muslims at the beggining were united in the Caliphate of Cordoba. But, in XI century they were divided into small kingdoms (the Kingdoms of Taifas) so it was easy for Christians to attack them Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 11 The Christian conquest of the Muslim land • The situation was very hard for the Muslims, so the King of Sevilla asked for help from North Africa: the Almoravids • The Almoravids were Berber tribes from the dessert of North Africa, with an extreme and fanatic interpretation of Islam Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 12 The Christian conquest of the Muslim lands • Almoravids were able to unify Muslim lands again, making the Muslim side stronger • At this point both sides had similar power • However, Almoravids become weaker and the Muslims went back to the previous situation of Kingdom of Taifas, so the Christians advanced. Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 13 The Christian conquest of the Muslim lands • Christians got advantadge, but a new fanatic tribe from North Africa arrived: the Almohads • Almohads were extremely fanatic, and they entered in the Iberian Peninsula with the idea of “destroy the Christianism” and “conquer Rome” Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes The Christian conquest of the Iberian 14 Peninsula • They called for the Yihad (Holy War) so thousands of Muslims from all the world arrived to fight against Christians in the Iberian Peninsula • At the same time, Christians called for a Holy War (C…..) so hundreds of knights from Europe went to IP to fight against Muslims • The final battle was produced in 1212 (The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa) and the Christians won Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 15 The Christian conquest of the Iberian Peninsula • After this battle, a big part of the Peninsula was over Christian control • There was just one Muslim kingdom left: the Nasrid Kingdom of Granade, which will be conquered in 1492 by the Catholic Kings (the Conquest of Granade) Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 16 The process of repopulation • When the Christians conquered a Muslim land, they had two options to control this area: • Bring new population from Christian lands • Make an agreement with the Muslims who lived there (they respect the religion and in exchange, peasants will work for them) • Generally, the kings mixed both formulas to obtain population, although in Aragon, kings were more respectful towards Muslims. Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes 17 The society of three cultures • So, the society in the South was composed by Christians, Muslims and Jews • This was an unique case in Europe, and Toledo was a symbol of tolerance • This was a very enriching experience for the Christian kingdoms (Arabs were well developed in Science and Jews were literate) Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes The process of repopulation 18 • The kings gave important pieces of land to the Church (Militar Orders) who fought to conquer the territories • This explains why in the South of Spain, there are big fields (latifundios), meanwhile in the North, there are small fields (minifundios) Prof. Samuel Perrino Martínez. SEK Les Alpes.