RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION

ence close to the church of a spring enclosed by ma-sonry of the same period. It is likely that the site waspart of a royal estate.

ROGER COLLINS

Bibliography

Collins, R., Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity,400–1000. London, 1983, 108–45.

Navascues, J. M. de. La dedicacion de San Juan de Banos.Palencia, 1961.

Thompson, E. A. The Goths in Spain. Oxford, 1969,199–210.

RECEMUNDBishop of Elvira and caliphal secretary (mid-tenth cen-tury). Known to the Arabs as Rabi ibn Sid al-Usquf,the Christian Recemund served as a secretary underthe caliph �Abd al-Rah.man III (929–961). In 953 hewas sent by the caliph as an ambassador to Otto I ofGermany (936–973), where he managed to defuse apotentially volatile situation caused by a previous ex-change of letters that were apparently less than sensi-tive to the religious inclinations of their recipients. Thecaliph rewarded Recemund for his services with therecently vacated see of Elvira. While in Germany, Re-cemund met Liutprand of Cremona, who subsequentlydedicated his Antapodosis to him. Even as bishop, Re-cemund continued to serve as an ambassador for thecaliph, traveling to Constantinople and Jerusalem.With the accession of Al-H. akam II in 961, Recemunddedicated to him a calendar written in Arabic which,interestingly enough, included references to Christianholy days, even some that commemorated a few of themartyrs of Cordoba. Recemund was a contemporaryof Hasdai ibn Shaprut, the Jewish physician and intel-lectual who also served �Abd al-Rah.man III as ambas-sador.

KENNETH B. WOLF

Bibliography

Colbert, E. “The Martyrs of Cordoba (850–859): A Studyof the Sources.” Ph.D. Diss., Catholic University ofAmerica, 1962, 382–86.

Dozy, R., ed. Le Calendrier de Cordoue. Trans. C. Pellat.2d ed. Leiden, 1961.

RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATIONThe Reconquest and the concomitant task of repopula-tion are the essential threads running through the his-tory of medieval Spain. Spaniards have long believedthat their forebears waged nearly continous warfareover seven hundred years to expel the Muslim invaders

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from North Africa who overthrew the Visigothic king-dom in 711. Modern historians have questioned thevalidity of this traditional concept, but Derek Lomaxpointed out that the Reconquest was “an ideal inventedby Spanish Christians soon after 711” and developedin the ninth-century kingdom of Asturias.

Given the failure of the Muslims to occupy theentire Iberian Peninsula, several tiny, independentkingdoms and counties emerged in the foothills of theCantabrian and Pyrenees mountains, namely, Asturias,Leon, Castile, Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia. Theidea of reconquest originated in Asturias, where KingPelayo (718–737), the leader of a hardy band of moun-taineers, proclaimed his intention to achieve the salusSpanie—the “salvation of Spain”—and the restorationof the Gothic people. His victory over the Muslims atCovadonga in 722 is traditionally taken as the begin-ning of the Reconquest. A ninth-century chronicler af-firmed that the Christians would wage war against theMuslims by day and night “until divine predestinationcommands that they be driven cruelly thence. Amen!”Two ideas were linked here. First there was the deter-mination to expel the Muslims considered as unlawfulintruders who had seized land belonging by right tothe Christians. Secondly, the task of restoring the Visi-gothic monarchy to its fullest extent was attributed tothe kings of Asturias and their later successors in Leonand Castile who were hailed as heirs of the Visigoths.The reconquest was a war to recover territory, but italso had a religious character because of the fundamen-tal opposition between between two mutually exclu-sive societies.

Despite the bravado of the chroniclers, the Chris-tian rulers were in no position to offer serious opposi-tion to Muslim ascendancy during the three hundredyears following the initial invasion. Almost every yearthe emirs and caliphs of Cordoba sent their armies toravage Christian lands, though never to conquer them.A no-man’s-land extending along the Duero river fromthe Atlantic Ocean to the borders of Aragon separatedChristian and Muslim territory, but many years elapsedbefore the Christians were emboldened to settle thatregion. Until the late eleventh century, Islamic rule inthe northeast reached as far north as the foothills ofthe Pyrenees. In these circumstances one could hardlyspeak of reconquest.

Nevertheless, the breakup of the Caliphate of Cor-doba early in the eleventh century and the emergenceof the petty Muslim kingdoms known as ta’ifas ena-bled the Christian princes to make significant progressin the Reconquest. Alfonso VI of Leon-Castile(1065–1109) captured Toledo in 1085 and won controlof a long stretch of the Tagus River. However, theAlmoravids, a Muslim sect from Morocco, defeated

RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION

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him at the battle of Sagrajas in 1086 and unified Is-lamic Spain by swallowing the ta’ifas. Christians onceagain found themselves on the defensive. As Almora-vid power waned the Christians again achieved impor-tant gains when Alfonso I of Aragon (1104–1134) con-quered Zaragoza on the Ebro River in 1118 and AfonsoI of Portugal (1128–1185), with the aid of a fleet ofnorthern crusaders on their way to the Holy Land,seized Lisbon at the mouth of the Tagus River in 1147.

From this point onward the Reconquest assumedthe character of a crusade as numerous papal bullsequated the struggle against Islam in Spain with thewars in the Holy Land. The conflict intensified in thesecond half of the twelfth century when the Almohads,another Muslim sect from Morocco, halted the Chris-tian advance and ravaged Christian territory. In 1195the Almohads gained an extraordinary triumph atAlarcos over Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158–1214), but

698

in 1212, with the help of a papal bull of crusade, heredeemed himself and routed the Muslims at LasNavas de Tolosa. As a consequence the southern fron-tier of the kingdom of Toledo was secure and the roadto Andalusia was opened. Moreover, the balance ofpower had now been tipped once and for all in favorof the Christians.

Pressing forward from the Guadiana to the Gua-dalquivir Rivers, Fernando III of Castile-Leon(1217–1252) captured Cordoba (1236), Jaen (1246),and Seville (1248) and also received the submissionof the Muslim kingdom of Murcia. At the same timethe Portuguese occupied the Alentejo and the Algarvethereby completing the territorial expansion of theirkingdom. In the east Jaime I of Aragon (1213–1276)subjugated the Balearic Islands and conquered thekingdom of Valencia (1238). In that way the Crownof Aragon consisting of Aragon proper, Catalonia, and

RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION

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Valencia reached its fullest extent within the peninsula.Thus by the middle of the thirteenth century all ofIslamic Spain, with the exception of the kingdom ofGranada, was ruled by the Christians. The kings ofGranada were forced to pay tribute as vassals of thekings of Castile-Leon.

Only Castile-Leon had a frontier contiguous to thekingdom of Granada and so had a realistic chance forfurther peninsular acquisitions. In the late thirteenthand fourteenth centuries the principal concern of theCastilian kings was to seize control of the ports on theStrait of Gibraltar in order to prevent further incursionsfrom Morocco. In preparation for an African crusade,Alfonso X (1252–1284) developed the ports of Cadizand El Puerto de Santa Marıa, but his plans werethwarted by the revolt of the Muslims subject to hisrule in 1264. Another wave of Moroccan invaders, theBanu Marin or Benimerines, put the Christians on thedefensive once again. Sancho IV (1284–1295) cap-

699

tured the port of Tarifa in 1292 and his son FernandoIV (1295–1312) seized Gibraltar in 1309, though itwas lost in 1333. Alfonso XI (1312–1340) stemmedthe final Moroccan invasion at Salado in 1340 andgained Algeciras in 1344, but died during the siege ofGibraltar. For the next century and a half the re-conquest was left in abeyance as the kingdom of Gra-nada was not considered a serious threat and no furtherintrusions from Morocco took place.

As the Muslims withdrew before the Christian ad-vance, reconquered territory had to be repopulated orcolonized. The earliest stage in the process occurredwhen pioneers willing to take the risk of livng on anexposed frontier began to settle in the unoccupiedlands of the Duero River valley. In the eleventh andtwelfth centuries while the Leonese, Castilians, andPortuguese crossed into Extremadura and then into theTagus Valley, the Aragonese and Catalans movedsouth of the Ebro River. Fortified urban settlements

RECONQUEST AND REPOPULATION

13th century C.E. The Moors regain their castle. Alfonso Xthe Wise, Cartigas de Santa Maria Spain, 13th c. Copyright Giraudon/Art Resource, NY. Biblioteca Real, El Escorial,Madrid, Spain.

were established directly dependent upon the king androyal charters assuring personal freedom and other lib-erties were issued to attract settlers. The military ordersfounded in the twelfth century received lordships inthe frontier region stretching from below the Tagus tothe borders of Andalusia. When Andalusia, Valencia,Murcia, and the Algarve were occupied in the thir-teenth century, the Muslims were usually evacuatedfrom the principal cities and towns. Books of distribu-tion or Libros de repartimiento drawn up on the king’sorders distributed houses and lands among the victors.The repartimientos for Valencia and Seville are amongthe most comprehensive of these documents. A sub-stantial Muslim population, known as Mudejars, re-mained in the rural areas and were not fully incorpo-rated into Christian society until the seventeenthcentury.

Fernando of Aragon (1479–1516) and Isabel ofCastile (1474–1504) conquered Granada and broughtthe Reconquest to an end. Stating their expectation that“these infidels . . . will be ejected and expelled fromSpain,” they asked the pope in 1485 for crusading in-dulgences. Then in 1492, they announced that “thiskingdom of Granada, which was occupied for overseven hundred and eight years by the infidels . . . hasbeen conquered.”

Medieval Spanish Christians, a people always liv-ing on a frontier, developed a pioneer psychologythrough the Reconquest and seemed prepared at anytime to move from the more peaceful and settled areasof the north in the expectation of finding a better lifein the south. After the conquest of Granada some tried

700

to press Spanish interests in Morocco in accordancewith the notion that the Visigoths had once ruled there,but the opening of the New World diverted Spanishenergy from that enterprise. Overseas exploration andcolonization in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesin some measure continued the process of reconquestand repopulation within the peninsula.

Although the Christians now dominated all ofSpain and Portugal, the continued presence of largenumbers of Muslims and Jews, who hitherto had en-joyed religious freedom and juridical autonomy, wasseen by many as an impediment to national unity. Onthat account, the Jews in 1492 and the Muslims ofGranada in 1502 were compelled to accept Christianityor to go into exile. In that way a facade of political,juridical, and religious unity was imposed.

In conclusion, though the ideal of reconquestfound expression in the ninth-century chroniclers, theReconquest itself did not really begin until the lateeleventh century. Thereafter it was frequently inter-rupted by truces and sometimes neglected entirely, butit remained the ultimate goal of the Christian rulers ofSpain.

JOSEPH F. O’CALLAGHAN

Bibliography

Collins, R. Early Medieval Spain. Unity in Diversity,400–1000. New York, 1983.

Lomax, D. W. The Reconquest of Spain. New York, 1978.MacKay, A. Spain in the Middle Ages. From Frontier to

Empire, 1000–1500. New York, 1977.O’Callaghan, J. F. A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, N.Y.,

1975.

REGIDOR See TOWNS

RELIGIOUS ORDERSA religious order is a community of individuals, eithermale or female, who make a public vow and a religiousconsecration. It is an institute of perfection whosemembers subject themselves to the discipline of a rulerecognized and approved by ecclesiastical authorities.Through their corporate life and service to the largercommunity of the church, these individuals seek spirit-ual growth and ultimately the attainment of salvation.The religious orders of medieval Europe, first appear-ing during the twelfth century, were an outgrowth ofthe Gregorian Reform Movement. They were less ruraland contemplative than the older monastic communi-ties and generally subscribed to some version of theAugustinian Rule. Their works tended to be evangelis-tic or caritative, well suited to the needs of emergingurban communities, from which they drew their re-