Isabelâ… and Reconquest

Reconquest is an important event in the history of medieval Spain. In April, 711 AD, the Muslims started to conquer Iberian Penninsula. In 798, the Catholic Kindom in this penninsula decided to regain its territories that were occupied by the Muslims and this is called “Reconquest”. The king of Castilian AlfonsoⅧ raised the first climax of this movement.He led the Catholic army and achieved great success in the battle of Las Nanas de Tolosa and afterwards regained large amount of lost land except the Kingdom of Granada. However, in the mid and late 13 thcentury, the movement fell into low moment. After Isabela’s succession,it reached to another climax. Isabela got married with Ferdinand from Aragon, so Castillian and Aragon made joint efforts and the comprehensive strength has been enhanced and the unity of Spania has been realized preliminarily. Isabela and Ferdinand were called “Dual Kings of the Catholic”. They carried forward the parlimentary and religion reform immediately and established autocratic monarchy system, so the right of King was greater than that of Church. Meanwhile, Isabela took part of land and properties of large aristctats back. All of these are preconditions for Isabel to regain the lost ground, which was also her dream. In 1482, she strated her movement officially. With the help of her husband and the internal contradictions of Nasird Dynasty, she finally conquered Granada on January 2nd, 1492,which was the last lost land. Therefore, the 800-year dream of the Catholic Kingdom has been fulfilled.