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May 13, 2024 · Reconquista, in medieval Spain and Portugal, a series of campaigns by Christian states to recapture territory from the Muslims (Moors), who had occupied most of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century. Learn more about the history and significance of the Reconquista in this article.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Medieval Iberia
- The Military Orders
- The Second Crusade & Siege of Lisbon
- Christian Victory
- Legacy
The Muslim Moors, based in North Africa, had conquered most of the Iberian peninsula, then controlled by the Visigoths, in the early 8th century CE. By the 11th century CE, the Christian kingdoms of northern Spain were strong enough to attempt to retake some of the lost territories; an ambition greatly helped by the civil wars within the Cordoba Ca...
Alfonso I of Aragon (r. 1104-1134 CE) gave huge estates (in fact most of his kingdom as he had no heir) to the Knights Hospitaller and Knights Templar, both military orders of professional warrior-monks who would make themselves indispensable to the defence of the Crusader States in the Middle East. The lure, although later reduced by Spanish noble...
The Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE) was primarily concerned with recapturing Edessa in Upper Mesopotamia, but it did have additional objectives in Iberia and the Baltic, with both these campaigns also being backed by Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145-1153 CE). The Papacy had already backed crusades to the Iberian peninsula in 1113-14 CE, 1117-18 CE and 1123...
When the idea of liberating the Iberian peninsula received the backing of Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216 CE) in 1212 CE, it was a timely boost to the Spanish kings who had suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 CE. The Christians in Spain were suffering from a lack of unity, too. King Alfonso IX of Léon (r. 1188-1230 CE) had made...
Few Muslims were converted to Christianity in the reconquered territories of Iberia, and most were permitted to remain and practise their religion as a protected minority, in effect, reversing the status of Muslims and Christians of the past few centuries. Christians were encouraged to migrate southwards, Arab place names were replaced and many mos...
- Mark Cartwright
The Reconquista (Reconquest) or Iberian Crusades were military campaigns largely conducted between the 11th and 13th century CE to liberate southern Portuguese and Spanish territories, then known as al-Andalus, from the Muslim Moors who had conquered and held them since the 8th century CE.
- Mark Cartwright
- Publishing Director
The Reconquista is a period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula, spanning approximately 770 years, between the initial Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the 710s and the fall of the Emirate of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, to expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492.
Jan 9, 2017 · The period in Iberian history known as the Reconquista, or re-conquest, began in 722 at Covadonga, where a rebel Christian army defeated the Muslim armies in northern Spain, before forming the kingdom of Asturias in the northern mountains.
- History Hit
Oct 13, 2022 · The Reconquista (“reconquest”) is a period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula, spanning approximately 770 years, between the initial Umayyad conquest of Hispania in the 710s and the fall of the Emirate of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, to expanding Christian kingdoms in 1492.
Sep 23, 2023 · Overview. Reconquista. Quick Reference. The Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula began with the invasion of 711; the peninsula was largely subdued by 718, when the mixed Arab and Berber army crossed the Pyrenees ... From: reconquista in The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance » Subjects: History — Early history (500 CE to 1500)
