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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
The Reconquista (Spanish and Portuguese for "reconquest" [a]) or the reconquest of al-Andalus [b] was the successful series of military campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the Muslim kingdoms following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate. [4]
- 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 (a Spanish and Portuguese word for "Reconquest") was a period of 750 years in which several Christian kingdoms slowly expanded themselves over the Iberian Peninsula at the expense of the Muslim Moorish states of Al-Andalus (Arabic الأندلس, al-andalus ). The Muslims invaded Iberia in 722. The last Muslim stronghold ...
Jul 11, 2017 · The Reconquista of Iberia from the Moors was followed by a spiritual reconquest, spearheaded enthusiastically by the Inquisition. Practicing Jews (perhaps as many as 40,000) were expelled by royal edict in 1492, while Moors who refused to convert were shown the door in Castile in 1502.
On the 2 January Emir Mohamed XII of Granada, faced with overwhelming enemy strength, surrendered his kingdom and its beautiful Alhambra palace to the Christians after a ten-year war. The Reconquista was complete. 1492 is a year that rings throughout history. Across the world, people remember Columbus, his reaching of the Americas and the dawn ...
The Reconquista or the reconquest of al-Andalus was the successful series of military campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the Muslim kingdoms following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate. The beginning of the Reconquista is traditionally dated to the Battle of Covadonga, in which an Asturian army achieved the first Christian victory over ...
