Medieval Spanish Repopulation and Cultural Coexistence

Medieval Reforestation and Social Organization

The restocking and repopulation during the Middle Ages can be divided into four distinct stages:

• The High Middle Ages (8th-10th Century): This period was characterized by a very slow occupation of the territory of Galicia, the north of the Duero, and the high Ebro. The kings decreed that farmers would own the land they could occupy and exploit. This form of land acquisition was called presura in the Kingdom of León and aprisio in the Catalan regions. The new owners were grouped into villages and elected a pastor and a military head. Additionally, some villages depended on monasteries.
• First Part of the Middle Ages (11th-12th Century): During this stage, the lands lying between the Duero and the Tagus were conquered. Repopulation was charged to the municipalities of cities and towns to which a charter (fuero) was granted. Scattered plots had an average size, and in some places, the Muslim population migrated, leaving Mozarabs and Jews to live together.
• Second Part of the Middle Ages (12th-13th Century): These characteristics were defined by a shortage of settlers, which led to the appearance of the first latifundios (large estates). The repopulation was the work of city councils, which sometimes controlled hundreds of alfoz (districts), and military orders in the most uninhabited lands.
• Late Middle Ages (13th-15th Century): The Mudejar population was very abundant in Valencia and Murcia. As a novelty, the kings granted donadíos (huge tracts of land) to big noble families; the most striking results were the massive large estates. A stratified society was formed by estates (estamentos) with their own obligations and privileges.

Cultural Diversity: Christians, Jews, and Muslims

In medieval Spain, several peoples lived together with a changing cordiality, all of whom can be ascribed to three religions: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim. Transfers between each other were constant, and Christian culture remained influenced by the other two. Muslim culture was initially superior and more open to all fields of knowledge than Christian culture around the year 1000.

Through the Camino de Santiago, cultural modes arrived from across the Pyrenees, which helped decrease the dependence on Arab culture and moved toward a better balance between the two cultures. While Latin was not the spoken language, it remained the language of writing before the birth and development of Romance languages. A process of assimilation of Hispano-Muslim culture occurred through the School of Translators in Toledo, and later, the first universities emerged.

In the 13th century, a lyrical highlight appeared: King Alfonso X the Wise, who wrote in Galician. Eventually, Castilian displaced Galician as the poetic language with figures such as the Archpriest of Hita and the Marquis of Santillana.