The Iberian Crusade III: Christians regroup in the mountains

in #history7 years ago (edited)

By 722 almost all of the Iberian Peninsula is in the hands of the Muslims, except for the mountainous region of Asturias in northern Spain. With Christian victory in Covadonga with Pelagio leading the last Christian goths against the Muslims see chapter I to know more chapter I a new political landscape will occur in Asturias.

In 737, Ermesenda, daughter of Pelágio will marry Afonso, son of Pedro and Duke of Cántabria. This marriage shows the unity between the Visigoths displaced by the Muslim from Southern Iberia and the mountains people.
By 739 Afonso heritages the power from his father and becomes Afonso I of Asturias. The central power is established in Cangas and a bishop also appears in the city to associate political and religious power.


Afonso I of Astúrias

Between 751/53 the first Christian counter attacks start in the northern parts of the Peninsula, from the mountainous regions of Asturias Afonso I is able to occupy with success Galiza and parts of Castela. This first Christian advance coincides with fragilities inside the Muslim power structure and the regions occupied have very little Muslim presence.


Galicia, conquered by Afonso I of Astúrias

The successors of Afonso I will consolidate the power in Asturias and small populated regions during the VIII century establishing Oviedo as the new capital of the Asturian Kingdom.

In the coming IX century, besides the continuous expanse of the Christian powers (on a very small scale), the myth of Santiago of Compostela will happen to change the mindset from a fight for territories to holy religious war to reconquer the Christian territory stolen by the Muslims.

Check out past chapters:

The Iberian Crusade: Prologue
The Iberian Crusade: I
The Iberian Crusade: II

Image 1
Image 2

Sort:  

@cmtzco has voted on behalf of @minnowpond. If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowpond on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond. To be Resteemed to 4k+ followers and upvoted heavier send 0.25SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo

Abraços man...Viva Portugal

viva Portugal ahahah ;)

Thanks for your work as well! Followed @carlosdaniel

Thank you for the support @nakamurasatoshi!

Qurator
Your Quality Content Curator
This post has been upvoted and given the stamp of authenticity by @qurator. To join the quality content creators and receive daily upvotes click here for more info.

This wonderful post has received a bellyrub 2.70 % upvote from @bellyrub thanks to this cool cat: @carlosdaniel. My pops @zeartul is one of your top steemit witness, if you like my bellyrubs please go vote for him, if you love what he is doing vote for this comment as well.

@mrainp420 has voted on behalf of @minnowpond. If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowpond on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond. To be Resteemed to 4k+ followers and upvoted heavier send 0.25SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo

As a follower of @followforupvotes this post has been randomly selected and upvoted! Enjoy your upvote and have a great day!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.20
TRX 0.19
JST 0.034
BTC 90127.90
ETH 3069.48
USDT 1.00
SBD 2.94