Reconquista

The Spanish Reconquista The history of Spain is a tale of both the blending and the clashing of cultures. When Muslims, Jews, and Christians could maintain peace, Spanish culture would exceed that of all the rest of Europe. When persecution and strife broke out, wars that amounted to crusades were the result. Ultimately Spain was united as a nation under triumphant Christian monarchs whose exploits went beyond anything medieval Europeans could even imagine. The result was the foundation of another of the world’s great empires. Under Muslim rulers the ideas of ancient civilizations tutored the nascent Spanish nation. A new Abd-al-Rahman, the third, reigned from 912-961. Abd-al-Rahman III was the first Muslim ruler to completely unite…

Decades after the prophet Muhammad’s death in 632 c.e., Islam spread rapidly across North Africa, and soon expanded to Europe. The Reconquista was a series of the complexing struggle of territory between Muslim Moors and Christian Asturias, continuing for 780 years because of the desire for land and profit. In 711 an invading Muslim army crossed the Straits of Gibraltar into Iberia and by 718 had conquered most of the peninsula. The significance of the Reconquista is the reference to the defeat…

The word Moors derives from the Latin mauri, a name for the Berber tribes living in Roman Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco). It has no ethnographic meaning but can be used to refer to all Muslims, Berber or Arab, who conquered the Iberian Peninsula. These Moors, who were religious fanatics, arrived in Spain in the year 711 and thus began a period of history which would shape Iberia differently than the rest of Europe as the land adapted to a new religion, language and culture.…

the Spanish and the Muslims that were living in Spain at the time. This could have been the domino effect that lead into the Reconquista. Here I am going to be discussing about what were some of the events taking place around the Reconquista, what was the Reconquista, what Spain was able to gain from this and what were the outcomes of the Reconquista. So what was going on in the world right about the Reconquista in Spain. The Reconquista took place in 1492 (Weston, 43). That means during that…

Portugal, was dominated by one of the richest and most intellectually powerful civilizations in the world, the Muslims. It would take Europeans until 1492, with the help from Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile and their Reconquista and Inquisition, to expel the Moors from Spain. Immediately after, their expulsion ushered in the Spanish “discovery” of the New World which would forever impact Western Civilization. But we all know how that story goes. I would like to posit a new…

I did not choose to do my forum on The Political Force of Images theme, but your post did an amazing job of describing why you believe the chosen artwork was a good representation of the theme. Your description of the sculpture is very strong and I do believe the Santiago Matamoros is a good representation of the Spanish reconquista. As you mentioned in your post, he was called Saint James the Moor Slayer and was a very important figure in the reconquest. He was clearly known for slaying many…

The Reconquista inspired the creation of the Catholic State with Catholic rulers. A Catholic Spanish state was created after the Moors were driven out and the Jews were banished from Spain. The Spanish Crown wanted to purify Spain in order to create a Catholic state with Catholic values. In order to build a Catholic state, the Spanish crown had to get rid of another religion and banish any citizen that was not a true Catholic or who practices a different faith in secrecy. This is why, the…

In the Beezley text we find that the Spanish King was uniquely motivated to spread Christianity to this new realm because of agreements between the Pope and the Spanish Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella after the Reconquista of Spain, that gave the crown authority of the church, called Patronado Real, that enabled the king to direct the church in Spanish territory. After the Reconquista of Spain for Christianity the Spanish people were in an especially pious zeal that drove them almost…

also because of the far reaching consequences that hundreds of years of war had on the development of the Church and society itself. Not only could the effects of the Crusade be felt during the time that they took place but the effects of the Crusades can even be felt to this day. History of the Crusades: The Crusades lasted over a period of 300 years, and can be divided into eight waves. However, the Crusades did not just appear out of thin air; they were a reaction to the increasing threat…

The Reconquista started soon after the victory of Covadonga. The motivation of this Reconquista was to consolidate all of Spain by having one ruler and one religion. The Christian forces invaded and successfully seized the city of Granada in 1492, which ended the Reconquista. The Reconquista can be described as the effort by which the Christian kingdoms’ took control of all Muslim territory and how Christianity engulfed all of Spain. Saint James was known as the “killer of Moors” for a reason,…