Reconquista (722–1492)
The Reconquista — the Christian "reconquest" — supposedly began in 722 with the Battle of Covadonga in Asturias, where a Visigoth nobleman named Pelayo defeated the Moors. Historically, it was likely just a small skirmish, but it became the founding myth of Spain.
The Reconquista was not a unified crusade but an 800-year process characterized by shifting alliances, civil wars, and pragmatic pragmatism. Christian kings allied with Moorish rulers against other Christians, Muslim princes sought Christian help against rivals.
The Great Milestones
- 1085: Conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile — a turning point
- 1212: The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa finally broke the power of the Almohads
- 1236: Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Córdoba
- 1248: Fall of Seville
- 1469: Marriage of Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragon — the "Catholic Monarchs" (Reyes Católicos) unite the two most powerful Christian kingdoms
- January 2, 1492: Fall of Granada, the last Moorish kingdom. Boabdil, the last sultan, is said to have wept upon leaving the city — his mother said: "Weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man."
1492 was a year of destiny: Granada fell, Columbus "discovered" America, and the Jews were expelled from Spain. The expulsion of the Sephardim (Spanish Jews) and later the Moriscos (forcibly converted Muslims, finally in 1609) was a cultural and economic catastrophe from which Spain did not recover for centuries.