Moor is a slightly derogatory term for someone from North Africa. The term Moor doesn't really include Arabs, who come from the Arabian Peninsula, but most Spaniards don't let a little technicality like that get in the way and Moor gets used indiscriminately to include Arabs and, sometimes, with the wider significance of Muslim. Christians means Roman Catholics. It's relatively common for Spaniards to think that Methodists Episcopalians, Calvinists etc. aren't Christian.
Moors and Christians are parades and events that take part in several Spanish regions, Murcia, Castilla la Mancha, Andalucia and Extremadura, but they are particularly associated with the Valencian Community and the area in which we live. They are a stylised re-enactment of the struggle between Muslims and Christians to control most of what is, today, Spain.
The basic plot is this. By April 711 the Romans had left “Spain” and the Christian Visigoths were in charge. There was a bit of a squabble in the Visigothic royal family about who would be the next king and one of the potential rulers invited some Moorish troops over from North Africa to give him a hand against other pretenders. The Moors weren't that keen but when they did finally cross the straits of Gibraltar (which name comes from one of the invaders) they routed all the local Visigoths in double quick time. The invitation had been based on the premise that, loaded with booty, the Moors would use the return part of their ticket to North Africa but they must have liked the beaches, or something, and decided to stay. That was bad news for the ruling Visigoths.
The Moorish army, of about 10,000 swept on to capture the Goth capital, Toledo. The bloke in charge was called Tariq, (well he wasn't really but that's he nearest we get with our alphabet) and the next season another Moorish army crossed the Straits commanded by Tariq's boss, Musa. The two men and their armies met up in Toledo and then pushed on up North. The locals didn't put up much resistance and, within ten years, and never with more than 40,000 troops, the Moors had taken nearly the whole of Spain.
Now comes the "We shall fight on the beaches ..... we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" bit. It's not true but it's a good story and it's a story that most Spaniards like. It's 722 and the Moors are mopping up the remnants of the Visigothic army that has fallen in with some local resistance fighters led by a minor warlord called Pelayo. Pelayo gives the Moors a sound thrashing at a battle in Covadonga in Asturias. The Reconquest has begun. It's finally time for a Christian comeback.
The truth of it is that, if Pelayo ever existed, this was just a minor skirmish at best. The Moors were, in reality, stopped by Christians at the Battle at Tours in France (just 490 miles from London). There, in 732, Charles Martel, who was King of the Franks, stopped the Moors dead in their tracks and sent them scurrying back to the Iberian Peninsula and the land they called al Andalus.
From then on in it all gets really complicated. The children's history book version has the Christians slowly pushing the Muslims out - a bit like that line in the Harry Ford film Air Force One where he kicks the nasty terrorist off the plane to the immortal line "Get off my plane!". Actually it was hundreds of years of local rulers and warlords struggling for more land, more taxes and the booty of battle. Warriors and politicians on all sides making, and breaking, deals to suit their own purposes. You've probably heard of the 11th Century el Cid, even if you don't know who Charlton Heston is, he's a big Spanish hero though the truth of it is that he changed sides over and over again. The two cultures, Christian and Muslim, or three if you count the sizeable Jewish contingent, lived and worked side by side. That only fell apart when the Christians finally took control. At that point the Moors were given the alternative of converting to Christianity or getting out. The Jews were kicked out and the inquisition was set up to make sure that Christians toed the line (and ceded their wealth to the Church).
The other complication was that there were, for most of the time of the Moorish occupation, two big power blocks in Spain. The crowns of Aragon and Castile. Aragon is sort of top right on the Iberian Peninsula (Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia and the Balearics) and Castile was most of the rest that wasn't Portugal. Any current day echoes there?
So, we've got two big blocks of Christians, that don't always get on, and a lot of Muslim held land. The frontiers are a bit elastic. Around our part of the world we have lots of castles. These frontier fortresses changed hands over and over. At any one time they may just as well have been Castilians versus Aragonese as Christians versus Muslims. It was a product of both time and geography. It's one of the reasons why some towns around here are principally Castilian speaking and others are Valencian speaking. The Aragonese held towns speak Valencian and the Castilian towns don't. Of course in the end Ferdinand (of Aragon) married Isabella (of Castile), or the other way, to become the Catholic Monarchs thus uniting the two kingdoms. Together they were powerful enough to take the last Moorish stronghold of Granada, in 1492, and finally claim the Christian victory. That's the same year that they paid for Cristóbal Colón's (Christopher Columbus to you and me) adventure to find a new route to the spice rich Indies.
Very interesting and we live just down road before Ubeda .
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