Medieval Spain Timeline
E-mail me
Back to the class project page
Early Medieval Spain Timeline, from the Romans to the Visigoths
711 Conquest of Iberia by Tariq, lieutenant-governor of North Africa

714 Muslims extend their dominion as far north as the Ebro River

718 Conquest of Barcelona

722 Pelayo defeats Muslims at Covadonga; father to Alfonso I

732 Charles Martel stops Muslim advance at the Battle of Tours (Poitiers)

750 Asturias established under Alfonso I

756 Capture of Córdoba & establishment of amirate by Abd al Rahman I

778 Fall of Zaragoza; Charlemagne's army defeated at Roncesvalles

781 Carolingians establish Spanish March in Catalonia

793 Last Muslim attack north of the Pyrenees

801 Carolingians take Barcelona

ca. 830 "Discovery" of the tomb of St. James the Great at Compostela; Establishment of the Kingdom of Asturias

800-850 Christians resettle in northern Spain

850-859 Christian martyr movement in Cordoba

878 Defeat of Muslims by Alfonso III at Valdemora

880-929 Revolt against Umayyad rule by Ibn Hafsun and sons

929 Al-Rahman III establishes caliphate

939 Siege of Babosa

976 vizier Al-Mansur rules caliphate (in deed, not in name)

997 Sack of Santiago de Compostela by al-Mansur

1009-1031 Fall of caliphate, civil war in al-Andalus ushers in Taifa period

1000-35 Reign of Sancho the Great: turning point in reconquest; creation of a crusading ideology for the reconquest; encouragement of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela; feudal ideas begin to take hold in Iberia; monasteries and nunneries proliferate; Sancho reconquers León and makes it his capital in 1034

1031-1212 Establishment of the Taífa kingdoms: roughly 23 petty kings who ruled as tributaries of Christian kings and queens (most important include Córdoba, Seville, Toledo, Zaragoza)

1035 Beginning of Almoravid movement in North Africa

1038 Battle of Alfuente (small and inconsequential except Samuel HaNagid had some stake in it); Fernando I unites Castile and Leon only to separate them

1066 Jewish massacre in Granada

1080 Council of Burgos establishes Roman Rite in Valencia

1085 Capture of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile

1086 Responding to Muslim cry for help, Almoravids establish rule in Al-andalus

1094 Capture of the city of Valencia by Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"); reconquered by Muslims in 1102

1095 Pope Urban II incites first crusade

1108 Almoravids defeat Christians at Uncles

1118 Almoravids conquer Zaragoza; Pope Gelasius II issues bull of crusade to Spanish kings; Capture of Zaragoza by Alfonso I of Aragón

1128 Alfonso Henriques rules Portugal

1137 Aragon and Catalonia united by diplomatic marriage

1147 Capture of Santarém and Lisbon by Afonso Henriques of Portugal; Capture of Almería by Alfonso VII of Castile and Ramon Berenguer of Aragón-Catalonia; Almohads arrive in al-Andalus from N. Africa, expel Jews who flee to the Christian north.

1157 Muslims retake Almeria

1212 The "Crusade" of Las Navas de Tolosa : Alfonso VIII of Castile (allied with Alfonso IX of León, Sancho I and Alfonso II of Portugal, and French knights under banner of crusade) defeated Muslims, led by Miramamolín from Córdoba

1229 Aragonese, led by Jaume I, capture Mallorca

1236 Capture of Córdoba by Fernando III of Castile

1240 Capture of the Muslim kingdom of Valencia by Jaume I of Aragón

1248 Capture of Seville by Fernando III of Castile

1492 Capture of Granada by Isabel and Fernando