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Medieval Iberia

711 CE – 1492 CE

Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms — nearly eight centuries from the Umayyad conquest to the fall of Granada in 1492.

577 events

Key events

1. Battle of Guadalete711 CE
   The Battle of Guadalete was the first major battle of the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, fought in July 711 at an unidentified location in what is now southern Spain between the Visigoths under their king, Roderic, and the invading forces of the Umayyad Caliphate, composed of mainly Berbers and some Arabs under the commander Tariq ibn Ziyad. The battle was significant as the culmination of a series of Umayyad attacks and the beginning of al-Andalus. Roderic was killed in the battle, along with many members of the Visigothic nobility, opening the way for the capture of the Visigothic capital of Toledo.
2. Umayyad conquest of Hispania711 CE
   war resulting in the destruction of the Visigothic Kingdom and the expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate (711–718)
3. Battle of Covadonga718 CE
   The Battle of Covadonga took place in 722 between the army of Pelagius of Asturias and the army of Umayyad Caliphate commanders Alqama and Munuza. Fought near Covadonga, in the Picos de Europa, the outcome was victory for the Christian forces of Pelagius. It is traditionally regarded as the foundational event of the Kingdom of Asturias and thus the initial point of the Christian Reconquista (reconquest) of Iberia after the Umayyad conquest of 711.
4. Albigensian Crusade1209 CE
   1209 military campaigns against Catharism in southern France
5. Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa1212 CE
   The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab, took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the history of medieval Spain. The Christian forces were led by King Alfonso VIII of Castile, joined by his rivals, Kings Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon. The Muslim army was led by caliph al-Nasir, ruler of the Almohad Caliphate, which included the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
6. Battle of Toulouse721 CE
   The Battle of Toulouse (721) was a victory of an Aquitanian Christian army led by Odo the Great, Duke of Aquitaine over an Umayyad Muslim army besieging the city of Toulouse, led by al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, the Umayyad wāli (governor-general) of al-Andalus. The decisive Aquitanian victory checked the spread of Umayyad control westward from Narbonne into Aquitaine.
7. Battle of Roncevaux Pass778 CE
   The Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on the present border between France and Spain, after his invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.
8. Battle of Sagrajas1086 CE
   The Battle of Sagrajas, also called Zalaca or Zallaqah, was a conflict fought in 1086 between the Almoravid army, led by their king, Yusuf ibn Tashfin, and the forces of King Alfonso VI of Castile. The Almoravids were called into battle by the taifas, Muslim principalities in Al-Andalus that often fought amongst themselves but united against the expanding Christian kingdoms to the north. In addition to the Almoravid forces, the Taifas, bolstered the Muslim side, tilting the battle in their favor. The battlefield became known as az-Zallaqah due to the immense bloodshed that made the terrain treacherous, giving rise to its name in Arabic.
9. Siege of Lisbon1147 CE
   The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action against the Almoravid dynasty that brought the city of Lisbon under the definitive control of the new Christian power, the Kingdom of Portugal.
10. Battle of Aljubarrota1385 CE
    The Battle of Aljubarrota was fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the army of King John I of Castile with its Aragonese and French allies, as well as Genoese mercenaries at São Jorge, between the towns of Leiria and Alcobaça, in central Portugal. The result was a decisive victory for the Portuguese, ruling out Castilian ambitions to the Portuguese throne, ending the 1383–85 Crisis and assuring John's position as King of Portugal.
11. Treaty of Alcáçovas1479 CE
    The Treaty of Alcáçovas was signed on 4 September 1479 between the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal, on the other side. It put an end to the War of the Castilian Succession, which ended with a victory of the Castilians on land and a Portuguese victory on the sea. The four peace treaties signed at Alcáçovas reflected that outcome: Isabella was recognized as Queen of Castile while Portugal reached hegemony in the Atlantic Ocean.
12. Battle of Muret1213 CE
    The Battle of Muret, fought on 12 September 1213 near Muret, 25 km (16 mi) south of Toulouse, was the last major battle of the Albigensian Crusade and one of the most notable pitched battles of the Middle Ages. Although estimates of the sizes of the respective armies vary considerably even among distinguished modern historians, it is most well known for a small force of French knights and crusaders commanded by Simon de Montfort the Elder defeating a much larger allied army led by King Peter II of Aragon and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse.

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Events from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA); boundaries from OpenHistoricalMap (ODbL). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].