Al-Andalus & Early Christian Kingdoms: Society & Culture

Al-Andalus: Economy, Society, and Culture

In cities that developed thriving crafts, there was significant foreign trade, and the circulation of money was plentiful. The city of Córdoba was the economic hub and largest cultural center, and Al-Andalus became the largest city in Western Europe.

Ethnic Plurality and Cultural Splendor

The Muslim majority was divided into different ethnic groups, which were equal before the law but occupied different social positions.

• Privileged group: Jassa (those with Arab ancestry) who owned most of the domains.
• Berbers and Muladi (Hispanic converts to Islam).
• Jews.
• Mozarabs: They had a heavier tax burden and were Hispanic Christians.

This created an extensive network of schools and universities, and scientific development was oriented towards the practical sciences (medicine, astronomy, mathematics), and philosophy (Averroes).

Architecture is where Islam left its most characteristic mark: The Mosque of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada.

The First Christian Kingdoms

Kingdom of Asturias-León (8th-11th Centuries)

Just north of Islamic rule, the first nuclei of resistance were formed. The Muslims never came to control the area of the Cantabrian mountain range, where some Hispano nobles took refuge.

Pelayo defeated the Muslims at Covadonga (722). Alfonso I (739-756) and Alfonso II (791-842) created the Kingdom of Asturias, which expressed its independence from the Emirate by refusing to pay taxes and claiming their religion and monarchy as Visigothic tradition.

Alfonso III (866-910) occupied land between the Cantabrian Mountains and the valley of the Duero (an unpopulated area).

Ordoño II (914-924) moved the capital to León and renamed it the Kingdom of León. The area was repopulated with Galicians, Cantabrians, Basques, and Mozarabs. He fortified the land of the plateau with the construction of castles; the county was created and ruled by Counts of Castile, one of them Fernán González.

The king instructed the repopulation of the occupied territories to nobles and clergy and granted extensive privileges to the new settlers. They were free peasants and owners of small plots of land (freeholding). But later, the need to defend the territory forced the peasants to come under protection and gradually become serfs.

Pyrenean Counties

Charlemagne, the Frankish emperor, established a fortified stretch south of the Pyrenees (Marca Hispanica).