The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain 1031 - 1157

The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain 1031 - 1157 is the first account of the period to consider both Christian and Muslim Spain. The author discusses the various societies, cultures, and governments of Muslim and Christian Iberia during the centuries of their critical confrontation.

Beginning with the disintegration of the caliphate at Cordoba in the early eleventh century, the book traces the decline of the Muslim taifa states, describing and explaining their conquest first by the Murabit, and then the Muwahhid fundamentalist Muslim empires of North Africa.

Bernard Reilly details the rising Christian kingdoms of Leon-Castilla, Aragon, Barcelona, and Portugal, illustrating how they were engaged in a struggle on several fronts. As these kingdoms vied with one another for control of the old Islamic stronghold of the centre and north, they were also in continuous conflict with the Murabit and Muwahhid rulers, while striving to come to terms with the French, the Papacy, and the Italian maritime powers.