A Short Reference Primer on the Crusading
Movement-Medieval Spain
by Lord Sir Paul de Marseilles
(With Special Thanks to the Order of 
St. Michael)

	The best known and the most widely written area of the Crusades is Palestine/The Holy Land..  However, it was not the only theater.  The Crusading movement was one of the broadest historical movements during the medieval age.

	This primer deals with the Iberian Peninsula and the crusading movement called the “Reconquesta”.  If you are interested in portraying a Crusader, a member of the Military Orders, a Moor or just have a general interest in this area and time period, pray take a moment or two to glance through this Primer.

	A.	A Brief Historical Overview of Medieval Spain

	The Visigoths founded a Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula following the collapse of the Roman Empire.  The Iberian Peninsula was invaded by Arab and Berber armies from North Africa lead by Tariq in 711.  These armies spread northward and proceeded to conquer all of southern Spain.  This northern expansion was stopped by Charles Martel at what is now Poitiers, France in 732.  In 756, Abd al-Rahman, a deposed Umayyad prince, began to organize the southern portion of the Iberian Peninsula under Islamic rule.  For the next three centuries, these Muslim conquerors occupied at least half of the Iberian Peninsula (the “al-Andalus”).  In addition to their religion, they brought with them their artistic, architectural, and literary traditions.  By 900 A.D., one of the largest cities in Western Europe was Cordoba, widely recognized by both the Christian and Islamic worlds as a commercial and cultural center.  Residents of this city invented the process of manufacturing crystal and pioneered the making of paper in Europe.  This culture reached its zenith during the time period of 978 to 1002 under the Caliphate of Cordoba. Unfortunately, this “golden age” was not to last.  

	The Caliphate of Cordoba fell by 1032.  Its power fragmented into individual successor states known as “Taifas” or “reinos de Taifa”.  In the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Christian Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Navarre, Leon, and Portugal began to look southward to take military advantage of the situation.  This relationship between the Taifas Kingdom and their Christian counterparts was extremely complex and fluid.  The northern kingdoms were governed by a military aristocracy very similar to their European cousins.   These Kingdoms were just as likely to war against each other as against their Muslim counterparts.  The same could be said about the Taifas Kingdoms.  By the time of the calling of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095-1096, the military movement in the Iberian Peninsula had already begun in earnest.  By 1063, the Christian Kingdoms began to advance southward.  By 1085, Alfonso VI of Leon with the aid of Roderigo Diaz de Vivar (as known as “El Cid”) captured Toledo, the largest city in Spain.  This cultural, military, and religious movement became known as the “Reconquesta” or Reconquest.

	The Taifas Kings lacked the resources to resist Christian advances from the north. The Taifa kings became alarmed and requested assistance from the Almoravids in North Africa.  The Almoravids were Muslim fundamentalists who were particularly intolerant to Christians, Jews, Sufis and many of the followers of Islam.  By the 1090's, the crusading privileges and ceremonies associated with fighting in the Holy Land in Europe had been extended to the battles against the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula.  The Almoravids managed to reconquer the al-Andalus by 1110.  By 1130, their Empire was under siege by still another yet another movement of religious revival (the Almohads).  The Christian Kingdoms continued to advance southward.  Additional “crusades” were authorized during the Second Crusade and periodically thereafter.   

	In 1212, the forces of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Peter II of Aragon defeated the Almohads at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa.  The next phase of campaigns of the Reconquesta became increasingly nationalist as well as religious in nature.  By 1235, Valencia was conquered by James I of Aragon.  Ferdinand III of Castile conquered Cordova and Seville in 1236 and 1248 respectively.   After 1248, the only area still controlled by the Muslims was the mountainous southern region of Granada.  In 1469, the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were unified by the marriage of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.  From 1482 to 1492, the unified Kingdom of Castile/Aragon began taking Muslim fortresses one by one in Granada.  In 1492, the City of Granada was surrendered by Muhammad XI.  

	The Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery into Africa and the New World would make these two Kingdoms World Powers in Europe.  This preeminence would continue until well beyond the Renaissance.
 
	B.	General Histories/Overviews of Medieval Spain

	There are several good general histories of Medieval Spain.   I recommend Joseph F. O’Callaghan, A History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press, 1983), Bernard F. Reilly, The Medieval Spains (Cambridge University Press, 1993), Angus MacKay, Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 1000 to 1500 (McMillan Ed. Corp., 1989) or Stanley G. Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal (University of Wisconsin Press, 1973).

	For histories dealing specifically with Islamic Spain, please see Richard Fletcher, Moorish Spain (University of California Press, 2006) or L.P. Herey, Islamic Spain (1250-1500) (University of Chicago Press, 1992).

	For an examination of individual aspects of Medieval Spain, you may wish to browse the Library of Iberian Resources (LIBRO), a joint project of the American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain and the University of Central Arkansas.  This Library contains an incredible wealth of material and can be found via the internet at libro.uca.edu.  The Internet Medieval Source book is also a good source for starting information.

	For cultural and religious histories concerning other faiths, please see Jane S. Gerber, Jews of Spain, A History of the Sephardic Experience, (Free Pass, 1994) or Robert Chazen, The Jews of Medieval Western Christendom 1010-1500 (Cambridge University Press, 2007) or Jonathan Ray, The Sephardic Frontier-The Reconquista and the Jewish Community in Medieval Iberia, (Cornell University,  2008). 

	For one of the greatest of the French epic poems which tells the tale of deeds of Charlemagne’s invasion of Spain in 778 and which may have lent impetus to many French Knights during the First Crusade, try The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics, 1957).

	C.	The Golden Age of Spain (800-1030)
		(History of Al-Andulus)

	A flourishing of culture, poetry, agriculture, medicine, music and learning existed in the Al-Andulus in Medieval Spain from 800 to 1030.   It was during this time period that the three major faiths of the region, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, were in relative peace with one another in the lower section of the Iberian Peninsula. This time period has sometimes been called “The Golden Age of Spain”.

	For good overall histories of this area and time period, I suggest Fletcher’s Moorish Spain, Stephen O’Shea, A Sea of Faith, Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, (Walker, 2007) (Chapter 3-Cordoba, Chapter 5-Palermo and Toledo, and Chapter 7-Las Navas de Tolosa), or Vivir Mann, Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Medieval Spain (George Braziller, 2007).  For good history of the region from 711 to 1492 based upon Arab sources, please try Hugh Kennedy,  Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andelus (Longman, 1997).  

	For a slightly more biased but very informative viewpoint, try Christopher Lowney, A Vanished World: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Medieval Spain (Oxford University Press, 2006) or Maria Rosa Menocel, The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain (Little, Brown & Co., 2002).   For more information about the intellectual awakening of Medieval Spain, please see Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle’s Children: How Christian, Muslims and Jews rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illumination in the Middle Ages (Harvest Books, 2004).

	D.	El Cid

	One of the greatest heros of Medieval Spain was Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, also known as “El Cid”.  For an examination of his life and times, please see R. Fletcher, The Quest for El Cid (London, 1991) or Ramon Menendez-Pidal, The Cid and his Spain (Frank Cass & Co. 1971).  This latter volume is now out of print and you will have to obtain it through the library system.  On a related note, you may wish to try R. Hamilton, and J Perry, Trans. The Poem of the Cid, (Penguin Classics, 1985), one of the greatest examples of medieval Spanish literature. 

	E.	The Reconquesta (1060-1492)

	For an excellent one volume history which deals specifically with the Reconquesta, I suggest Joseph F. O’Callaghan, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (University of Penn. Press,  2004) or D.W. Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain (London and New York, 1978).  
	
	In terms of books available via the internet, you may wish to look at Charles Julian Bishko, The Spanish and Portugese Reconquest (1095-1492) from A History of the Crusades, Vol 3: The 14th and 15th Centuries, Ed. Henry W. Hazard (University of Wisconsin, 1975) or Robert Ignatius Burns, S.J., The Crusader Kingdom of Valencia (Harvard University Press, 1967) which is also available through the Library of Iberian Resources (LIBRO).  I would recommend examining any of the “on line” histories located via this internet resource.

	For a series of individual examinations of the clashes between the forces of Islam and Christianity on the Iberian Peninsula contained in other works about the Crusades, I suggest Christopher Tyerman, God’s War, a New History of the Crusades, (Harvard University Press, 2006)(Chapter 20 “Frontier Crusades: Conquest in Spain”) or Stephen O’Shea, Sea of Faith, Islam and Christianity in the Medieval Mediterranean World, (Walker 2006)(Chapters 3, 5, and 7). 

	F.	Maps and Atlases

	For a general overview of the Reconquesta with maps set at specific times periods, please see Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Atlas of the Crusades (Facts on File, 1990) and the following Chapters, Spain: The Reconquest Begins, pgs. 32-33, Success in Spain and Portugal, pgs. 72-73, and Spain: The Final Victory, pgs. 126-127.  For Maps of the castles and holdings of the Military Orders in Spain within The Atlas, please see The Military Orders in Spain, pgs. 54-55.  For other maps of Medieval/Moorish Spain as well as pilgrimage and commercial/trade routes, please also see Andrew Jotischky and Caroline Hull, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World, (Penguin Books, 2005).  For a great chronology, I recommend the Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades (Oxford University Press, 1995).

	For an examination of the social and cultural aspects of medieval pilgrimages, try John Ore, Pilgrimages, The Great Adventure of the Middle Ages (Caroll & Graf, 2006).  For a specific discussion of St. James and the pilgrimage to Compostela, Spain, please look at Chapter 7 of this book, Santiago de Compostela: The Romantic Pilgrimage. For a more modern view, please see Conrad Rudolph, Pilgrimage to the End of the World, the Road to Santiago de Compostela, (University Of Chicago Press, 2004).

	G.	The Military Orders in Spain

	A unique outgrowth of the Crusading movement was the formation of the Military Orders.  These organizations were essentially early multinational corporations dedicated to fighting, protecting pilgrims, and rendering aid and/or comfort to the sick and dying.  By 1143, the Templars began to fight on the Iberian peninsula.  The Hospitallers took up arms by the middle of the 12th Century.  However, these two orders were reluctant to divert their full resources away from the defense of the Holy Land and into the Reconquesta.

	As a result, local Military Orders were created to defend the invasion routes and frontier castles against the Muslim armies and helped in the continuing acquisition of land.  They were national in character from their outset and remained primarily in the Iberian Peninsula under the control of their local kings.  These Orders included the Order of Calatrava (Castile-1158), the Order of Santiago (Leon-1170), the Order of Avis (Portugal-1176).

	There are very few books available in the English language which deal with the Spanish Military Orders.  For a general overview of the Military Orders with sections dealing specifically with this theater,  I would recommend Michael J. Walsh, Warriors of the Lord, the Military Orders of Christendom (Wm.B. Eardmans Publishing Co.,  2003), and Alan Forey, The Military Orders From the Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Centuries, (University of Toronto Press, 1992).  

	For a general overview of the Military Orders in Spain, please see The Interior Life of the Military Religious Orders of Medieval Spain, a paper presented by Joseph F. O’Callaghan of Fordham University at St. John’s University in October of 2001 (a full text of the paper can be found at ).

	For an overview of the individual militias formed during this time period, please see James F. Powers, A Society Organized for War: The Iberian Municipal Militias in the Central Middle Ages 1000-1284 (University of California Press, 1988) which is available on line through 
 the Library of Iberian Resources (LIBRO).

	For more “in depth” research, I recommend utilizing the inter-library loan department of your local University.  Much of the “in depth” material written about the Military Orders can only be obtained overseas and much of it is in Spanish.

		1.	The Order of Santiago

	The Order of Santiago was founded in 1170 by King Ferdinand II of Leon as a confraternity of knights dedicated to the protection of pilgrims traveling to and from Santiago de Compostela.  The Order was formally recognized by the Catholic Church in 1175 and was heavily involved in the reconquest of both Spain and Portugal.  This Order was somewhat unusual in that it accepted married members and frequently did not demand evidence of noble birth from its members.  In 1493, the Order was annexed to the Spanish Crown.  It continued as a honorific Order until 1931 when it was suppressed by the Spanish government.

	For a specific history of this and other Military Orders in Medieval Spain, please see Francis A. Dutra, Military Orders in the early Modern Portuguese World: The Orders of Christ, Santiago and Avis (Ashgate Publishing Co., 2006).  This book is a collection of essays written by Dr. Dutra about these military orders.  
	
	In terms of information available via the internet, please see the Catholic Encyclopedia: Order of St. James of Compostela at , or Guy Stair Sainty’s The Military Order of Santiago which is available at   

		2.	The Order of Calatrava

	The Order of Calatrava was founded in 1158 to defend the castle of Calatrava which controlled access to Toledo from the south.  This Order was unique in that it did not demand evidence of noble birth for membership.  This Order was formally annexed to the Spanish Crown after the fall of Granada in 1492.  The order was formally suppressed by the Spanish government in 1835 and later re-established in 1851.  This second incarnation was again formally suppressed by the government in 1931.

	For a specific history of this Order, please see Joseph O’Callaghan, The Spanish Military Order of Calatrava and its Affiliates (Variorum, 1975).

	In terms of information available via the internet, please see the Catholic Encyclopedia: Order of St. James of Compostela at or Guy Stair Sainty’s The Military Order of Calatrava.

		3.	The Order of Christ

	This Order was founded in 1318 by King Denis of Portugal in recognition of the Templars aid during the Reconquista and following the formal suppression of the Templars in 1312.  King Denis created a new order for the displaced Knights Templar.  The Order was formally recognized by the Catholic Church in 1319.  Henry the Navigator become the Order’s Grand Master after 1417.  As a result, the Cross of this Order adorned Portuguese sails in their travels to India, Brazil, Japan and throughout the New World.

	For a history of this order, please see Dr. Francis A. Dutra, Military Order in the early Modern Portugese World (Valiorum, 2006).  

	For information via the internet about this Order, please see the Catholic Encyclopedia: Order of Christ at , or Guy Stair Sainty’s The Order of Christ or Jose Vicente de Bragenca’s website regarding the Portuguese Military Order at www.jvarnoso.com.

		4.	The Mercedarians

	The Order of the Virgin Mary of Mercy of the Redemption of Captives (the “Mercedarians”) was formed in 1218 by St. Peter Nolsasco in Barcelona, Spain for the redemption of Christian Captives held in Muslim hands, especially along the frontier that the Aragon/Muslim frontier.  This Order was formed for reasons totally unrelated to military conquest or control.  It still exists today in over seventeen countries.  

	 Most of the information about the Mercadarians is available on the internet.  For a general history of the Mercadarians, please try or James William Brodman, Ransoming Captives in Crusader Spain: The Order of Merced on the Christian Islamic Frontier (University of Penn. Press, 1986) which is also available for viewing on the Library of Iberian Resources.  You may also wish to try  Bruce T. Taylor, Structures of Reform: The Mercedarian Order in the Spanish Golden Age (Brill, 2000).
 
		5.	The Templars

	For general histories pertaining to the Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon (a.k.a. the Templars),  I recommend Malcolm Barber, The New Knighthood, A History of the Order of the Temple (Canto, 1995), Helen Nicholson, The Knights Templar, A New History (Sutton Publishing, 2004) or, to a lesser extent, Piers Paul Read, The Templars (Da Capo Press, 2006).  

	For specific histories of the Templars within Medieval Spain, please see Juan Garcia Atienza, The Knights Templar in the Golden Age of Spain (Destiny Books,  2007), Alan Forey, The Fall of the Templars in the Crown of Aragon (Ashgate Publishing,  2002) or A.J. Forey, Templars in the Corona de Argon (Oxford University Press, 1973) which is also available on-line at the Library of Iberian Resources (LIBRO),

	H.	Garb of Medieval Spain

	For those interested in a visual depiction of the garb, armor, and weapons of Medieval Spain, I would recommend the Osprey line of books including David Nicolle and Angus McBride, El Cid and the Reconquista (1050-1492) (Osprey, 1988), David Nicolle and Angus McBride, The Moors: The Islamic West 7th-15th Centuries A.D. (Men at Arms Series)(Osprey 2001); and David Nicolle, The Armies of the Muslim Conquest (Osprey, 1993); David Nicolle, The Armies of Islam (7th -11th Centuries)(Osprey, 1982).

	In terms of the Military Orders which operated in Medieval Spain, I would recommend Terrence West and Richard Scallons, The Knights of Christ (Osprey, 1984), David Nicolle, Knight Hospitaller 1100-1306 (Osprey Publishing, 2001) and Knight Hospitaller 1306-1565 (Osprey Publishing, 2001) and Helen Nicholson, Knight Templars (Osprey, 2004).  I would also recommend David Nicolle, Arms & Armor of the Crusading Era 1050-1350, Islam, Eastern Europe, and Asia (Greenhill Books, 1988).

	In terms of general ideas for garb on the internet, please see the clothing of various period of Iberian history illustrated by Dr. Grace M. Morris at  or the16th Century Spanish Court dress for women at sayaespanola.glittersweet.com or Maddalena Jessamyn di Piemonte’s website of Costumes of the Visigoth, Mozarabes, and the Northern Christian Kingdoms or even more general ideas at  Costumer’s Manifesto at .

	I.	Music of Medieval Spain

	Much of the music of this time period was ecclesiastical in nature until the rise of the Troubadours.  For religious period music, please lend your ears and try Alfonso X "El Sabio": Cantigas de Santa Maria (Naxos, 1995), Iberian Garden: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Music in Medieval Spain: Volume 1 (Dorian Recordings, 1997), Secular Music from Christian and Jewish Spain (EMI Classics, 1999), Sephardic Romances, Traditional Music from Spain, (Naxos, 1997) or Songs of The Sephardim (Dorian Recordings, 1993).

	For music from Islamic Spain, please try La Musica de Al-Andalus (Almaviva, 2000) or The Splendour of Al-Andalus ( M.a. Recordings, 1999) or Orient-Occident (Alia Vox Spain, 2006) or .Musica Andalusi (Sony, 1996).

	For a general collection of period (and somewhat period) Spanish music, try Spanish Music of Travel and Discovery (EMI Classics, 2000) or EspaZoleta (Dorian Recordings, 2000), Music of Medieval Spain (Asv Living Era, 1995) or even Jácaras! 18th Century Spanish Baroque Guitar Music (Harmonia Mundi Fr., 1998)

	For formal Court music, please try Isabel I: Reina de Castilla (Alia Vox Spain, 2004) or Music for the Spanish Kings (EMI Classics,  2001).

 	J.	Conclusion

	 The Iberian Peninsula during this time period is a fascinating mixture of culture, romance, grace, and brutality.  There are many histories which cover this subject in greater detail or breath than those which have been cited in the body of this Primer.  It is my hope that I have provided a starting point for those who are interested in this area of history or wish to portray a persona from this area. 

	If you have further interest in this area, please feel free to contact myself or any member of the Order of St. Michael.  The Order is open to both men and women and is located in the Kingdom of Vega (Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Oregon).  The Order is dedicated to the study, teaching and re-recreation of the Military Orders and Crusaders. Until then, Deus lo Volt!