Skip to content
Week 1 (January 11-15): Introduction
A bit of Spanish geography; see a relief map of the Iberian Peninsula , as well as views of the Gibraltar Straits , the Pyrenees , the Meseta , the Cantabrian Mountains , the Sierra Morena , the Cordillera Central , Extremadura , Mulhacén , and terra rossa soils
Sources of the early medieval history of Spain [Linehan 1-7]; visit Madinat al-Zahra , Tolmo de Minateda , El Bovalar , and the Alcázar of Seville
The historiography of medieval Spain; see portraits of Alfonso X , King of Castile, Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz y Menduiña , Marcellino Menéndez Pelayo , and Américo Castro y Quesada
Week 2 (January 18-22): Roman legacy and the emergence of a new order [Collins 1-31]
Week 3 (January 25-29): The imposition of unity [Collins 32-86]
Leovigild [Constable 5-11]; see the portrait of King Leovigild on one of his gold coins, and maps of the Visigothic kingdom at the beginning and at the end of Leovigild’s reign; visit Reccopolis and Olite (Victorianum); see the crown of King Recceswinth and gold coins struck for King Leovigild
The Church triumphant [Constable 12-20]; see the complete text (in translation) of the Chronicle of Isidore of Seville, as well as his Etymologies ; see the portrait of King Sisebut on one of his gold coins and visit Toledo
Week 4 (February 1-5): The seventh-century kingdom [Collins 87-143]
Week 5 (February 8-12): The Arab conquest [Collins 144-180]
Week 6 (February 15-19): The Umayyad regime [Collins 181-221]
Week 7 (February 22-26): The Christian realms [Collins 222-265]
The Asturias and León [Constable 67-74]; see a map of the kingdom of the Asturias, and the statue of Pelagius (Pelayo) in Covadonga; visit Cangas de Onis , Pravia , and Oviedo (especially the Church of St. Julian and its frescoes ); visit the Church of St. Mary in Monte Naranco , which was built in the southern wing of Ramiro I’s palatial compound; see a map of Castile ; visit Zamora , Burgos , and the Abbey of San Salvador de Valdedios ; see a late medieval image of St. James Matamoros and the cross erected at Clavijo ; visit León (especially the Church of St. Mary ) and Salamanca ; see a page from Codex Vigilanus and an illumination from Codex Aemilianensis ; visit the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostella and the abbeys of Carracedo and Samos
The Kingdom of Pamplona and the county of Aragón; see a map of the Kingdom of Pamplona and its neighbors; visit Nájera and the abbeys of Leyre , San Juan de la Peña , and San Millán de la Cogolla
Frankish March in Catalonia; see a map of early medieval Catalonia; visit the abbeys of Gellone , Sant Benet de Bages , Ripoll and Cuxa , and the castle of Cardona
Week 8 (March 1-5): From the Umayyad Caliphate to the Empire of the Almoravids [Reilly 1-14, 99-104]
The taifa kingdoms [Constable 107-116]; visit Granada , Seville , Zaragoza ,(with a view of the interior of the Aljafería ), Badajoz , and Albarracín ; see a portrait of Alfonso VI and the influence of the Abbey of Cluny (with a reconstruction of the third abbey church , to the building of which he contributed); visit Tarifa , Coria , and Toledo
The Almoravids [Constable 142-146;227-231]; see maps of the Almoravid Empire , the Atlas mountain range (with a view of the High Atlas ), the medieval trade in Western Africa, and the situation in Spain after the Almoravid conquest; visit Wadi Ziz , Marrakesh (especially the Almoravid koubba ), Tlemcen , Tangier , and Ceuta ; see an Almoravid dinar struck in Marrakesh; visit Aledo , Bairén , Consuegra , and Ucles ; see a clip from the the 1961 The Cid movie ; visit Motril and Fraga .
Week 9 (March 8-12): Under Muslim rule [Reilly 14-24]
Jews and Judaism in Muslim Spain [Constable 117-130]
The Mozarab community
Midterm
Week 10 (March 15-19): The Christian world of northern Spain [Reilly 25-98]
Fernando I el Magno and Navarra [Constable 147-161]; see a map of the Iberian Peninsula at the death of Fernando el Magno; visit Lamego , Viseu , Coimbra , Calahorra , Graus and Barbastro , the castle of Luna , as well as the abbeys of San Pedro de Cardeña and San Pedro de Montes
The society of the Christian North [Constable 162-165]; visit the monasteries of San Pelayo de Antealtares and San Martín Pinario in Santiago de Compostella, as well as the Church of Santa María el Real in Nájera ; see a map of the via francigenea and a coin struck in Jaca for the Aragonese King Sancho Ramírez I ; visit Coyanza
The hegemony of León– Castile under Alfonso VI; visit La Rioja , Avila , Salamanca , Segovia , Medina del Campo , Coria , Medinaceli and Ucles ; see a statue of El Cid in the Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Week 11 (March 22-26): Dynastic crisis in León– Castile and the rise of Aragón and Catalonia [Reilly 105-180]
Aragón and León– Castile at war; visit the abbey of Sahagún , the castle of Candespina , and Astorga ; see portraits of Queen Urraca , Alfonso I of Aragón and Count Pedro Froílaz de Traba
The rise of Portugal [Constable 180-183]; see a map of the kingdom of Aragón; visit the castle of Lanhoso , Orense , Sigüenza , Túy , and Saldaña ; visit Tudela , Tarazona , Borja , Calatayud , Daroca , Denia , Guadix , and Alamazán
Barcelona in Catalonia [Constable 166-171]
Week 12 (March 29-April 2): The Almohad Caliphate [Reilly 231-238]
The second taifas ; visit Santarem and Lisbon
Early Almohad caliphate [Constable 239-251]; see a map of Europe and Africa in ca. 1200; visit the Sus valley in Morocco, with Tinmal (visit the mosque where the early Almohads are buried); visit the Kasbah des Oudaias in Rabat and al-Mahdiya in Tunisia; visit the Albaicin quarter in Granada, Évora , Trujillo , Huete , Alcaraz , Buñol , Cuenca , and Beja ; see a portrait of Averroes in a fourteenth-century Florentine fresco
Late Almohad caliphate [Constable 267-270]; see a map of the Almohad caliphate in the late twelfth century; visit Silves , Torres Novas , Tomar , Alcácer do Sal , Alarcos , Montanchez , and Seville (especially the Giralda , the walls by Puerta Macarena, and the Torre del Oro ); see a reconstruction of the tapial technique of building walls and see example in Alcalá de Guadaíra and Cáceres ; visit the Alhambra and see a map of the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, with the kingdom of Granada.
Week 13 (April 5-9): The hegemony of the Christian North [Reilly 181-230]
Alfonso VII; see a portrait of Ramón Berenguer IV and a map of Navarre during the first half of the twelfth century; visit Mequinenza , Valencia de Don Juan , Palencia , Asturias de Santillana , Castrojeriz , the Abbey of Celanova , Ourique , and Arcos de Valedevez
The Reconquista and the Second Crusade [Constable 203-210]; see maps of the Second Crusade , the Treaty of Tudején , twelfth-century Languedoc , and the Christian North after the death of Alfonso VII; visit San Estebán de Gormaz , Almería , Tortosa , Lleida (Lérida), and La Fresneda
Christian Iberian society in the twelfth century [Constable 211-220]; see a picture of the present-day transhumance in Spain; visit the abbeys of Fitero , Poblet , Alcobaça , and the abbey churches of Leyre and Santa Cruz de Coimbra ; visit the cathedrals of Jaca , Zamora , and Salamanca , and the churches of San Martín in Frómista (with plan ) and Santa Eulalia in Barcelona
Week 14 (April 12-16): The age of Las Navas de Tolosa [Linehan 7-85, 104-114]
Week 15 (April 19-21): The Iberian Peninsula between 1200 and 1300 [Linehan 86-103, 114-234]
Economy and society [Constable 293-302, 311-321]; visit the Aljarafe with its typical olive tree groves; see a maravedi struck for Alfonso VIII
The crown of Aragon: a Mediterranean empire. Castile and Granada
April 30, 10:00-12:00 : Final exam