CHRISTIAN SPAIN IN THE MOSLEM PERIOD, 711-1035
[Sidenote: Fitful character of the Christian reconquest.]
One of the popular misconceptions of the Moslem period in the history of
Spain is that the Christians began a holy war almost from the time of
the Moslem invasion, and continued to gain in fervor and in power, step
by step, until at length they took Granada in 1492. In fact religious
enthusiasm and national conquest alike were fitful and spasmodic, and
very little progress was made in the period of the emirs and caliphs.
[Sidenote: The kingdom of Asturias.]
[Sidenote: Covadonga.]
It has usually been held, although the matter is in dispute, that the
Visigoths resisted the invaders continuously at only one point in
Spain,--in Asturias. In the mountains of Asturias there gathered various
nobles of the centre and south of Spain, a number of bishops, and the
remains of the defeated Christian armies, and, aided perhaps by the
natives of that land, they prepared to make a stand against the Moslems.
On the news of the death of Roderic they elected a certain Pelayo as his
successor, and it is this king who is customarily regarded as the
founder of the Spanish monarchy. Pelayo fixed his capital at Cangas de
Onís, and is believed to have maintained amicable relations with the
Moslems for a while, perhaps paying them tribute, and possibly even
making a visit to Cordova. Hostilities broke out again, however, and in
the year 718 Pelayo and his partisans won a victory in the valley of
Covadonga. Coming as it did after several years of defeats this
achievement attained to a renown which was far greater than the merits
of the actual battle, and in later years legendary accounts made the
combat itself assume extraordinary proportions. It has usually been
taken as marking the beginning of the Christian reconquests, and it is
said that Pelayo became king in consequence of the battle, when in fact
he was elected several years before. The battle of Covadonga did secure
eastern Asturias to the Christians, which was its immediate result.
Aside from that tiny kingdom there is no proof that there were any
independent Christian states in Spain, although it is probable that
there were several in the other mountainous parts of the north.
[Sidenote: The advance of the Asturian frontier.]
Since the invaders respected the religion and customs of the conquered,
the war of the Christian kingdom of Asturias against them did not at
first have a religious or even a racial character. It was a war of the
nobles and clergy for the reconquest of their landed estates and of the
king for the restoration of his royal authority over the peninsula. The
little Asturian kingdom was like the old Visigothic state in miniature;
for example, there were the struggles between the nobility and the crown
for precisely the same objects as formerly. For a century the history of
Asturias reduced itself primarily to these quarrels. Nevertheless, the
Moslem frontier tended to withdraw from the far northwest, not that the
Moslems were forced out by the Christians, but possibly because their
own civil wars drew them together in the centre and south, or because
their numbers were not great enough to make them seek the less desirable
lands in the northwest. The frontier became fixed south of the Douro
along a line running through Coimbra, Coria, Talavera, Toledo,
Guadalajara, and Pamplona, although the last-named place was not long
retained. It cannot be said that the Christians took a conscious
offensive until the eleventh century. In this period, despite the
internal dissension of the Moslem state, the Christian frontier did not
pass the Guadarrama Mountains even at the most favorable moments,
leaving Aragon and central and southern Spain in the enemy’s hands. The
line of the Douro was far from being held consistently,--as witness the
conquests of Abd-er-Rahman III and Almansor.
[Sidenote: Alfonso I and Alfonso II.]
[Sidenote: Santiago de Compostela.]
The only notable kings of Asturias in the century following the death of
Pelayo (737) were Alfonso I “the Catholic” (739-757) and Alfonso II
“the Chaste” (791-842). Both made successful campaigns against the
Moslems, although their principal importance was that they brought back
many Mozárabes from the temporarily conquered regions, and these helped
to populate the north. To assure his power Alfonso II sought an alliance
with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, and with his son, Louis the
Pious. It is this which gave rise to the legend of Bernardo del Carpio,
who is said to have compelled the king to forbear making treaties with
foreign rulers which lowered the dignity of the Spanish people. Some
writers have found in this supposed incident (for the figure of Bernardo
is a later invention) an awakening sense of nationalism, but it seems
rather to reflect the traditional attitude of the nobility lest the king
become too strong for them, for real patriotism did not exist. The two
Alfonsos did much to reorganize their kingdom internally, and Alfonso
the Chaste moved the capital to Oviedo. In his reign, too, there
occurred a religious event of great importance,--the finding of what was
believed to be the tomb and body of the apostle Santiago (Saint James)
in northwestern Galicia. The site was made the seat of a bishopric, and
a village grew up there, named Santiago de Compostela. Compostela became
a leading political and industrial factor in the Christian northwest,
but was far more important as a holy place of the first grade, ranking
with Jerusalem, Rome, and Loreto. Thenceforth, bands of pilgrims not
only from Spain but also from all parts of the Christian world came to
visit the site, and, through them, important outside influences began to
filter into Spain. More noteworthy still was the use of the story of the
miraculous discovery to fire the Christian warriors with enthusiasm in
their battles against the Moslems, especially at a later period, when
the war entered upon more of a crusading phase.
[Sidenote: Beginnings of Navarre and Aragon.]
The people of the mountains of Navarre were of Basque race, and seem to
have maintained a more or less unorganized freedom from political
subjection for many years before a definite state was formed. They
opposed both the Frankish kings and the Moslem emirs, and for a long
time the former were their principal enemy. At length they established
their independence of both. In these wars the kingdom of Navarre almost
certainly had its origin, but at an uncertain date. Tradition makes
Iñigo Arista one of the early kings, or chiefs, but the first name
definitely to appear is that of Sancho García in the tenth century
(905-925). The founding of an independent state in Aragon was due to the
same causes; indeed, Aragon and Navarre were assigned a common origin in
the legends of the period. Aragon was absorbed by Navarre, however,
possibly toward the end of the tenth century.
[Sidenote: Origin of the Catalan counties.]
Catalonia had been overrun by the Moslems when they entered Spain, but
between 785 and 811 the Frankish kings were able to reconquer that
region, establishing a province there which they called the Spanish
Mark. This section was at first ruled by a number of counts, independent
of each other, but subject to the kings of the Franks. Catalan
submission to the latter did not endure through the ninth century.
Wifredo, count of Barcelona, is believed to have established his
independence as early as 874, although that event is doubtful; at any
rate the separation from the Frankish kingdom was not much longer
delayed. Each count was lord unto himself, although the counts of
Barcelona were recognized as the greatest among them. Indeed, in the
entire breadth of northern Spain each unit labored for its own selfish
ends. Christians fought Moslems, but also fought other Christians. Owing
to the disorder of the Moslem realm, however, the Catalan counts, like
the other Christian rulers, were able to make some territorial gains.
[Sidenote: Two centuries of scant progress in Asturias.]
[Sidenote: The independence of Castile.]
[Sidenote: Sancho the Fat.]
For nearly two centuries after the death of Alfonso II, or until the
fall of the Moslem caliphate, very little progress was made by the kings
of Oviedo and León, which latter city had become the capital of the
Christian kingdom in the northwest early in the tenth century. There was
a marked opposition between the Asturian-Leonese and the Galician parts
of the realm, and the Galician nobles maintained almost continuous war
with the kings. Similarly the counts of the frontier often acted like
petty sovereigns, or even joined with the Moslems against their own
compatriots. So, too, there were contests for the throne, and neither
side hesitated to call in Moslem aid. Some kings achieved conquests of
temporary moment against the Moslems; for example, Alfonso III “the
Great” (866-909) added considerably to his territories in a period of
marked weakness in the caliphate, but was obliged to abdicate when his
sons and even his wife joined in rebellion against him; the kingdom was
then divided among three sons, who took respectively León, Galicia and
Lusitania, and Asturias, leaving to the king the town of Zamora alone.
Then followed the caliphate of Abd-er-Rahman III, when the Christian
kingdoms, except Galicia, were most of the time subject in fact to the
Moslem state, although allowed to govern themselves. To the usual
quarrels there was added a new separatist tendency, more serious than
that of Galicia had been. This proceeded from the eastern part of the
kingdom in a region which came to be called Castile because of the
numerous castles there, due to its situation on the Moslem frontier. The
counts of Castile, centering around Burgos, had repeatedly declined to
obey the kings of Oviedo and León,--for example, when they were called
to serve in the royal armies. During the reign of Ramiro II (930-950),
Count Fernán González united the Castilians under his standard, and
after repeated wars was able to make Castile independent of the king of
León. The reign of Sancho “the Fat” is typical of the times. Sancho
became king of León in 955, but was soon dethroned by his nobles, who
alleged among other things that because of his corpulence he cut a
ridiculous figure as a king. Sancho went to the court of Abd-er-Rahman
III, and got not only a cure for fatness but also a Moslem army. Aided,
too, by the Christian kingdom of Navarre he was able to regain his
throne. He had promised to deliver certain cities and castles to the
caliph, but did not do so until compelled to by the next caliph, Hakem.
Civil wars between the nobles and the crown continued, and many of the
former joined with Moslem Almansor in his victorious campaigns against
their coreligionists and their king.
[Sidenote: Advance of the Christian states in the early eleventh
century.]
[Sidenote: Sancho the Great.]
When the caliphate began to totter, following the deaths of Almansor and
Abdul Malik, the Christian kings returned to the conquest. Alfonso V
(994-1027) of León and his uncle Sancho “the Great” (970-1035) of
Navarre pushed their frontiers southward, Alfonso crossing the Douro in
Portugal. The counts of Castile, too, now aiding one Moslem faction, now
another, now remaining neutral, profited by each new agreement to
acquire additional territory or fortified posts. Shortly after the death
of Alfonso V, Sancho the Great intervened successfully in the wars of
the Christian kingdoms, and united Castile and León under his authority.
Since he was also king in Navarre, Aragon, and the Basque provinces of
France and Spain, only Galicia, where the kings of León took refuge, and
the counties of Catalonia remained free from his rule in the north. Here
seemed to be an important moment in the history of Spain,--one which
might have had tremendous consequences. But it was as yet too early, not
alone for Spanish nationalism, but even for the conception of a Spanish
state. Sancho the Great undid his own work, and consigned himself to a
place only a little short of oblivion by dividing his kingdom among his
sons. The three most important regions resulting from this act were the
kingdoms of Navarre, Castile, and Aragon. The death of Sancho in 1035 is
an important date, however, for it marks the time when work had to be
begun over again to achieve the distant ideal of the unity of Spain.
Meanwhile, the counts of Barcelona, who had lost their territories in
the days of Almansor, regained them in the ensuing decline of the
caliphate, whether by military conquest, or by intervention in the wars
of the Moslem state in return for concessions. The important year 1035
is notable also in Catalonia, for at that time Ramón Berenguer I, the
first outstanding figure among the counts of Barcelona, inherited the
rule of the county.
[Sidenote: Inter-relations of the Christian and Moslem peoples.]
Except in times of war, relations between the Christian and Moslem
peoples were even cordial and intimate. They visited one another’s
countries, aided one another in civil wars, engaged in commerce, and
even contracted mixed marriages, not only among people of the lower
classes, but also among those of the highest rank, even to that of
royalty. Mohammedan law did not require the conversion of Christian
wives, but many of the latter embraced the Moslem faith, with the
consent, too, of their families. Although there were instances of
Mohammedan women marrying Christians, the reverse was usually the case,
for the conquerors did not bring their families as had the earlier
Germanic invaders. Religious differences were not an insuperable barrier
in this period: there was scarcely a war confined to Christians on the
one side and Mohammedans on the other; the Mozárabes were not greatly
molested within the Moslem state; Christians were often employed in
administrative capacities by the emirs and caliphs; and Christian
mercenaries, many of them Spaniards, fought in the Moslem armies. It was
only natural, therefore, that the neighboring Arabic civilization should
have exercised not a little influence on Christian Spain, especially
since the power and wealth of the caliphate were so much greater than in
the kingdoms of the north. In intellectual aspects--for example, in
philosophy and science--the Arabic influence was to be greater at a
succeeding time, but in political and military matters and in language
much passed over to the Christians in this period. In like manner the
Spanish peoples reacted upon the invaders, but this was confined
principally to the effects produced by the Renegados and Mozárabes,
whose contributions were largely due to the conditions of the Moslem
world in which they lived.
[Sidenote: Diversity in Christian Spain.]
Christian Spain itself was far from being a unit; rather diversity was
the rule. The northwest followed the Visigothic tradition, while the
north centre and northeast, especially Navarre and Catalonia, while
retaining much of the Visigothic institutions came into frequent contact
with French peoples, who gave a new turn to their civilization. Within
each section, too, there were many complex differences between one
region and another. Hence the institutions of the principal areas may be
taken separately.
_Kingdoms of Asturias, León, and Castile_
[Sidenote: Social classes in the Christian northwest.]
Social inequality increased in this period, due to a decline in wealth
and to an accentuation of the hazards of life. The higher nobility
attained to vast privileges and authority, although less than in other
parts of Christian Europe. They were often, but not always, allowed to
conquer lands for themselves, rule their own estates with almost
absolute authority, leave the king’s service for that of another
monarch, and be free from taxation. The social prestige of the nobles
was weakened, however, through the king’s right to grant titles of
nobility. The king might also deprive a noble created by himself of his
titles and lands. Most of the nobility of the lower grades were in fact
retainers of the greater nobles or of the king, usually rendering
military service in return for protection. This state of dependence was
called _encomienda_ (commendation),--a term used centuries later to
cover the virtual enslavement of the American Indians. Small landed
proprietors and free agricultural and industrial laborers placed
themselves in similar relations to the great nobles, so that the latter
were about the only really free class of the time. These civilian
dependents gave produce, tribute, or personal service to the lord. The
various grades of servitude, from serfs attached to a piece of land and
enjoying at least some of the products of their labor down to
individuals held in personal slavery, continued to exist. In general the
servile classes advanced in about the same degree that the freemen fell
back; many of them came together to form an intermediate class in which
some rights--for example, to own property and to change one’s habitation
freely within the same seigniorial territory--were enjoyed.
[Sidenote: The political system.]
The king’s power was complete enough in theory to merit being called
absolute, for in him rested supreme legislative, judicial, and
administrative authority over the realm as a whole. In fact the royal
authority did not extend equally over all the land. On his own
properties and usually in conquered regions the king was indeed an
absolute monarch, but as concerned the lands of the nobles and the
church there were important limitations on his authority. On their
estates the nobles enjoyed rights of an economic nature and also those
of a sovereign, with almost as much power in theory and in fact as the
king had in theory over all the land. They raised troops at will, and
fought with one another and even against the king; they had judicial
authority over most of the cases arising within their lands; and they
collected taxes for themselves. The protection which they owed to all on
their estates was not very faithfully accorded, but on the contrary they
oppressed not only their own dependents but also those of other
lords,--a practice which was a fruitful cause of private war. The
nobles, too, were veritable highwaymen, robbing travellers, business
men, and pilgrims, and contributing more than any other class to the
lawlessness of the times. Bishops and abbots occupied a position similar
to that of the great nobles. The church had acquired estates through
gifts of individuals and grants of the king, and the same rights and
duties attached to them as in the case of the nobles. Thus, for example,
great churchmen raised troops, which at times they commanded themselves.
The royal power was still further limited in fact, because of the
necessity of relying upon nobles or churchmen to govern distant lands or
to hold other posts of an administrative and even of a judicial nature.
The rulers of administrative districts were the counts (_condes_)
appointed by the king, and these individuals often gave him considerable
trouble,--as witness the uprisings (at length successful) of the counts
of Castile. The very necessities of civil strife obliged the kings to
yield privileges to one set of nobles in order to get their aid against
another. Nevertheless, great as was the nobles’ authority, it was not so
excessive as elsewhere in western Europe. Feudalism, the essence of
which was the grant of lands in perpetuity with rights of sovereignty
attached, in return for which the grantee owed fealty and some form of
service, perhaps military, to the grantor, did not exist in its fullness
in northwestern Spain. By special grants the king might agree to refrain
from exercising his sovereign privileges, but in such cases certain
limitations were usually expressed. When judicial authority was
conferred on a noble, some attributes were retained,--for example, the
trial of crimes of murder and the right of appeal to the royal authority
from the cases in seigniorial courts. Again, when the lords made laws
for their territories they did so by special grant of the king, who
frequently intervened to change the seigniorial statutes or to enact
others of his own. The difference from European feudalism, however, was
perhaps more juridical than actual.
[Sidenote: Rise of the free towns.]
One element appeared in this period which was to prove a great
limitation on seigniorial authority, and was to be an aid to the king in
the establishment of internal good order and unity. This was the
plebeian town. The most important type of this class was the _villa_, or
_concejo_, which originated in the tenth century. The _villas_ were
founded on lands conquered by the kings, and were usually in frontier
districts exposed to the enemy. On this account special privileges were
granted in order to induce people to settle there. Anybody who could
contrive to reach a _villa_ was declared free, even if of servile grade
before. All citizens were not equal, however; there were varying grades
of rank, though all were free. The _villas_ were exempted from many
duties to the state,--often from the payment of taxes. They were also
withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the counts, and were granted much
political authority. Each _villa_ received its own _fuero_, or charter,
by a special grant, with the result that there was a great variety in
the terms of different charters, although certain of them tended to
become the types which were imitated in subsequent grants. As a general
rule the government of a _villa_ was in the hands of the assembly of
citizens, in which local laws were enacted and judges and administrative
officers elected. These rights, added to a long line of exemptions, made
veritable political entities of the _villas_, which were independent of
all but the king, and were in great measure not subject to him. The
_villa_ extended beyond its own walls to include neighboring rural
districts as well. The rise of the _villas_ on royal lands compelled the
nobility and the clergy to form similar settlements in order to attract
people to their territories or to avoid uprisings of their dependents,
although these towns did not achieve rights equal to those of the
_villas_.
[Sidenote: Diversity and primitive character of the law.]
Since privilege was the general rule, the law in northwestern Spain was
very far from being uniform. The Visigothic _Fuero Juzgo_ continued to
be the general law, but it was often supplanted as a result of grants by
the king to nobles, clergy, and _villas_, and by the nobles and clergy
to yet other units under their rule. Very important, too, was the
modifying effect of local customs, which in the absence of other
specific law were frequently cited. These customs tended to resemble
those of the Germanic invaders or even of the indigenous peoples, since
the type of life at this time was similar to that of earlier unsettled
periods. This era, therefore, was one of a marked falling away from
Roman traditions, which had to wait several centuries before they again
came into their own.
[Sidenote: Economic backwardness.]
As was natural in such an age of disorder, commerce and industry did not
flourish. With the rise of the towns a beginning was made, and at least
one town, Santiago de Compostela, seems to have attained to some
industrial importance. Commerce was hampered by innumerable obstacles,
such as the depredations of foreign enemies and robber lords, the duties
which had to be paid to the king, and the tolls which were collected by
the lords at highways, rivers, or bridges within their lands.
Stock-raising and agriculture and the production of the bare necessities
of life were the principal occupations. Even these suffered, not only
from the raids of the Moslems and the nobles, but also from the extreme
weight of taxation, which was all the worse in that it was levied at the
caprice of the king, lord, or churchman collecting it. The state of
misery was so great that it is not surprising that famine and epidemics
harassed the people.
[Sidenote: Ignorance and superstition.]
[Sidenote: Innovations in architecture.]
In general culture, too, there was a decline to an even lower level than
that of the Visigothic period. Churches and monasteries maintained
something of the old intellectual traditions, and their schools were
almost the only resort for an education. Latin continued to be used in
literature and in official documents, but was already acquiring the new
forms which were to pave the way to the various Romance tongues of later
days. The age was one of superstition, which made itself manifest, as in
other parts of Europe, even in judicial procedure. The tests of wager of
battle (or a duel between litigants), the hot iron, and boiling water
were all used to determine innocence or guilt, in the belief that God
would intervene on the side of the man whose cause was just. Poverty and
danger led men to live in groups, thereby introducing a fresh departure
from Roman individualism. In the towns life more nearly resembled the
Roman type. In architecture this period marked the introduction of the
buttress in some of the churches. Naturally, it was an age of the
building of castles and walls, although the materials used were
perishable. Most edifices were of wood, for in that day Spain was
covered with forests in regions where they no longer exist. The burning
of villages in times of war, especially during the Norman invasions, led
to an exchange from the wooden roof in church building to one of
non-combustible material of industrial manufacture.
_Kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia_
[Sidenote: The Christian reconquest of Catalonia.]
In essentials, the social organization of north central and northeastern
Spain was not greatly different from that of the northwest. Navarre and
Catalonia were considerably affected by French influence,--Aragon less
so. The details for Navarre and Aragon are in any event obscure or
lacking. The Moslem invasion caused an emigration of the people of
Catalonia across the Pyrenees, with the result that most of the
territory remained deserted for two centuries. By 797 Gerona had been
reconquered, and by 801 Barcelona was retaken, and these dates marked
the beginning of the social and political reorganization of what was to
become Catalonia. Lands were allotted to the Frankish conquerors and to
a number of Catalans who had either remained in that region, subject to
the Moslems, or who came in at the time of the reconquest. These estates
were given free of obligation, except for that of military service. The
most important holders were the various counts, but there were a number
of lesser proprietors beyond their jurisdiction. Many of these were
converted in course of time into feudatories of the counts. The counts
were at first the appointees of the French king; later they became
hereditary; and finally independent. The church also acquired vast
territories in Catalonia, and was allowed to enjoy immunity from
obligations and an absolute dominion over its lands. The most important
holdings were those of the bishop of Gerona.
[Sidenote: Feudalism in Catalonia and Navarre.]
From the above it appears that the feudalism of France had taken root in
Catalonia, where the nobles were more absolute in their own territories
and more free from the power of the king or lord to whom they were
subject than was the case in northwestern Spain. The greater importance
of the counts of Barcelona has already been alluded to; by the beginning
of the eleventh century they were saluted with the title of prince in
recognition of their sovereignty. Aside from their own estates, however,
their legal authority extended little further than that of a right to
inspect judicial tribunals (in order to see that their decisions were in
accord with the general law of the land) and to have certain cases
appealable to their courts. The _Fuero Juzgo_, in so far as it applied
to the changed conditions of Catalonia, was the general law, but
numerous exceptions began to appear, much as in the northwest, although
the development of free towns was not nearly so great. In Navarre the
administration of justice belonged to the king, but on the other hand
the king could not hold court, or make war, peace, or a truce, without
consulting the nobles, and he was subject in every respect to the laws
which confirmed their privileges. Furthermore, he acquired his throne by
election, although the choice was confined as a rule to members of a
single family. Feudalism not only weakened the power of the monarchy in
north central and northeastern Spain, but also tended to impair the lot
of the servile classes, which were delayed in achieving emancipation in
these regions much longer than in other parts of Spain.
[Sidenote: Coming of the monks of Cluny.]
[Sidenote: Backwardness of Pyrenean Spain.]
The most important religious incident of the period was the entry of the
monks of Cluny into Spain. This order had taken it upon itself to
combat simony (the sale of church office) and offences against the
ecclesiastical law of celibacy (requiring that men who had taken holy
orders should not marry), both of which practices were than very
prevalent in Christendom, and to bring about a complete and effective
submission of distant churches to the bishop of Rome. These monks came
into Spain by way of Navarre in the reign of Sancho the Great, and by
1033 they were already in Castile. Aside from their immediate objects
they produced two other important effects: they reinforced the French
ideas which had preceded them; and they accelerated the reconquest as a
result of the influence which they acquired, employing it to urge on the
kings in wars against the Moslems. In economic institutions, general
culture, and the fine arts the north centre and northeast were very
backward, like the northwest. It is noteworthy, however, that by the
ninth century the Catalans were already beginning to engage in trade in
the Mediterranean.
DEVELOPMENT TOWARD NATIONAL UNITY, 910-1492
[Illustration: Spain in 910]
[Illustration: Spain in 1130]
[Illustration: Spain in 1037]
[Illustration: Spain 1212-1492]