Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain - (Middle Ages) by Joseph F O'Callaghan (Paperback)

About the Book

This engaging book tackles the contentious issue of categorizing the Christian military campaigns against Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula.--Historian

Book Synopsis

Drawing from both Christian and Islamic sources, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain demonstrates that the clash of arms between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula that began in the early eighth century was transformed into a crusade by the papacy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Successive popes accorded to Christian warriors willing to participate in the peninsular wars against Islam the same crusading benefits offered to those going to the Holy Land. Joseph F. O'Callaghan clearly demonstrates that any study of the history of the crusades must take a broader view of the Mediterranean to include medieval Spain.

Following a chronological overview of crusading in the Iberian peninsula from the late eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century, O'Callaghan proceeds to the study of warfare, military finance, and the liturgy of reconquest and crusading. He concludes his book with a consideration of the later stages of reconquest and crusade up to and including the fall of Granada in 1492, while noting that the spiritual benefits of crusading bulls were still offered to the Spanish until the Second Vatican Council of 1963.

Although the conflict described in this book occurred more than eight hundred years ago, recent events remind the world that the intensity of belief, rhetoric, and action that gave birth to crusade, holy war, and jihad remains a powerful force in the twenty-first century.

Review Quotes

"A survey of royal military activity in Spain from the late eleventh through the mid-thirteenth centuries. . . . The author scrutinizes the ecclesiastical sources of the period to establish the interconnection of papal and Iberian royal plans for warring against the Muslim opposition, . . . arguing for an expanded concept of the Crusades that would include the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. . . . Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"O'Callaghan's book is the first to place the Reconquista within the context of papal support for military action against Islam."-- "Religious Studies Review"

"This is a welcome book. It explains the development of crusading in almost all of its aspects in medieval Iberia as well as situates the Iberian crusades within the context of those to the Holy Land. Indeed, Joseph O'Callaghan demonstrates that the crusades in Iberia and to the Middle East evolved in tandem, and that understanding one movement is requisite for understanding the other."-- "The Medieval Review"

"With this study, it becomes difficult to doubt that a broad array of medieval people viewed the conflict against Muslims in Iberia in religious terms and that these wars were appropriately sanctioned by the papacy as crusades."-- "Catholic Historical Review"

About the Author

Joseph F. O'Callaghan is Professor Emeritus of History at Fordham University. He is the author of many books on Spanish history, including The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait, also published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, and A History of Medieval Spain.