Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (The Middle Ages Series)

Joseph O'Callaghan's book Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain provides readers with an overview of military action in the Iberian Peninsula from 1063-1248. He outlined the constant struggle between Islam and Christianity for dominion of the area and successfully showed the complexities and difficulties faced by the Christian kings and nobles. As in the Levant, occasionally a Christian king would ally with a Muslim leader if it was temporarily beneficial. Many truces and treaties were signed between enemies in attempts to stall war, they were not always honored.The genealogical tables for both the Christian and Muslim leaders provided in the book were a very good resource to have. O'Callaghan mentioned so many names, and the tables provided assistance in knowing who was who and when they ruled. Without the tables the reader is likely to get lost. The maps provided a good visual representation of where boundaries were and showed when territory changed hands.O'Callaghan made a differentiation between Reconquest and crusade. Reconquest efforts occurred by the Christian kings for centuries as they fought to regain lands that were under Muslim control. Officially crusades only occurred when there was clerical support and backing which granted the crusaders specific rewards. Crusade activity generally was considered Reconquest activity, but not all Reconquest activity had crusade status. To the Christian kings, the exact status might not have mattered; they were fighting for the sake of Christianity to defeat the Muslims and enlarge their kingdoms.O'Callaghan provides several chapters on general crusading issues as they related to the Iberian campaigns including warfare and tactics, the difficulty of financing crusades, and the involvement of the Church. The chapters provide an overview of the crusading process and would benefit readers new to the crusade era. However, more experienced readers may find these sections repetitive of other works. O'Callaghan closes each chapter with a brief summary, this seemed like a good way to pull the chapter together, restate the main themes, and prepare for the next chapter.The final Muslim kingdom, Granada, fell in 1492. With its fall the Reconquest in Spain was finished and further expansion ideas were beyond Crusade goals. No new bulls were issued, but the Spanish and Portuguese still had strong Crusade mindsets. The peninsular Christians had spent 400 years fighting Muslims but finally were successful. In the Levant the Crusader kingdoms fell after a couple hundred years. In the end, the Iberian crusades proved to have brought about permanent changes and to have had the only lasting positive advances for Christendom.

Joseph O'Callaghan's wide-ranging yet relatively brief book takes what is often regarded as a parochial subject and makes the case for the "influence of crusading ideology" on "the evolution of the reconquest ("reconquista") from the late eleventh century until the middle of the thirteenth." In other words, the battles in the Spanish frontier after 1050 or so should be--must be--viewed in terms of the Crusades as a whole. Following an introductory chapter, he describes this era chronologically and proceeds to examine the military, financial, and religious aspects of this Spanish Crusade.Whether the battles against the Muslim principalities in southern Iberia are called "reconquista" or "crusade" might seem an argument over semantics, but the focus is much broader: what is important is not what we call the conflicts now but how they were thought of then--and the difference matters a great deal. What is clear from O'Callaghan's book is that Europeans as a whole, and the papacy especially, regarded the Iberian fighting as part of a broader struggle. The reconquest was not a local offensive in the Spanish frontier but (at the risk of oversimplification) the western front of a two-front war. And, from the perspective of Christian contemporaries, it was the successful half of a struggle that, in today's view, failed."Christian success in Spain owed much to papal encouragement," O'Callaghan concludes, and that support took many pivotal forms: the fulfillment of Crusader's vows granted to those who stayed in or traveled to Spain rather than to the Holy Land, the remission of sins granted to Crusaders, and financial and material aid. Bishops and surrogates preached the taking up of arms for spiritual gain, a cult of martyrdom developed mirroring that in the East, the cross was worn and religious banners were flown--all these elements famous for the eastern crusades were equally prevalent in the west. In fact, the evidence is so persuasive that it is often just as accurate to discuss (as the author does) the significant influence of the Spanish conflict on the characteristics of the crusades in the Holy Land.Although O'Callaghan does not assume that the reader is a specialist, his book is, unapologetically, a monograph and his marshaling of evidence might prove overwhelming for the lay reader. But his prose is jargon-free, and readers with interests in either medieval Spanish history or the Crusades will find here a treasure trove of material that is both relatively unknown and utterly fascinating.

When I first read the other reviews I was rather hesitant to buy this book. The reviews kept mentioning it being an academic book. I'm not an academic nor was I familiar with the subject matter. However, being that I was very curious about the subject and there is serious lack of books on the subject of the Reconquista, I decided to bite the bullet and buy it. That was a great decision on my part!It was a very well written book and even fun to read at times. Also, I was delighted in his meticulous organization. If I ever have a desire to return to this book, it will be easy to find exactly what I need to find.I really appreciated the maturity of O'Callaghan in two different ways. 1) Unlike most modern authors he didn't impose his 21st century values and morals upon the reader. He just stuck to the facts. 2) He also tried to explain to us why the people did and thought as they did. (See #1 above) As a 21st century reader he helped me get into the mind of the knights of the 11th-13th century crusaders without being condescending towards the characters or towards the reader.The only problem with the book lies with me, and not the book. There were so many names of Kings, Bishops and Popes that at times I got a wee bit confused. But, as I mentioned earlier, I am very new to the whole subject. Most complex wars and eras are confusing at first, but once the names and places become familiar, the bigger picture emerges.If you like reading history books by all means read this one. It's not an easy read, but neither is it a hard read. It is worth the time and effort.

.....a must for students studying History using the Atheistic / Socialist National curriculum in the UK.

Excellent work on the two front recounting of the Crusades. It is a little difficult for the vast public to come across the real stories about the Crusades and even more difficult to come across the history and deeper stories that explore and recount the truthful importance of the Western Front (Spain's Reconquista Crusade) and the Eastern Front from Byzantium through the Holy Land (Jerusalem and surroundings). Although many who hear or talk about Crusades have heard or spoken of only the Eastern Front (Holy Land); both fronts where simultaneously active in Crusade for quite some time, and the Spanish Reconquista Crusade was on for centuries before the Call To Crusade for the Holy Land. A happy "Thank You" to the author of this book and all who bring it to the public eye and ear.