Two kingdoms of the reconquista : a comparative study of the fall of Valencia (1238) and Granada (1492) and their shift from Muslim to Christian orientation

Abstract

The history that emerges from the Reconquista is something of a marvel when one considers the significance of these crusades and their impact on the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula. Taking into consideration the size of the Iberian Peninsula, as a region, the entanglement of these two similar, but still different religious cultures, shows how complex a scenario of holy war really was. While the thought of holy war, be it a crusade or a jihād, shifts one’s thoughts to the Near East, in particular the Holy Land, the scale and significance of the 800 year-long reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula must not be overlooked. The mixed culture that developed in Iberia after the Islamic conquests of the early 8th century are a unique case in the medieval European sphere of influence. No other mainland European region, with perhaps the acceptation of the island of Sicily, has gone through such a radical cultural change, Christian-to-Islamic-to-Christian, in such a relatively short period of time. Therefore, the rise and fall of al-Andalus as a region of mixed Christian and Islamic culture is an important scenario when one considers the geographical position of Iberia with the rest of Christian Europe. With this in mind, this dissertation attempts to tackle two main goals, one on a region-wide level and the other on a more local level. The first goal is to understand and highlight how treaties between the major political players of the Reconquista affected the regions of Valencia and Granada on a large region-wide scale. Further, this section of the study takes into consideration how the eventual implementation of these various treaties, which ranged throughout the 800 years of the Reconquista, affected the many religious groups of both Valencia and Granada. This importantly notes any changes to both regions economies and takes into consideration any resulting migrations away from these regions. The second goal, takes the region-wide outcomes and analyses these factors on a smaller local scale. This is achieved by looking at the archaeology, architecture, population movements within the local scenario and, most importantly, the Christianization process that took shape in these regions after the various Christian conquests by the northern Iberian kingdoms from the late 10th and 11th centuries till the fall of Granada in 1492. However, these two goals could not be achieved without first tackling the standard terminology used in such a study, and secondly, an in-depth historical background of the major political players that played a role in the history of the Reconquista. Therefore, Chapter 1 of this dissertation highlights the necessary terminology for this type of research, such as the communities referred to as the Mudejars and the Dhimmi. While Chapter 2 gives an in-detail historical analysis of the Kingdoms of Aragon, Catalonia, Castile-León, the Umayyad, Almoravids and Almohads Caliphates, a general overview of the taifas and an in-depth historical analysis of Granada and Valencia. This historical overview ranges from their founding during the Roman period to the end of their respective conquests during the 12th and 15th centuries. From Chapter 3 onwards, the focus then shifts to the factors mentioned above in Valencia and Granada, with Chapter 3 tackling the treaties, alliances and warfare on the regional level and Chapter 4 tackling these outcomes on the local level. This is done through the use of the surviving archaeology on the rural and urban landscapes, while also considering the material culture from a historian’s perspective in reference to the historical literature. The eventual outcomes are then considered and compared, in relation to Valencia and Granada, within Chapter 5. Therefore, this dissertation will tackle the cultural, religious, economic and warfare factors of the Reconquista by comparing and contrasting the regions and cities of Valencia and Granada. Importantly, these main factors will be viewed on both the region-wide level and on the local level, which is further sub-divided into the rural and urban landscapes.