A good history of the Reconquista, thus far down to the end of the Thirteenth Century. A fascinating epic that stretched over eight centuries, the Reconquista is badly chronicled by English language historians. When I am reading about it, this song is usually playing softly in the background of my mind:
Ah Spain, where the fantastic can become reality, and the unlikely tends to be probable.
After the battle of Tolosa (1212, I believe) everything ran downhill for the Moors. Tribute to Castille (or bribery, if you prefer) seems the only reason Granada survived as long as it did.
If I think of a Spanish empire musical theme I think of Procol Harum’s “Conquistador” from 1972.
Conquest March from Captain From Castile (1947)
My wife is a native of Colombia. As such, she has Spanish (and Portuguese) ancestry. I tease her once in a while, in that it took Spain 770 years to drive out the Moors, while it took the Polish Winged Hussars two days to crush the Turks at Vienna.
The Anglosphere gets several things wrong, among them the Reconquest, the Inquisition and the Spanish Empire in the New World. In effect, it is similar to the Democrat Party – the Democrats commit multiple crimes and then accuse Trump of what they do.
The Reconquest is one of my favorite times in history, as Queen Isabel , Servant of God, remains to this day a woman deserving of admiration, respect and veneration. We US Catholics have much to be grateful for involving Queen Isabel’s work in reforming the Church.
That there is a gulf between the Church in Anglo North America and Latin America is understandable and lamentable.
It is, I think, part of what has given us such a lousy Pope, but that is for another time.
Santiago Y Adelante!
Sanitago Y Cierra!