Page 44 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2017 - Northern Spain

42  INTRODUCING NOR THERN SP AIN

The Northern Kingdoms and the Reconquest

The regions of the north were the only Ferdinand the Great
parts of Iberia not conquered by the By uniting León and
Castile in 1037, Ferdinand
Moors, and their identities were all formed created the first Christian
in the difficult, centuries-long struggle to coalition of significant
retake lands further south from Muslim military strength.
rule. Political disunity among the Christian
strongholds, their remote mountain
locations, and a severe climate all made
the effort to retake the lands that much
harder. The main Christian states that took
shape were Asturias, León, Castile, Navarra,
Aragón and Catalonia.
Navarra’s troops were commanded
by Sancho VII, the Strong.

Several Spanish kingdoms
answered the Pope’s call for a united
campaign against the Moors. This war
between Christians and Muslims
assumed the character of a crusade.
The Almohad army was
finally crushed by the
Christian cavalry.
Pelayo the Warrior
The Reconquest began after the Battle
of Covadonga (722), where Pelayo,
a Visigothic nobleman, defeated
a Moorish army. He became king
of Asturias.

Santa María del Naranco
This imposing pre-Romanesque
building near Oviedo was
erected in the 9th century as the
palace of Ramiros I, and was later
converted into a church.

The Battle of Las Navas
de Tolosa (1212)
Fired with Christian zeal and the backing
of Pope Innocent III, the combined forces
of the kingdoms of Castile, Aragón and
Navarra defeated the Almohads at Las
The Battle of Clavijo (844) Navas de Tolosa. This victory, depicted in
In this battle that probably only existed in legend, the above stained-glass window in the
St James, known as the Moor-slayer, led Christian Colegiata Real in Roncesvalles, led to the
knights on to victory against the Muslims. collapse of Moorish power in Spain.

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