The Moors were Muslims from the Near East and North Africa who held territory on the Iberian Peninsula from the eighth to the 15th century C. E. The term Moors evolved out of the Latin mauri, meaning “dark,” which was used by the Romans in reference to all non-Romanized natives or inhabitants of the ancient North African province of Mauretania, which comprised western present-day Algeria and the northeastern part of present-day Morocco, who were ruled by their own chiefs. The term has also been applied in more recent times to people of the nations of Morocco and Mauritania in North Africa and, by extension, as was the term Saracens, to Muslims in general, and even to various non-Europeans and non-Muslims (for a time the term blackamoors was applied to all Africans). Various preMoorish peoples of the Iberian Peninsula who converted to Islam were grouped among the Moors.
The Muslims who occupied territory in Europe were both Arabs who had migrated westward from the Arabian Peninsula as well as Berber people native to North Africa, mainly tribes from present-day Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. They developed as a political entity out of the Islamic movement, which had been founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century c. E. Muhammad, born in about 570, was a native of Mecca in present-day western Saudi Arabia. In 630 he and his Muslim followers conquered Mecca. After Muhammad’s death in 632 the new religion spread rapidly through much of Asia and North Africa, largely through military conquest under a succession of caliphs (spiritual leaders of Islam).
Those Arabs who conquered lands controlled by the Byzantines in North Africa intermingled with the indigenous non-Arabic tribes grouped together as Berbers, who are known to have lived throughout much of North Africa as nomads from at least as early as about 3000 B. C.E. After conquest the Arabs had greater power, but over the century Berber influence grew. Those combined Arabs and Berbers who invaded Europe and became known historically as Moors were originally centered in present-day Morocco and western Algeria.
The Moorish language was a combination of Arabic, a Semitic language, and Berber, a related Hamitic language. Berber, primarily a spoken language, comprises about 300 dialects.
In the early eighth century most of the Iberian Peninsula was ruled by Germanic Visigoths. In 710 on the death of King Witiza a struggle ensued over succession to the Visigothic throne. When Roderick, duke of Baetica, assumed power, Witiza’s sons appealed to Muslim leaders in Tangier. The general Tarik ibn Ziyad ruled the region, left in charge by his fellow general Musa ibn Nusayr, the Arab conqueror of ancient Mauritania. Tarik seized the opportunity to lead an army of some 7,000 Berbers and Arabs across the Strait of Gibraltar, landing on Gibraltar in May 711. That July Tarik’s Moorish army, with support from both Christian supporters of Witiza’s sons and
Moors time line
MOORS
Location:
Spain (out of North Africa)
Time period:
Seventh to 13th century C. E.
Ancestry:
Arabic; Berber
Language:
Semitic; Hamitic
C. E.
711 Arabic and Berber Moors invade Spain.
718 Visigoths under Pelayo resist advance of Moors in northern Spain. 732 Moors defeated by Franks in Gaul.
929 Umayyads found caliphate of Cordoba.
1085 Christian forces retake Toledo.
1086 Almoravids, Berber dynasty, invade Spain.
1094-99 El Cid controls Valencia.
1174 Almohads, Berber dynasty, come to power.
1212 Christian victory over Almohads drives Moors out of central Spain. 1236 Christian forces capture Cordoba.
1492 Christian forces seize Granada, last Moorish kingdom.
Spanish Jews persecuted by the Visigoths, defeated Roderick’s army at an unknown location (referred to as the Battle of Guadalete, after the river). He soon captured the city of Cordoba and the next year occupied Toledo, the capital of Visgothic Spain. Musa ibn Nusayr joined Tarik in 712, with about 18,000 more troops. The two generals were recalled to Damascus in Syria in 714, but the Moors continued their campaign of conquest and by 719 added more than two-thirds of the Iberian Peninsula to the Muslim caliphate. One survivor of the Battle of Guadalete, the Visigothic chieftain Pelayo, founded the kingdom of Asturias in the mountains of northwestern Spain in 718 and held out against Moorish expansion, starting a tradition of a Christian north.
The Moors sought to seize territory to the north and under Abu ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi crossed the western Pyrenees and invaded lands held by the Franks. In 732 a Frankish army under Charles Martel countered their advance. In a battle at a site between Poitiers and Tours the Franks proved victorious; the Moorish leader himself was killed, and surviving Moors retreated to the Iberian Peninsula. with time through commerce the Moors prospered in their new lands and relinquished military campaigns.
Islamic Spain, or al-Andalus, as it was known, was ruled as part of the Province of North Africa, a division of the caliphate, controlled by the Umayyad dynasty centered at the capital in Damascus (in modern Syria). In 750 the Umayyads suffered defeat at the hands of the Abbasids, a rival dynasty. Some of the ousted Umayyads sought refuge in Spain. There Abd ar-Rhman I defeated his rivals and in 756 made himself emir (governor) of an independent emirate at Cordoba. Under Abd ar-Rahman III an-Nasir in 929 the emirate became the caliphate of Cordoba, which grew in power to become one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean region.
Rivalries continued, however, with Moorish elites challenging the Umayyads. Those Moors descended from Berbers, who made up the majority of the Moorish population on the Iberian Peninsula, resented the ruling Arabic Muslims from Egypt and Asia. Visigothic and other elements of the population, many of whom converted to Islam to increase their influence, constituted another faction.
The last powerful leader of Cordoba was Abu ’Amir al-Mansur, who ruled as regent and was victorious against surviving Christian kingdoms in the north. With time Moorish cities became independent, especially after 1036 and the death of the last Umayyad caliph. Small, independent kingdoms, known as taifas, formed at Granada, Murcia, Saragossa, Seville, Toledo, and Valencia in present-day Spain, as well as Lisbon in present-day Portugal. The later rulers of Moorish Spain were after 1086 the Almoravids, a Berber dynasty founded in Morocco by Yusuf ibn Tashuvin, and after 1174 the Almohads, another Berber dynasty out of North Africa, founded by Ibn Tumart.
The reconquista is said to have begun with Pelayo in 718, when he defeated a Muslim army at a glen near Covadonga in Asturias in the northwest. Little is known of the actual engagement, and it may have been exaggerated with time. Yet it is known that Alfonso I, possibly his son-in-law, drove the Moors out of the region of Galicia west of Asturias. The conquering Christians evolved out of the Visigothic tradition but can be viewed as the first leaders in the formation of modern Spain (see Spanish: nationality).
During the reign of Alfonso III in 866-910 the kingdom of Asturias expanded into both Christian and Moorish lands and eventually included most of the northwest and as far south as the Douro River valley. Several new Christian kingdoms emerged in the northeast, including Navarre, where a large population of Basques lived, and Aragon. The Franks also held some territory in Catalonia south of the Pyrenees. By the end of the ninth century Christian rulers had gained control of about one-third of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
In the mid-11th century Ferdinand I won back territory from the Moors, gaining suzerainty over Muslim leaders of Toledo, Saragossa, and Seville. Yet Christian power was still centered in the north. The first major victory occurred in 1085, led by Alfonso VI, who captured Toledo, the ancient capital of Visigothic Spain, and made it the capital of the kingdom of Castile. Christian Spain now extended south of the Tagus River.
The fall of Toledo prompted a faction of Muslim leaders to invite Yusuf ibn Tashuvin and the Almoravids to Spain. They invaded the peninsula in 1086, seized Muslim kingdoms, and blocked the Christian advance. Seville became their regional capital. They failed to secure the kingdom of Valencia in the east, however, and it was captured by El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) in 1094. After his death in 1099 Valencia returned to Moorish control, but he became a Spanish national hero for his resistance against the Almoravids.
Splintering Almoravid power led to Almohad gains, including Andalusia and New Castile. In 1212 a coalition of Christian kings, led by Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, defeated Almohad forces near Toledo in the Battle at Las Navas de Tolosa, driving Moorish armies out of central Spain. In 1236 Ferdinand III, king of Castile and Leon, captured Cordoba in Andalusia in the south. Yet warfare and shifting alliances continued over the next centuries.
The last Moorish kingdom to resist the Christian advance was Grenada. In 1487 after a long siege the coastal city of Malaga was captured by the Spanish forces of Ferdinand II, king of Aragon, and Isabella I, queen of Castile. In 1492 their Christian forces seized Granada. This was the same year Ferdinand and Isabella sponsored Christopher Columbus’s first transatlantic voyage.
Despite the expulsion of some of the Moors from Spain in 1492, a Moorish presence continued on the Iberian Peninsula for more than a century. Some converted to Christianity; they are referred to as Moriscos to differentiate them from the Islamic Mudejares. Both groups were persecuted; conflict came to a head under Philip II—the Moors revolted in 1568 and were violently suppressed. In a systematic expulsion in 1609-14 the Moriscos were driven from Spain.
Economy
In general the centuries the Moors ruled Spain were prosperous, except in times of upheaval and warfare. The Moors sought to integrate the local population—existing landowners and peasants on large estates and small farms—into the new society even as new farmers migrated out of Africa. The Moors also introduced new crops and irrigation techniques to the Iberian Peninsula. Agriculture and commerce expanded leading to agricultural growth. Highly skilled Moorish artisans also produced products that stimulated commerce with other Mediterranean societies.
Under the Moors the power was in the hands of local rulers rather than in a strong central government. They allowed independence among conquered peoples without forced conversion to Islam. One reason was that Islamic law restricted the taxation of the Muslim population by Muslim rulers, making them financially dependent on non-Muslim subjects. Many non-Muslims adopted Arabic; Latin and Hebrew were even written in Arabic script, creating greater cohesion among the diverse population. Muslim universities became great centers of learning.
The Moors, known for their great architectural treasures, in particular mosques and palaces in their cities, introduced new styles of architecture to the Iberian Peninsula. As in their ances-
A Moorish couple are seated at home in this photograph from about 1876. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-93342])
Tral homelands buildings were built facing inward onto a patio. Richly decorated interiors were typically hidden behind unassuming exteriors. The Almoravid and Almohad periods were known for more austere styles of architecture than the earlier Arabic period. Mosques were built with columns for support and tall, massive square minarets. Fortifications had massive gates with low-slung horseshoe arches.
A famous example of Moorish architecture, one of the few surviving medieval Islamic palaces, is the Alhambra hill palace complex at Granada, which evolved over the centuries, probably from the 11th century, with units added on. Behind gates and exterior towers with cupolas are the long Court of the Myrtles, the huge Hall of Ambassadors, and the Court of the Lions, with a lion fountain in the center (water is a main design feature). Off this court are various rooms, including the Hall of the Two Sisters and the Hall of the Abencerrajes. The halls have many windows; light is another recurring architectural feature. Higher on the hill is the Generalife, a summer residence surrounded by gardens with fountains, pavilions, and portico walks. Decoration at Alhambra is executed for the most part in stucco. Calligraphic ornamentation presents poems, some of them celebrating the complex’s cupolas as domes of heaven.
Out of a fusion of Moorish and Christian styles a new style of architecture, known as Plateresque, developed during the Renaissance. Moorish-style structures were decorated with Gothic or Renaissance motifs.
The Middle Ages, from the ninth to the 14th century, were a time of inquiry in the Muslim world, and knowledge in science, mathematics, technology, and medicine was carried to the Iberian Peninsula, where the fields were further developed.
Although western Islamic art is best known for its work in architecture, styles of calligraphy, metalwork, wood inlaid with ivory, and ceramics were also developed. One style of pottery, made with a luster glare, is known as Hispano-Moresque ware; it was created after Muslim rule. The term Mudejar is used for Muslim-style art made under Christian rule. Mozarabic art, on the other hand, is the artwork of Christians under Muslim rule, as found in illuminated manuscripts thought to be influenced by Muslim miniature painting or book illustration.
During the Middle Ages there was a wealth of Muslim literature: cosmographies, world geographies, regional geographies, geographies of particular routes, chronologies of nations, and astronomical studies.
Muslim authorities in Spain manifested religious tolerance, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived near one another. According to Islamic tradition Christians and Jews were “peoples of the book,” that is, of the Old Testament. But they were required to pay special taxes. Those Christians known as Mozarabic adopted Arabic language and culture and developed Catholic rites different from those of Rome.
Muslims often traveled from Spain for religious purposes, with pilgrimages to Mecca, the holiest city of the Islamic faith as the birthplace of Muhammad (travel to the city became regarded as an essential act of faith, known as the Hajj). Religious research was part of devotion, and Islamic scholars journey throughout Muslim lands to research the hadith, oral teachings attributed to Muhammad and his followers.
While the Middle Ages were the Dark Ages for much of Europe, they were a period of enlightenment in Moorish Spain. In addition to their great impact on the history and culture of the Iberian Peninsula, such as in architecture, the Moors had a great influence on the history and culture of all of Europe, providing a continuum of knowledge from ancient Greece to the Renaissance, in that Spanish victories over the Moors and the capture of various universities led to greater access to Muslim scholarship, as well as to Greek scholarship from ancient texts that had been in Muslim hands.
The name of the Moors lives in the names of two countries, Morocco and Mauritania.
Further Reading_
Olivia Remie Constable. Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Olivia Remie Constable, ed. Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997).
Henry Coppie. History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors, with a Sketch of the Civilization Which They Achieved, and Imparted to Europe (Piscataway, N. J.: Gorgias, 2002).
Stanley Lane-Poole et al. The Moors in Spain (1886; reprint, Baltimore: Black Classic, 1990).
C. P Melville and Ahmad Ubaydli, eds. Christians and Moors in Spain: Arabic Sources (Wiltshire, U. K.: Aris & Phillips, 1992).
Maria Rosa Menocal. The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain (New York: Little, Brown, 2003).
Bernard F. Reilly. The Medieval Spains (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
Colin Smith et al., eds. Christians and Moors in Spain. Texts of the Reconquest, 1100-1614 (Wiltshire, U. K.: Aris & Phillips, 1989).
World History
