Reconquista by Brandon Works
The Reconquista is a period of war between Christians and the Moors under the Umayyad Empire that lasts for approximately 781 years. It all starts in 711A.D when the Moors crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and started to invade the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. After a short 7 years the Moors were able to take over the entire kingdom and it became Andalusia. But then a man by the name of Pelagius (Pelayo) who is a Visigothic noblemen founded the Kingdom of Asturias and fought back against the Moors in 722A.D. The Moors first had attacked Pelayos army and it had appeared that Pelayo had lost, but he retreated back to Covadonga. Covadonga was located in the mountains and an ideal place for Pelayo to take a stand against the Moors. Pelayo and his army made a successful against the Moors and this then inspires other Christian Kingdoms to fight back against the Moors. The Asturian Kingdom began to gain little bits and pieces of the Muslim controlled peninsula, But the Moors still continued north and crossed the Pyrenees and made its way up to Bordeaux and on the way ransacked cities. But then a man by the name of Charles Martel defeated the Moors at the battle of tours. This ultimately made the Moors go into a defense mode for next century, and this allowed for the Christian Kingdoms to gain strength. By the early 900’s the Kingdom of Asturias was able to conquer the entire north western part of the peninsula under Alfonso III. Alfonso had three sons and he split the kingdom into three parts León, Galicia, and Oviedo. But eventually all three sons died and Alfonsos fourth son Fruela II took over and reunited the Kingdom. But Fruela died and after a period of time where the all the kings were having problems Bermudo II became king. During his reign the Moors were able to attack and gained León. But Bermudo died in 999 and his son Alfonso V was only five so Don Melindo González became the temporary king until Alfonso was old enough. |
Alfonso was able to recapture León but he died in battle in 1028 at Viseu in Portugal. So his only son Bermudo III became king but he lost the entire Kingdom on battle to King Ferdinand I of Castile, a neighboring Christian King. King Ferdinand I became king of Castile and León for the next 27 years. The next major accomplishment was in 1085 when the Christians were able to capture the Moorish city of Toledo under the rule of Alfonso VI. Then in 1212 Alfonso VIII defeated the Moors at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. This gave expanded the Kingdom of Castile to the entire central part of the peninsula. After a split of about 100 years between León and Castile the kingdoms were reunited in 1230 under Ferdinand III. Ferdinand III was one of the more successful kings during the Reconquista. He was able to defeat the Moors and push them to the southern tip of the peninsula. He captured Córdoba, Jaen, and Seville which were major key cities and this almost completed the Reconquista. The only Moorish territory left was Granada, but unfortunately Ferdinand was unable to finish the job. The next big accomplishment came under the reign of Alfonso XI. He attacked the Moors at Granada in 1340 and defeated one of their armies but the Reconquista was still not finished. Then in 1469 at Valladolid the heir of the Kingdom of Castile Isabella got married to the heir of the Kingdom of Aragon and Navarre Ferdinand. This united the Kingdoms under one and they attacked the Moors at Granada. In 1492 the united Kingdoms were able to defeat the Moors and that would complete the Reconquista. The Christians had retaken over Spain and defeated the Moors.
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