1.
History of Madrid
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This article is about the citys chronological past. For its political evolution, see Madrid capital The documented history of Madrid dates to the 9th century, the development of Madrid as a city began when Philip II moved his court there from Toledo in the 1560s. Madrid has been the countrys capital continuously since 1606, there are several theories regarding the origin of the name Madrid. According to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana, the most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a fortress built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD, and means Place of abundant water. Nevertheless, it is now believed that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, the site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times, and archaeological research found a small Visigothic village nearby. In the mid-9th century, Muhammad I of Córdoba constructed a castle where the Palacio Real stands today. The Moors built a citadel, al-Mudayna, around this castle and they named the area after the nearby Manzanares River, which the Muslims called al-Majrīṭ. From this came the name Majerit, later spelled Madrid, the Moors controlled the citadel until Alfonso VI of León and Castile conquered them in 1085 in his advance towards Toledo. He reconsecrated the mosque as the church of the Virgin of Almudena, in 1329 Ferdinand IV of Castile first assembled the Cortes Generales, a precursor to the modern Spanish parliament. Although it was ruled by Christian kings, many Sephardic Jews, in 1383, Leo VI of Armenia was named Lord of Madrid by King John I of Castile. John had previously ransomed Leo from Egyptian Mamluks, offering precious stones, silks, when Leo arrived in Medina del Campo he was sick and poor. John granted him the town of Madrid for life, Villa Real and Andújar and he rebuilt the towers of the Royal Alcazar. Leo ruled for only a few years, later, Henry III of Castile rebuilt the city after it was destroyed by fire, and founded El Pardo just outside its walls. The kingdom of Castile controlled the city until the death of King Henry VI of England, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragón were fully united by Charles I of Spain. Though Charles favored Seville, his son, Philip II moved the court to Madrid in 1561, although he made no official declaration, the seat of the court became the de facto capital
2.
Madrid
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Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo. With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
3.
History of Spain
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The history of Spain dates back to the Early Middle Ages. In 1516, Habsburg Spain unified a number of disparate predecessor kingdoms, its form of a constitutional monarchy was introduced in 1813. After the completion of the Reconquista, the kingdoms of Spain were united under Habsburg rule in 1516, during this period, Spain was involved in all major European wars, including the Italian Wars, the Eighty Years War, the Thirty Years War, and the Franco-Spanish War. The former Spanish Empire overseas quickly disintegrated with the Latin American wars of independence, the war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco Franco, which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. The post-war decades were relatively stable, and the country experienced economic growth in the 1960s. Only with the death of Franco in 1975 did Spain return to Bourbon constitutional monarchy headed by Prince Juan Carlos, Spain entered the European Economic Community in 1986, and the Eurozone in 1999. The financial crisis of 2007–08 ended a decade of economic boom and Spain entered a recession and debt crisis and remains plagued by high unemployment. Spain is ranked as a middle power able to exert regional influence but unlike other powers with similar status it is not part of the G8, the Iberian Peninsula was first inhabited by anatomically modern humans about 32,000 years BP. Modern humans in the form of Cro-Magnons began arriving in the Iberian Peninsula from north of the Pyrenees some 35,000 years ago, the seafaring Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks successively established trading settlements along the eastern and southern coast. The first Greek colonies, such as Emporion, were founded along the northeast coast in the 9th century BC, the Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber. In the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia, struggling first with the Greeks and their most important colony was Carthago Nova. The Celts mostly inhabited the inner and north-west part of the peninsula, in the inner part of the peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed culture arose, the Celtiberians. The Celtiberian Wars were fought between the legions of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC. The Roman conquest of the peninsula was completed in 19 BC, Hispania was the name used for the Iberian Peninsula under Roman rule from the 2nd century BC. The populations of the peninsula were gradually culturally Romanized, and local leaders were admitted into the Roman aristocratic class, the Romans improved existing cities, such as Tarragona, and established others like Zaragoza, Mérida, Valencia, León, Badajoz, and Palencia. The peninsulas economy expanded under Roman tutelage, Hispania supplied Rome with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian, and Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca, and the poets Martial, Quintilian, hispanic bishops held the Council of Elvira around 306. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, parts of Hispania came under the control of the Germanic tribes of Vandals, Suebi, Spains present languages, its religion, and the basis of its laws originate from this period
4.
Prehistoric Iberia
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The prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula begins with the arrival of the first hominins 1.2 million years ago and ends with the Punic Wars, when the territory enters the domains of written history. Hominin inhabitation of the Iberian Peninsula dates from the Paleolithic, early hominin remains have been discovered at a number of sites on the peninsula. Significant evidence of an occupation of Iberia by Neanderthal man has also been discovered. Homo sapiens first entered Iberia towards the end of the Paleolithic, for a time Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted until the former were finally driven to extinction. Modern man continued to inhabit the peninsula through the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, many of the best preserved prehistoric remains are in the Atapuerca region, rich with limestone caves that have preserved a million years of human evolution. Among these sites is the cave of Gran Dolina, where six hominin skeletons, experts have debated whether these skeletons belong to the species Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, or a new species called Homo antecessor. In the Gran Dolina, investigators have found evidence of used to butcher animals and other hominins. Evidence of fire has also found at the site, suggesting they cooked their meat. Also in Atapuerca, is the site at Sima de los Huesos, excavators have found the remains of 30 hominins dated to about 400,000 years ago. The remains have been classified as Homo heidelbergensis and may be ancestors of the Neanderthals. No evidence of habitation has been found at the site except for one stone hand-ax, the age similarity suggests the remains were not the result of accidents. Around 200,000 BC, during the Lower Paleolithic period, around 70,000 BC, during the Middle Paleolithic period the last ice age began and the Neanderthal Mousterian culture was established. The Escoural Cave has evidence of human activity starting in the Middle Palaeolithic, around 35,000 BC, during the Upper Paleolithic, the Neanderthal Châtelperronian cultural period began. Emanating from Southern France this culture extended into Northern Iberia and this culture continued to exist until around 28,000 BC when Neanderthal man faced extinction, their final refuge has been said to be Gibraltar. Neanderthal remains have been found at a number of sites on the Iberian Peninsula, a Neanderthal skull was found in Forbes Quarry in Gibraltar in 1848 making it the second territory after Belgium where remains of Neanderthals were found. Subsequent Neanderthal discoveries in Gibraltar have also made including the skull of a four-year-old child. The Neanderthals were present in Iberia until at least 28,000 or 27,000 BC, evidence of their presence in this period is found in Columbeira, Figueira Brava and Salemas. The Cave of Salemas, located in Loures Municipality, was inhabited in the Paleolithic, archaeological industries of the Middle Paleolithic in Iberia lasted until about 28,000 or 26,000 BC
5.
Carthaginian Iberia
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The Carthaginian presence in Iberia lasted from 575 BC to 206 BC when the Carthaginians were defeated by the Roman Republic at the Battle of Ilipa in the Second Punic War. The Phoenicians were a people from the eastern Mediterranean who were traders from the cities of Tyre, Sidon. They colonised much of the Mediterranean and in the year 814 BC and they also annexed territory in Sicily, Africa, Sardinia and in 575 BC, they created colonies on the Iberian peninsula. In eight years, by force of arms and diplomacy, he secured an extensive territory in Hispania, the fall of Carthages Iberian territories came in the Second Punic War. In the year 209, after the Romans had landed on Iberia under the command of Scipio Africanus, they captured the centre of Punic power in Iberia, Cartagena. They then moved south and faced the Punic army of Hasdrubal in the Battle of Baecula but were not able to prevent him continuing his march to Italy in order to reinforce his brother Hannibal. This catastrophic defeat sealed the fate of the Carthaginian presence in Iberia and it was followed by the Roman capture of Gades in 206 BC after the city had already rebelled against Carthaginian rule. A last attempt was made by Mago in 205 BC to recapture New Carthage while the Roman presence was shaken by a mutiny, so in the same year he left Iberia, setting sail from the Balearic islands to Italy with his remaining forces. Four Iberian Ladies, Lady of Cerro de los Santos, Lady of Baza, Lady of Guardamar, the Lady of Guardamar, found in 1987, is in the Museum of Alicante. This series of sculptures can be seen as types of funerary urns to hold ashes, there has been speculation that the Elche bust was originally full-length. Mythological animals of an earlier period – 6th–5th century BC, the Bull of Osuna, the Sphinx of Agost, Carthaginian currency, including the Barcid mints in Iberia Timeline of Portuguese history
6.
Hispania
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Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, during the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova. The name, Hispania, was used in the period of Visigothic rule. The modern placenames Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania, one theory holds it to be of Punic derivation, from the Phoenician language of colonizing Carthage. Specifically, it may derive from a Punic cognate of Hebrew אי-שפניא meaning Island of the Hyrax or island of the hare or island of the rabbit. Others derive the word from Phoenician span, in the sense of hidden, and make it indicate a hidden, that is, Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis. Occasionally Hispania was called Hesperia Ultima, the last western land in Greek, by Roman writers, another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for border or edge, thus meaning the farthest area or place. The use of Latin Hispania, Castilian España, Catalan Espanya and French Espaigne, a document dated 1292 mentions the names of foreigners from Medieval Spain as Gracien dEspaigne. You are, Oh Spain, holy and always happy mother of princes and peoples and you, by right, are now the queen of all provinces, from whom the lights are given not only the sunset, but also the East. Navarre followed soon after in 1512, and Portugal in 1580, during this time, the concept of Spain was still unchanged. The King of Portugal would protest energetically when during a public act King Fernando talked about the Crown of Spain and it was after the independence of Portugal in 1640 when the concept of Spain started to shift and be applied to all the Peninsula except Portugal. Even so, Portugal would still complain when the terms Crown of Spain or Monarchy of Spain were still used in the 18th century with the Treaty of Utrecht. The Iberian peninsula has long inhabited, first by early hominids such as Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis. In the Paleolithic period, the Neanderthals entered Iberia and eventually took refuge from the migrations of modern humans. In the 40th millennium BC, during the Upper Paleolithic and the last ice age and these were nomadic hunter-gatherers originating on the steppes of Central Asia. When the last Ice Age reached its maximum extent, during the 30th millennium BC, in the millennia that followed, the Neanderthals became extinct and local modern human cultures thrived, producing pre-historic art such as that found in LArbreda Cave and in the Côa Valley. In the Mesolithic period, beginning in the 10th millennium BC and this was an interstadial deglaciation that lessened the harsh conditions of the Ice Age
7.
Romanization of Hispania
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The Romanization of Hispania is the process by which Roman or Latin culture was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula during the period of Roman rule. Several factors aided the process of Romanization, Creation of civil infrastructure, including road networks, commercial interaction within regions and the wider Roman world. Foundation of colonia, settling Roman military veterans in newly created towns, the spread of the hierarchical Roman administrative system throughout the Hispanic provinces. Growth of Roman aristocratic land holdings, Roman towns or settlements were conceived as images of the imperial capital in miniature. The construction of buildings was carried out by the curator operatum and were run directly by the supreme municipal magistrates. To undertake any work by public funds, authorization from the emperor was needed, patriotism and local euergetism encouraged local cities to compete, creating more affluent neighboring municipalities. Public works undertaken with private funds were not subject to the requirement of approval of the emperor, the planners decided the space needed for the houses, plazas and temples, the volume of water required and the number and width of streets. Soldiers collaborated in the construction of the city, as well as local craftsmen together with slaves owned by patricians or equestrians, the first mention of the city is by Pliny the Elder where he characterizes the city as scipionum opus, work of Scipio. In fact, Tarraco was the capital at the outset of the Hispania Citerior during the Roman Republic, Emerita Augusta was founded in 25BC. by Publius Carisio, as the representative of the emperor Octavian Augustus as a resting place for troops discharged from the Legions V and X. Over time, this city one of the most important in Hispania, capital of the province of Lusitania. Italica was the first purely Roman city founded in Hispania and they originated from Italica, which would give great prestige to the former Spanish colony in Rome. Both emperors were particularly generous to their hometown, expanding and revitalizing its economy, Hadrian ordered the construction of the nova urbs, the new city, a city that only had slight activity over the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Also during the reign of Hadrian, the city changed its status to become a Roman colony and it is at this time renamed Colonia Aelia Augusta Italica, in honor of the emperor. By then, the Roman Senate had an important pressure group originating from the Spanish city, founded around the year 227 BC. by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal the Fair under the name of Qart Hadast. It was strategically located in a natural harbor from which the nearby silver mines of Carthago Nova could be controlled. It was taken by the Roman general Scipio Africanus in the year 209BC, during the Second Punic War to cut off the silver going to general Hannibal. The city would receive the title of colony under the name Colonia Iulia Urbs Nova Carthago, decided to reorganize Hispania and the city was included in the new imperial province Tarraconensis, through Tiberius and Claudius, it was made the capital of conventus iuridicus Carthaginensis. The Roman fort was the focus of military strategy passive or active
8.
Kingdom of the Suebi
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The Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallæcia, was a Germanic post-Roman kingdom, one of the first to separate from the Roman Empire. It maintained its independence until 585, when it was annexed by the Visigoths, little is known about the Suevi who crossed the Rhine on the night of 31 December 406 AD and entered the Roman Empire. Other groups of Sueves are mentioned by Jordanes and other historians as residing by the Danube regions during the 5th and 6th centuries, the reasoning being that the activities of the Huns disrupted and threatened the existing peoples of the region forcing them to uproot. It should be noted that this theory has created controversy within the academic community, whether displaced by the Huns or not, the Suevi along with the Vandals and Alans crossed the Rhine on the night of 31 December 405. In response to the invasion of Gaul, the usurper Constantine III, halted the masses of Vandals, Alans, and Sueves. But in the spring of 409, Gerontius led a revolt in Hispania and set up his own emperor, Constantine, who had recently been elevated to the title of Augustus, set off to Hispania to deal with the rebellion. Hydatius documents that the crossing into the Iberian Peninsula by the Vandals, Alans, the initial relation between Galicians and Suevi were not as calamitous as sometimes suggested, as Hydatius mentions not war or conflict with the locals between 411 and 430. In the other hand, Orosius affirmed that the newcomers turned their swords into ploughs once they received their new lands, in 416, the Visigoths entered the Iberian Peninsula, sent by the emperor of the West to fight off the barbarians arrived in 409. In 419, after the departure of Wallia to their new lands in Aquitania, in 429, as the Vandals were preparing their departure to Africa, a Suevi warlord named Heremigarius moved to Lusitania to plunder it, but was confronted by the new Vandal king Gaiseric. Heremigarius drowned in the river Guadiana while retreating, this is the first instance of an armed Suebi action outside the limits of Galicia. Then, after the Vandals left for Africa, the Sueves were the only barbarian entity left in Hispania, King Hermeric spent the remainder of his years solidifying Suevic rule over the entire province of Galicia. In 433 king Hermeric sent a bishop, Synphosius, as ambassador. Anyway, it was not until 438 that an enduring peace, having annexed the entirety of the former Roman province of Gallaecia, he made peace with the local population, and retired, leaving his son Rechila as king of the Sueves. Rechila saw an opportunity for expansion and began pushing to other areas of the Iberian Peninsula, in the same year he campaigned in Baetica, defeating in open battle the Romanae militiae dux Andevotus by the banks of the Genil river, capturing a large treasure. A year later, in 439, the Sueves invaded Lusitania and entered into its capital, Mérida, which briefly became the new capital of their kingdom. Rechila continued with the expansion of the kingdom, and by 440 he fruitfully besieged and forced the surrender of a Roman official, count Censorius, in the strategic city of Mértola. Next year, in 441, the armies of Rechila conquered Seville, just months after the death of the old king Hermeric, with the conquest of Seville, capital of Baetica, the Suevi managed to control Baetica and Carthaginensis. It has been said, however, that the Suevi conquest of Baetica and Carthaginensis was limited to raids, Rechila marched to meet the Romans, and after defeating the Goths, Vitus fled in disgrace, no more imperial attempts were made to retake Hispania
9.
Visigothic Kingdom
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The Visigothic Kingdom or Kingdom of the Visigoths was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. The Kingdom maintained independence from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, the kingdom of the 6th and 7th centuries is sometimes called the regnum Toletanum after the new capital of Toledo. The ethnic distinction between the indigenous Hispano-Roman population and the Visigoths had largely disappeared by this time, Liber Iudiciorum abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans and for Visigoths. Most of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by Arab Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 AD and these gave birth to the medieval Kingdom of Asturias when a local landlord called Pelayo, most likely of Gothic origin, was elected Princeps by the Astures. The Visigoths also developed the influential law code known in Western Europe as the Liber Iudiciorum. From 407 to 409 AD, the Germanic Vandals, with the allied Alans and Suebi, crossed the frozen Rhine, for their part, the Visigoths under Alaric famously sacked Rome in 410, capturing Galla Placidia, the sister of Western Roman emperor Honorius. After he married Placidia, the Emperor Honorius enlisted him to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from the Vandals, Alans and Suevi. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia by giving land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This probably took place under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers, the Visigoths with their capital at Toulouse, remained de facto independent, and soon began expanding into Roman territory at the expense of the feeble Western empire. Under Theodoric I, the Visigoths attacked Arles and Narbonne, but were checked by Flavius Aetius using Hunnic mercenaries, by 451, the situation had reversed and the Huns had invaded Gaul, now Theodoric fought under Aetius against Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila was driven back, but Theodoric was killed in the battle, the Vandals completed the conquest of North Africa when they took Carthage on October 19,439 and the Suevi had taken most of Hispania. The Roman emperor Avitus now sent the Visigoths into Hispania, Theodoric II invaded and defeated the King of the Suevi, Rechiarius, at the battle on the river Orbigo in 456 near Asturica Augusta and then sacked Bracara Augusta the Suevi capital. The Goths sacked the cities in Spain quite brutally, they massacred a portion of the population and even attacked some holy places, theoderic took control over Hispania Baetica, Carthaginiensis and southern Lusitania. In 461, the Goths received the city of Narbonne from the emperor Libius Severus in exchange for their support. This led to a revolt by the army and by Gallo-Romans under Aegidius, as a result, Romans under Severus and the Visigoths fought other Roman troops, in 466, Euric, who was the youngest son of Theodoric I, came to the Visigothic throne. He is infamous for murdering his elder brother Theodoric II who had become king by murdering his elder brother Thorismund. Under Euric, the Visigoths began expanding in Gaul and consolidating their presence in the Iberian peninsula, Euric fought a series of wars with the Suebi who retained some influence in Lusitania, and brought most of this region under Visigothic power, taking Emerita Augusta in 469. Euric also attacked the Western Roman Empire, capturing Hispania Tarraconensis in 472, by 476, he had extended his rule to the Rhone and the Loire rivers which comprised most of southern Gaul
10.
Al-Andalus
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Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
11.
Catholic Monarchs
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The Catholic Monarchs is the joint title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They married on October 19,1469, in the city of Valladolid, Isabella was eighteen years old and it is generally accepted by most scholars that the unification of Spain can essentially be traced back to the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. The court of Ferdinand and Isabella was constantly on the move, the title of Catholic King and Queen was bestowed on Ferdinand and Isabella by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, in recognition of their defence of the Catholic faith within their realms. Catholic monarchs or kings can also be used in a generic sense, Isabella was named heir to the throne of Castile by her half brother Henry IV of Castile in the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando. She became Queen of Castile in 1474 and her niece, Joanna of Castile, attempted to gain the throne by bringing in the foreign help of Afonso V of Portugal, leading to the War of Castilian Succession. More recently, some speculate that Joanna was the legitimate successor, Isabellas supporters came out ahead in good part due to Aragons support through Ferdinand, and she officially won in 1479 via the Treaty of Alcáçovas. Ferdinand became the King of Aragon in 1479, the Catholic Monarchs set out to restore royal authority in Spain. To accomplish their goal, they first created a group named the Holy Brotherhood and these men were used as a judicial police force for Castile, as well as to attempt to keep Castilian nobles in check. To establish a more uniform system, the Catholic Monarchs created the Royal Council. This establishment of authority is known as the Pacification of Castile. Even after his death and the union of the crowns under one monarch, the Aragonese, Catalan, further, the monarchs continued ruling through a form of medieval contractualism, which made their rule pre-modern in a few ways. One of those is that they traveled from town to town throughout the kingdom in order to promote loyalty, another is that each community and region was connected to them via loyalty to the crown, rather than bureaucratic ties. Ferdinand and Isabella were noted for being the monarchs of the newly united Spain at the dawn of the modern era and they had a goal of conquering the Muslim kingdom of Granada and completing the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula. The beginnings of a series of known as the Granada War began with the attack on Alhama de Granada. The attack was led by two Andalusian nobles, Rodrigo Ponce de León and Diego de Merlo, the city fell to Andalusian forces in 1482. The Granada War was aided by Pope Sixtus IV by granting a tithe, after 10 years of fighting the Granada War ended in 1492 when Emir Boabdil surrendered the keys of the Alhambra Palace in Granada to the Castilian soldiers. After a number of revolts, Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion from Spain of all Jews, the Inquisition had been created in the twelfth century by Pope Lucius III to fight heresy in the south of what is now France and was constituted in a number of European kingdoms. The Catholic Monarchs decided to introduce the Inquisition to Castile, the bull gave the monarchs exclusive authority to name the inquisitors
12.
Habsburg Spain
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Habsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. The Habsburg rulers reached the zenith of their influence and power and this period of Spanish history has also been referred to as the Age of Expansion. The Habsburg years were also a Spanish Golden Age of cultural efflorescence, in some cases, these individual kingdoms themselves were confederations, most notably, the Crown of Aragon. Isabella and Ferdinand were bestowed the title of Most Catholic Monarchs by Pope Alexander VI in 1496, the Habsburg period is formative of the notion of Spain in the sense that was institutionalized in the 18th century. Her husband Philip I was the Habsburg son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, shortly thereafter Joanna began to lapse into insanity, though how mentally ill she actually was the topic of some debate. In 1506, Philip I was declared jure uxoris king, but he died later that year under mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned by his father-in-law, Ferdinand II. Since their oldest son Charles was only six, the Cortes reluctantly allowed Joannas father Ferdinand II to rule the country as the regent of Joanna, Spain was now in personal union under Ferdinand II of Aragon. He also attempted to enlarge Spains sphere of influence in Italy, as ruler of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and the Republic of Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. The war was less of a success than that against Venice, Ferdinand would die later that year. Ferdinands death led to the ascension of young Charles to the throne as Charles I of Castile and Aragon and his Spanish inheritance included all the Spanish possessions in the New World and around the Mediterranean. Upon the death of his Habsburg father in 1506, Charles had inherited the Netherlands and Franche-Comté, in 1519, with the death of his paternal grandfather Maximilian I, Charles inherited the Habsburg territories in Germany, and was duly elected as Holy Roman Emperor that year. At that point, Emperor and King Charles was the most powerful man in Christendom, the accumulation of so much power by one man and one dynasty greatly concerned Francis I of France, who found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories. In 1521 Francis invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy and Navarre, the war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeats at Biccoca, Pavia, and Landriano before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more. Charless victory at the Battle of Pavia surprised many Italians and Germans, Pope Clement VII switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the War of the League of Cognac. Henry VIII of England, who bore a grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the Battle of Ceresole, in Savoy Henry fared better. The Austrians, led by Charless younger brother Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east, with France defeated, Charles went to take care of an older problem, the Schmalkaldic League. The Protestant Reformation had begun in Germany in 1517, the German Peasants War broke out in Germany in 1524 and ravaged the country until it was brutally put down in 1526, Charles, even as far away from Germany as he was, was committed to keeping order