Ferdinand II of Aragon

Ferdinand II of Aragon had many more titles. Throughout his 63 years (10 March 1452 - 23 January 1516) he was not only king of Aragon, Majorca, Sardinia, Valencia, and Count of Barcelona, he also gained the titles King of Castile and León (as Ferdinand V), King of Sicily, King of Naples (as Ferdinand III), and King of Navarre (as Ferdinand I)!

He was the son of John II of Aragon and his second wife, Juana Enríquez, who was Castilian. When Ferdinand was nine years old, his father named him his heir apparent and governor of all John's lands and kingdoms. (This was despite an older son Charles, but that's another story.)

In October 1469 he married his second cousin, Isabella I of Castile, with a prenuptial agreement, (allegedly) the motto tanto monta, monta tanto, translated as "They amount to the same, the same they amount to." The point was that they treated each other as equals. The truth is that this was a purely political arrangement. Aragon longed to reconnect to Castile, and Isabella needed strong support to gain the throne of Castile when its ruler, her half-brother Henry IV of Castile (called "the Impotent") eventually died (which he did in 1474).

They did have several children, however, including Catalina, born in 1485 and later known as Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Other of their children became Queens of Portugal, Prince of Asturia, Archbishop of Zaragoza, and Queen of Castile and Aragon.

Ferdinand's father died in 1479, and Castile and Aragon were now united in some measure (the legal merging of the two into "Spain" took place in the early 18th century). The couple set about starting to Christianize the parts of the Iberian Peninsula over which they had any influence. The goal was to eliminate Muslims and Jews, leading to what was called the Reconquista. The conversion of Jews and Muslims in this part of the world has been recently discussed.

The final step in making their territory solely Christian was The Alhambra Decree in 1492, ordering all Jews to depart, convert, or be executed.

When Isabella died, Ferdinand lost all influence on Castile, because it passed into other hands. I'll explain that tomorrow.

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur

Yaqub al-Mansur ruled the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa and part of the Iberian Peninsula from 1184 until his death on 23 January 1199. During that time he managed to hold off attempts by the Christian rulers of Iberia to reclaim lands controlled by Muslims.

It was his father, Abu Yaqub Yusuf (reigned 1163 - 1184) who originally spread the caliphate to Iberia in 1170. Not content to hold Seville and surrounding territory, he marched an army to Portugal. He was countered by Afonso I of Portugal and Ferdinand II of León. Wounded by a crossbow, he died on 29 July.

His son vowed revenge, taking several castles and handing out defeats to Christians before returning to Africa. When Alfonso VIII of Castile mounted a reconquista, al-Mansur returned and defeated the Christians again, this time taking hundreds as slaves and selling them in Africa.

Besides being a successful military commander, he was also a patron of the arts and architecture. He added a massive gate to the Kasbah, a major citadel in Morocco (seen above), and finished a mosque in Marrakesh. He also began what would have been the largest mosque in the world, but construction was discontinued after 1199, leaving only a massive minaret. One of his other accomplishments was the first hospital in Morocco.

The philosopher Averroes was a favorite of al-Mansur's and had a place at his court, even though some of his ideas got him in trouble for being too radical and anti-Muslim. al-Mansur was well-read and well-versed in Islam, and even wrote a book on the prophet Muhammad. His father had appointed a chief judge who made sure the law adhered to strict interpretation of the Koran. al-Mansur took this a step further and had that judge destroy any books of law that did not conform.

The mosque whose construction he finished was the Kutubiyya Mosque. Kutubiyya and several other mosques were redone by the Almohads. Not because they were not beautiful enough, or large enough, but because they were built "wrong." I'll explain the qibla tomorrow.

The Reconquista—Abbasid Alliance

I have mentioned before the disagreements, after the death of Muhammad, over which direction the faith should go. The Rashidun Caliphate was the successor to the Prophet, followed by the Umayyads. Not everyone approved of the Umayyads, however, and there was a third caliphate ready to be "born": the Abbasid, descended from Muhammad's uncle. As it happens, in the second half of the 9th century, there were Abbasid-leaning Muslims in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula who were willing to ally themselves with Christian kingdoms if it meant getting rid of Umayyad rule.

Sulayman al-Arabi, the Abbasid-preferring governor of Barcelona, sent a message to Charlemagne in 777, offering his submission to Charlemagne's rule if he could get military aid against the Umayyad emir of Córdoba, Abd ar-Rahman I. Sulayman had allies: Husayn of Zaragoza and Abu Taur of Huesca. Charlemagne was all too happy to bring an army south to reconquer territory from Muslims.

Reaching Barcelona, Sulayman welcomed him, and their two armies marched next to Zaragoza to add Hosayn's military forces. Reaching Zaragoza, however, they found that Husayn would not allow them into the walled city. He had just recently defeated Abd ar-Rahman's general and taken him prisoner. Husayn was willing to rely on his own power to deal with further Umayyad threats, and no longer was willing to risk his autonomy being usurped by a Christian ruler.

Charlemagne settled into a siege of Zaragoza. After more than a month, however, an agreement was made: Husayn would pay Charlemagne some gold to go away. This he did, but on his way back north Charlemagne decided to make an example of the Basques, whom he suspected of being allied with the Moors. He spent some time destroying villages, tearing down the walls of Pamplona, and setting up his own garrisons. Satisfied, he set off for home through the Pyrenees.

Unknown to him, the angry Basque forces organized and pursued. Not only had this attempt at Reconquista come to naught, but Charlemagne was about to be handed a terrible defeat that would be immortalized in literature. Details tomorrow.