[PDF] The Gibraltar Crusade eBook

Author : Joseph F. O'Callaghan
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 21,6 MB
Release : 2011-03-17
Category : History
ISBN : 0812204638

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The epic battle for control of the Strait of Gibraltar waged by Castile, Morocco, and Granada in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries is a major, but often overlooked, chapter in the history of the Christian reconquest of Spain. After the Castilian conquest of Seville in 1248 and the submission of the Muslim kingdom of Granada as a vassal state, the Moors no longer loomed as a threat and the reconquest seemed to be over. Still, in the following century, the Castilian kings, prompted by ideology and strategy, attempted to dominate the Strait. As self-proclaimed heirs of the Visigoths, they aspired not only to reconstitute the Visigothic kingdom by expelling the Muslims from Spain but also to conquer Morocco as part of the Visigothic legacy. As successive bands of Muslims over the centuries had crossed the Strait from Morocco into Spain, the kings of Castile recognized the strategic importance of securing Algeciras, Gibraltar, and Tarifa, the ports long used by the invaders. At a time when European enthusiasm for the crusade to the Holy Land was on the wane, the Christian struggle for the Strait received the character of a crusade as papal bulls conferred the crusading indulgence as well as ancillary benefits. The Gibraltar Crusade had mixed results. Although the Castilians seized Gibraltar in 1309 and Algeciras in 1344, the Moors eventually repossessed them. Only Tarifa, captured in 1292, remained in Castilian hands. Nevertheless, the power of the Marinid dynasty of Morocco was broken at the battle of Salado in 1340, and for the remainder of the Middle Ages Spain was relieved of the threat of Moroccan invasion. While the reconquest remained dormant during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Granada, the last Muslim outpost in Spain, in 1492. In subsequent years Castile fulfilled its earlier aspirations by establishing a foothold in Morocco.

Author : Joseph F. O'Callaghan
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 343 pages
File Size : 24,74 MB
Release : 2013-09-10
Category : History
ISBN : 0812203062

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Drawing from both Christian and Islamic sources, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain demonstrates that the clash of arms between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula that began in the early eighth century was transformed into a crusade by the papacy during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Successive popes accorded to Christian warriors willing to participate in the peninsular wars against Islam the same crusading benefits offered to those going to the Holy Land. Joseph F. O'Callaghan clearly demonstrates that any study of the history of the crusades must take a broader view of the Mediterranean to include medieval Spain. Following a chronological overview of crusading in the Iberian peninsula from the late eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century, O'Callaghan proceeds to the study of warfare, military finance, and the liturgy of reconquest and crusading. He concludes his book with a consideration of the later stages of reconquest and crusade up to and including the fall of Granada in 1492, while noting that the spiritual benefits of crusading bulls were still offered to the Spanish until the Second Vatican Council of 1963. Although the conflict described in this book occurred more than eight hundred years ago, recent events remind the world that the intensity of belief, rhetoric, and action that gave birth to crusade, holy war, and jihad remains a powerful force in the twenty-first century.

Author : Joseph F. O'Callaghan
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 380 pages
File Size : 22,92 MB
Release : 2014-03-10
Category : History
ISBN : 0812209354

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By the middle of the fourteenth century, Christian control of the Iberian Peninsula extended to the borders of the emirate of Granada, whose Muslim rulers acknowledged Castilian suzerainty. No longer threatened by Moroccan incursions, the kings of Castile were diverted from completing the Reconquest by civil war and conflicts with neighboring Christian kings. Mindful, however, of their traditional goal of recovering lands formerly ruled by the Visigoths, whose heirs they claimed to be, the Castilian monarchs continued intermittently to assault Granada until the late fifteenth century. Matters changed thereafter, when Fernando and Isabel launched a decade-long effort to subjugate Granada. Utilizing artillery and expending vast sums of money, they methodically conquered each Naṣrid stronghold until the capitulation of the city of Granada itself in 1492. Effective military and naval organization and access to a diversity of financial resources, joined with papal crusading benefits, facilitated the final conquest. Throughout, the Naṣrids had emphasized the urgency of a jihād waged against the Christian infidels, while the Castilians affirmed that the expulsion of the "enemies of our Catholic faith" was a necessary, just, and holy cause. The fundamentally religious character of this last stage of conflict cannot be doubted, Joseph F. O'Callaghan argues.

Author : Ernle Bradford
Publisher : Open Road Media
Page : 89 pages
File Size : 34,96 MB
Release : 2014-04-01
Category : History
ISBN : 1497617189

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Since ships first set sail in the Mediterranean, The Rock has been the gate of Fortress Europe. In ancient times, it was known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, and a glance at its formidable mass suggests that it may well have been created by the gods. Sought after by every nation with territorial ambitions in Europe, Asia, and Africa, Gibraltar was possessed by the Arabs, the Spanish, and ultimately the British, who captured it in the early 1700s and held onto it in a siege of more than three years late in the eighteenth century. The fact that that was one of more than a dozen sieges exemplifies Gibraltar’s quintessential value as a prize and the desperation of governments to fly their flag above its forbidding ramparts. Bradford uses his matchless skill and knowledge to take the reader through the history of this great and unique fortress. From its geological creation to its two-thousand-year influence on politics and war, he crafts the compelling tale of how these few square miles played a major part in history.

Author : Frederic George Stephens
Publisher :
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 46,64 MB
Release : 1870
Category : Gibraltar
ISBN :

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Contains a history of Gibraltar and the many sieges against it.

Author : Darren Fa
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 143 pages
File Size : 14,64 MB
Release : 2013-09-20
Category : History
ISBN : 1472806336

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Gibraltar, located at the meeting points of Europe and Africa, preserves within its fortifications a rich testament to human conflict spanning 600 years. In 1068 the ruling Spanish Muslims built a large fort there. Between 1309 and 1374 Gibraltar underwent a period of intensive building and fortification, and following the Spanish reconquest of 1462 the inhabitants carried out further works. In 1704 the latest, uninterrupted period of British rule began. The 18th century saw three sieges including the most severe, known as the Great Siege, which lasted from 1779 to 1783. During World War II the 'Rock' served as a vital stop for supply convoys and naval staging base, complete with a veritable warren of secret tunnels. This book documents Gibraltar's rich history, and charts the development of these fascinating fortifications.

Author : Thomas James Finlayson
Publisher :
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 19,54 MB
Release : 1991
Category : Evacuation of civilians
ISBN : 9780948466120

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In 1940 Gibraltar became a vitally important strategic point. This is an account of how the people bore the hardships of war.

Author : Rick Atkinson
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 614 pages
File Size : 40,60 MB
Release : 1993
Category : History
ISBN : 9780395710838

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Integrating interviews with individuals ranging from senior policymakers to frontline soldiers, a look at the Persian Gulf War shows how the conflict transformed modern warfare.