Paisajes dispares, antiguas fortificaciones, ciudades rodeadas de murallas: vista desde el cielo, España ofrece la cara de un territorio dividido durante mucho tiempo.
Desde las primeras invasiones árabes en el siglo VIII, la lucha contra los moros se asimiló a una cruzada cristiana y movilizó a toda Europa. Durante casi ocho siglos, la lucha por la reconquista de la Península Ibérica por los reinos cristianos en la Edad Media marcará el paisaje de España, con imponentes castillos fortificados y ciudades fortificadas construidas desde Castilla y León hasta Granada, último feudo musulmán, que será conquistada en 1492.
Desde las primeras invasiones árabes en el siglo VIII, la lucha contra los moros se asimiló a una cruzada cristiana y movilizó a toda Europa. Durante casi ocho siglos, la lucha por la reconquista de la Península Ibérica por los reinos cristianos en la Edad Media marcará el paisaje de España, con imponentes castillos fortificados y ciudades fortificadas construidas desde Castilla y León hasta Granada, último feudo musulmán, que será conquistada en 1492.
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00:00Spain from the air, its history.
00:27The year 711 marked the beginning of the Muslim expansion in the Iberian Peninsula.
00:33For almost eight centuries, this dominant power imposed its culture and built palaces, gardens and mosques throughout the territory.
00:45Faced with their conquerors from the south, the Christian kingdoms organized the resistance.
00:51This struggle for the reconquest of the peninsula also left its mark on the Spanish landscape.
01:01Overthrowing Spain today, we can contemplate the heritage and the remains of this reconquest.
01:10The Reconquest
01:22Historian María Lara is a specialist in medieval Spain.
01:34Today, Lara adjusts the belt for a trip from north to south to discover this period of history called the Reconquest.
01:51It is wonderful to be in the air a few steps from the Cantabrian Sea and yet so high, flying over the green tapestry that represents the peaks of Europe.
02:11As a historian, it is wonderful to be looking at this historical landscape that marked the beginning of the history of the Reconquest,
02:26with the skirmishes and open battles and so many characters that give rise to what is today Spain.
02:37A few years after the Arab-Muslim invasion, the Christian nobles organized the resistance in the mountains of the north, the peaks of Europe.
02:50They led a young noble from Asturias, Don Pelayo.
02:55Decided to defend their territory, Don Pelayo and his rebel troops took advantage of the rugged relief of the mountains to compensate for their numerical inferiority and repel the repeated attacks of the Muslim troops.
03:25That is one of the lakes of Covadonga.
03:28One of the three.
03:32These mountain lakes, famous for being the protagonists of one of the toughest stages of the cyclist's return to Spain,
03:38were in the year 722 the stage of a Christian victory considered the starting point of the Reconquest, the Battle of Covadonga.
03:47There is an Asturian saying that says that Spain is Asturias and the rest is conquered land.
03:55And it is that, indeed, the first nucleus of the resistance against the Muslims arose here in the Cantabrian mountain range and specifically in the cave of Covadonga.
04:11Located in a mountain range at the bottom of a narrow valley, the cave in which Don Pelayo and his army took refuge during the battle, today is a place of pilgrimage.
04:23Baptized as Our Lady of Covadonga, the small chapel attracts faithful from all over the world.
04:29The Reconquest was a crusade in the Hispanic solar, in the fight against infidelity, as it was called at that time, against the borders of Al-Andalus.
04:49And in this way we have the magical presence of the beyond with apparitions of the Virgin from Covadonga in Asturias to Andalusia during the Reconquest.
05:13According to the Christian chronicle, the miraculous intervention of the Virgin was decisive.
05:20It has been said that Don Pelayo, when the battle of Covadonga, which took place on May 28, 722, took refuge with those Christian troops that he managed to gather in this cave and that a kind of honey sprouted from the walls that allowed them to feed.
05:39After attracting the Muslim army to the foot of the route, Pelayo led his soldiers into combat. He deceived the enemy troops to come to this small valley and would be decimated in the course of his retreat.
05:57A hero had been born. Don Pelayo would be the king of a new Christian kingdom, that of Asturias.
06:09Don Pelayo chose his capital a few kilometers from the cave of Covadonga.
06:18Cangas de Onís is currently a quiet little Spanish town, but the cross of the suspended victory of a Roman bridge recalls the crucial role that the region played in the Reconquest.
06:29Don Pelayo and his successors expanded the borders of the monarchy to encompass the entire northwestern part of the peninsula.
06:42At the end of the eighth century, the new king of Asturias, Alfonso II, consolidated this domination by establishing an alliance with Emperor Charlemagne and receiving the blessing of the Pope.
07:00In the year 813, the remains of Santiago, one of the most important apostles of Christianity, were found in these forests that border the west coast of Galicia.
07:10We are flying over Santiago de Compostela. It is, let's say, the spiritual cradle of Spain, because according to tradition, here in its cathedral are the remains of the apostle Santiago, who accompanied Jesus of Nazareth in his preachings.
07:33He died in 44 AD and, mysteriously, his body was brought on a boat to Finisterre, to Galicia.
07:44From the ninth century, when his relics were rediscovered in the court of Alfonso II el Casto, the pilgrimage began and this magnificent cathedral began to rise, which still amazes today with the Plaza del Obradoiro and with so many pilgrims who travel throughout the year to Santiago to give the hug to the apostle.
08:14The history of the discovery of the remains of Santiago continues to generate debate, but at the end of the ninth century it had an indisputable symbolic value.
08:25The apostle became the symbol of the fight against Islam. The knights who carried out the reconquest, the religious leaders, the nobility and the believers in search of redemption converged in Compostela.
08:40In the year 910, concerned by the constant threat of a Muslim invasion, the Christian princes of Asturias decided to move their capital to the city of León. The Kingdom of Asturias became the Unified Kingdom of León.
08:55The new Christian sovereign, Ramiro II, nicknamed the Devil by the Muslim troops, regained numerous territories south. In response, the Muslims built defensive systems along the Duero River, an authentic natural border against the Christians.
09:26A fortress would become the symbol of this struggle. The largest citadel in Europe, visible today. The Castle of Gormaz.
09:37The archaeologist and specialist in the Middle Ages, Enrique de Azapardo, evokes the events that took place in the 10th and 11th centuries in this imposing fortified enclosure.
09:55All the castles have a very romantic abyss, the ruin, they have always had a lonely halo.
10:08Now we see more or less iron structures, the top of a hill in which no one lives. It is precisely the counterpoint of what happened to this building in the Middle Ages.
10:25Since the Bronze Age, all local populations have taken advantage of this strategic position. In the middle of the 10th century, the Muslims decided to reinforce the defensive structures of the existing citadel.
10:45Hereditary with a length of almost 400 meters and a width of almost 40, the 28 towers of the fortress of Gormaz are the ideal place of vigilance to repel Christian attacks.
10:57We find them at the forefront of the border, in that struggle that has been taking place between Christians and Muslims since the beginning of the 10th century.
11:19In this sense, throughout the 10th century, what we find is that we are going to see various victories by the Muslims. One of their great victories is the construction of this fortress.
11:34Originally there was a castle in Gormaz, but in 965 this great stone fortress was built and the construction of this magnificent door of the Caliphate was carried out.
11:48We have to imagine it, especially outside, still painted with that white and red detachment, as it is in the mosque of Córdoba.
11:57It would be in the summer, precisely on these dates, when in the summer campaign carried out by the Caliphate troops, it would become the neuralgic center in which all the troops would be stationed.
12:13And from this point, entries into Christian territory that only served to obtain loot and return again to Gormaz, from where they left again in the direction of Córdoba or the cities of Al-Andalus.
12:27It is a very coveted castle. Christians and Muslims are going to lose it and conquer it on various occasions.
12:34From one hand to another, it could have happened hundreds of times. Beyond the year 1060, it will be the moment when Gormaz is completely in the hands of the Castilians.
12:50Gormaz is not the only strategic military site on the edge of the Duero.
12:56To protect the river, the Christian armies built a set of fortresses.
13:02Flying south, we discovered one of the most important defensive castles of the time, 80 kilometers from the current border between Spain and Portugal, Zamora.
13:13There is the Zimborrio de la Catedral and we also see the castle, which is a symbol of those needs of defense that the Christians had during those eight centuries of battles against Al-Andalus.
13:38We also have the gardens and we find so many stones that are witnesses of history and the memory of Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid, the best of the knights of the Reconquista, who was invested knight precisely here in Zamora in the year 1060.
14:01Built on a rocky plateau, this majestic citadel enjoys a perfect situation to repel Muslim attacks from the south.
14:10It also plays an important role in resolving the conflict between the Kingdom of León and its neighbor in the east, increasingly independent, the County of Portugal.
14:20Zamora is also important for the history of Portugal, because he signed that Treaty of Zamora, which marked the division between the two kingdoms, Lusitania and, on the other hand, the Castilian-Leonese crown.
14:38At the end of the 11th century, taking advantage of the divisions between Muslim leaders, the Christians, led by Alfonso VI, nicknamed Alfonso el Bravo, continued their advance to the south.
14:55In the year 1085 they took Toledo, one of the main centers of Muslim power.
15:02To intensify their control over this territory, the Christians erected new fortresses and began a campaign to repopulate the reconquered lands.
15:17To the southeast of Zamora, Alfonso VI ordered the construction of an immense wall around a lost town.
15:26He created an important fortified city, Ávila.
15:31With a height of 12 meters, the walls of Ávila are, without a doubt, less elaborate than the Gothic cathedrals of the same time, but equally disproportionate.
15:42To build this gigantic wall, the Christian leaders needed a lot of manpower.
15:50The presence of many Andalusian captives in the city made it inevitable for them to participate in the construction of the walls.
16:02And this is seen today with this terminal, at least with a diamond tip, which is a peculiarity of Andalusian defenses.
16:14The geographer and historian Serafín de Tapia Sánchez has dedicated his professional career to studying the influence exerted by religious and social minorities during the Reconquista.
16:25And evidently, the Reconquista does not end with the military occupation of a space, of a city.
16:33It was necessary that there were people to occupy the land and to work and to ensure it.
16:41And here, those who arrived were naturally from the north, because those from the south were Muslims.
16:47And evidently, from the poorest areas of the Cantabrian north, from Galicia to the Basque Country, also Pyrenees, and even from the south of France.
16:59And the advantages that are offered to them are territories, they are given lands and they are also given a higher social status than they had.
17:09All united by the religious bond. All were Christians and naturally all very respectful of the established powers.
17:18Inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage, Ávila attracts visitors from all over the world.
17:24Desirous to discover the social and religious life developed behind this imposing wall and in its churches.
17:31Throughout the Middle Ages, there were three major social groups.
17:36The watchmen or military, the religious or clerics, and the common people.
17:42These last were the ones who worked.
17:45Ecclesiastics and gentlemen or warriors were the privileged estates, who did not pay taxes because they earned their right not to pay them, guaranteeing life here and life later, in eternal life.
18:01At the beginning of the twelfth century, Ávila lived a golden age.
18:09But outside its walls, tensions materialized.
18:17While the papacy continued to affirm the existence of a link between the struggle of the Iberian Christians and the crusades carried out by the group of Christians, a new order of gentlemen was formed, the Templars.
18:29Originally, this military and religious order protected European travelers who arrived in the Holy Land.
18:39But they would end up carrying out operations throughout the Iberian Peninsula and would become the main actors of the Reconquista.
18:48At the end of the twelfth century, a growing feeling of unity reigned among the Christian kings and the kingdoms began to expand.
18:56Numerous fortified castles were erected in the center of this territory, which gave their name to Castile.
19:11As a reward for their dedication, the Christian kings offered the Templars the imposing Castle of Ponferrada, in the northwest of Spain.
19:26María Lara shares her passion for history with her twin Laura, historian and specialist in Templars.
19:32The Templars were soldiers monks, 100% monks and 100% soldiers, that is, they had the three vows, poverty, chastity and obedience, but they were also warriors.
19:55And the Templars will serve as a safeguard of Christian integrity against the skirmishes that may arise from the Muslims who want to regain the northern territories again.
20:09That is, the purpose of the Castle of Ponferrada, linked to the Templars, was exclusively military warfare.
20:18When the Templars settled in what was originally a Roman citadel built on an ancient fort, they expanded their territory and created one of the most extensive medieval fortresses in the northwest of Spain.
20:34And from the point of view of logistics, they were great specialists, because in those courier houses they also had horses, refreshment horses that they offered as a means of locomotion to those who were traveling either with a military desire or simply a spiritual desire to walk to Santiago.
21:01That is, they had a great economic mind and knew how to manage resources very well.
21:09The Templars were the first order to conciliate monastic demands and chivalrous ethics, and their popularity spread throughout Christianity.
21:18At its peak, 30,000 of these gentlemen protected the Christian populations and their monarchs throughout the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe.
21:27Less than a century after their arrival in Spain, the Templars were so rich and powerful that the Pope dismantled this mystical military order.
21:42In 1212, the Christian armies of Castile, Aragon and Navarra joined and opened a gap towards Andalusia.
21:50They caught the Muslims off guard and defeated them in the Battle of the Navas de Tolosa.
22:02Twenty years later, under the reign of Fernando III of Castile, the troops took Valencia, Cordoba and Seville.
22:12Only a small Muslim kingdom resisted to the south of the peninsula, that of the Nazarites.
22:20Throughout the 14th century, the Christian kingdoms strengthened their unions.
22:26But the border with the last Muslim territory seemed impenetrable.
22:36An ancient Muslim fortress located on this border became the key piece of Christian ambitions in this last Muslim enclave, the Castle of Lorca.
22:50Historian Juan Francisco Jiménez Alcázar is a medievalist and specialized in Lorca during the Reconquista.
22:59In Lorca, the two entrances from the Kingdom of Granada, which is to the west, and the one to the south, from Almeria, converge.
23:12Both the northern valley and the southern valley converge in the castle of Lorca, and thus it becomes the key that opens and closes the access route.
23:22The military piece of the castle of Lorca is essential for the maintenance of the Castile border with Granada.
23:33Under the reign of King Alfonso X, the 650 meters of wall of the castle of Lorca were reinforced.
23:41Two immense defensive towers were erected, baptized as Alfonsina and Espolón.
23:47The castle is currently one of the largest in Spain.
23:53The Alcaide Tower
23:57The tower was built for the Alcaide, who ruled it, with his family and the soldiers who lived with him.
24:05It is a unique space. There was a table, which was used for eating.
24:10They took it away and slept on the floor all together.
24:13If there were dogs, the idea of privacy, of a private room that we have today, was not understood in the Middle Ages.
24:23When the Catholic kings decide to conquer Granada, Lorca assumes its military role again.
24:33It is one of the three captains of the assault on Granada.
24:40250 years after his arrival in Lorca, in October 1469, Isabel de Castilla married Fernando II of Aragon.
24:48Thus sealing the most powerful alliance of Christian kingdoms that had ever existed in the Iberian Peninsula.
24:55Designated Catholic kings by the Pope, the powerful and young couple would set in motion the last phase of the reconquest.
25:04In January 1492, in Granada, the last emir of the Nazari dynasty handed over the keys of the Alhambra to the Catholic kings.
25:13It would be the end of eight centuries of struggle between Christians and Muslims.
25:19THE END
25:25Enthusiastic about this victory, the Catholic kings financed the adventure of an ambitious Genoese sailor,
25:31Cristóbal Colón, whose journey would change forever the appearance of Spain and the world.
25:48Thank you for watching!