THE RECONQUISTA
EXPELLING MUSLIMS AND MAKING WAY FOR NEW
WORLD EXPLORATION
REMINDER: SPAIN CONQUERED BY
MUSLIM INVADERS
• In the early 700’s AD
Muslim invaders called
Moors- from North
Africa invaded the
Iberian Peninsula.
• Almost immediately,
Christian kings began
efforts to take back
territory in the Iberian
Peninsula.
• These efforts to regain
the Iberian Peninsula
were known as the
Reconquista or “the
reconquest.”
WHAT IS THE RECONQUISTA?
UNITING SPAIN
• During the
Reconquista Spain
was divided into
multiple kingdoms.
• Portugal split off in
1139 & formed own
its kingdom.
• In 1469 Ferdinand of
Aragon & Isabella of
Castile married and
founded Spain
• Both are devout
Catholic rulers
THE OUSTING OF THE MOORS
RECONQUISTA
• The Moors maintained only the southern tip of the
peninsula- the kingdom of Granada
The Alhambra- palace of the Moorish kingdom of Granada
WAR AGAINST THE MOORS
• Between 1482 and 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand
waged the Granada War to conquer all of Spain
and unite it as one Christian kingdom.
• In 1492, they succeeded in defeating the last
Moorish King, Boabdil.
EXPELLING THE MOORS
• At first the Catholic Monarchs allowed the Moors to
worship and govern themselves.
• After a few years they began requiring the Moors to
convert to Christianity.
• Many Moors fled to North Africa.
PAYING FOR THE WAR
• The Granada War was
very expensive (it lasted
10 years)
• Much of it was paid for by
confiscating the property
of Spanish Jews.
JEWS IN SPAIN
• Jews in Spain held considerable power
• Jews worked in the courts of all the kings of Spain and
Portugal
• In fact, Ferdinand and Isabella’s marriage was arranged by
a mutual Jewish friend.
• Many early bankers were Jewish because Christians
were banned from usury (charging interest on
loans).
• But banks are critical, without them businesses can’t get
started.
• These same bankers helped finance the war against the
Moors
THE SPANISH INQUISITION
• Many of the most powerful and wealthy people in Spain
were conversos, Jews whose family had converted to
Christianity.
• The Inquisition was launched to purify Spanish society,
especially of conversos who they believed were
returning to their Jewish faith.
• The return to Judaism was believed to be heresy
PROVING A LAPSE OF FAITH
• Any traditionally “Jewish” rituals or
behaviors could be considered a
lapse of faith.
• Examples:
• not eating certain foods
• Not working Friday night-Saturday (the Jewish
Sabbath, Christian Sabbath is Sunday)
• Eating traditionally Jewish food (Kosher)
WHAT IS THE INQUISION?
INQUISITION METHODS
• The Inquisition sought to find heretics
• To get these heretics to confess, inquisitors would
employ threats and torture
• Thousands were tortured, imprisoned for life and/or
burned at the stake in auto de fe (Act of Faith)
INQUISITION TORTURE
AUTO DE FE
JEWS EXPELLED
• Inquisitors decided
that conversos were
heretics and still
under the influence of
Jewish beliefs, so
thousands of Jews
were forced from
Spain
SPAIN A UNIFIED CATHOLIC COUNTRY
• The Inquisition and expelling of the Jews and Moors
was so successful, that by the 1500’s, Spain was
almost completely Catholic
• In the process, Isabella and Ferdinand became the
most powerful kings in Europe.
• Their expulsion of Jews and Muslims allowed the to
focus their attention on trade and expansion
elsewhere.
EFFECTS OF THE RECONQUISTAS
• It created “Fueros” gave Christian peasants
permission to live in land deserted by Muslims so
that Christianity would spread
• Catholicism becomes main religion of Iberia. Jews
and Muslims are expelled and the Spanish
Inquisition kills over 2,000 heretics.
• Leads to the Age of Exploration!!!
• Voyage of Columbus sponsored to celebrate
victory over the Muslims in Granada.
• Begins Converting other cultures leading to the
colonization of the Americas.