Humanization, Reconquista, and Medieval Politics in the Iberian Peninsula
The Process of Humanization in the Iberian Peninsula: New Findings
Hominization refers to the evolution of the genus Homo from primates to modern humans. The humanization process in the Iberian Peninsula, which began approximately 800,000 years ago, is believed to have been initiated through the Strait of Gibraltar. This hypothesis seems correct if we consider the emergence of the earliest human remains in Africa and the 14 km width of the Strait. The oldest human remains found in the Peninsula are at the site of Atapuerca (Burgos) and belong to Homo ancestor, which would be the precedent of the two species that would later expand throughout Eurasia: Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. This predecessor, which has been considered the first inhabitant of Europe, populated the peninsula during a pre-Paleolithic era.
Homo neanderthalensis or pre-Neanderthals gave way during the Middle Paleolithic to Neanderthals or Homo sapiens (deposits found in Gibraltar and Bañolas). During the Upper Paleolithic, Cro-Magnon or Homo sapiens sapiens created the first cave paintings in the Cantabrian area (Altamira). The appearance of the earliest human remains begins the Paleolithic era, during which humans pursued a predatory economy, were nomadic, and made tools of carved stone. Along the Paleolithic, tools evolved, tending towards microliths, specialization, and the use of new materials such as bone.
Main Stages of the Reconquista
The Reconquista was the process by which the Christian kingdoms occupied the territory that had belonged to the Visigothic state before the Muslim occupation. It was particularly fast from the 11th century due to the decomposition of Al-Andalus into Taifa kingdoms, the economic capacity of the Christian kingdoms, and military innovations. Within the Reconquista process, we can point to different stages:
- In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Astur-Leonese kingdom conquered the area of the Duero River, and Navarre conquered La Rioja.
- In the 11th century, after the expansion of the kingdom of Navarre, Sancho III’s death brought two new realms: Castile (Ferdinand I), which took over León, and Aragon (Ramiro I), which absorbed Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. García Sánchez III reigned over Navarre. The border came to the Central System, to the Tagus River, and to the Montes de Toledo (Alfonso VI conquered Toledo in 1085, which caused the entry of the Almoravids into Spain).
- In the 12th century, Castile and León separated. In 1143, Portugal emerged as a vassal county of León, and in 1137, Aragon and Catalonia united to form the Crown of Aragon (which would subsequently incorporate Valencia). In this century, the Ebro Valley was occupied (Aragon), and the valley of the Guadiana was fought over (Castile).
- In the 13th century, León was finally annexed by Castile under Ferdinand III. The boundaries between the realms were definitively determined through the treaties of Tudilén, Cazorla, and Almizra (Castile and the Crown of Aragon) and Coimbra (Castile and Portugal). At the beginning of this century, the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa took place, which led to the reconquest of Andalusia. The Guadalquivir Valley was also won (Castile), as well as the Júcar River (by the Crown of Aragon) and the Segura River (by Castile). The Muslim territory was reduced to Granada.
Political Organization and Institutions in the Middle Ages: The Kingdom of Castile and the Crown of Aragon
The Kingdom of Castile, created after the death of Sancho III of Navarre by Ferdinand I, was originally a county of the Asturian-Leonese kingdom. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Castilian monarchy succeeded in imposing its authority over the nobility (except during the reign of Henry II). The legal-political organization tended to establish an authoritarian monarchy according to the Caesarist doctrines of Roman law, under which power resided in an individual or institution.
The measures that finalized this doctrine were:
- The Order of Alcalá recognized the king’s legislative power and established legislative uniformity throughout Castile, with the exception of the lordship of Biscay.
- The Royal Courts of Olmedo established the divine origin of royal power.
Central government institutions included the Royal Council, the Court (the Audiencia), the Treasury, and the Cortes (which voted on taxes and channeled complaints). The nobility’s opposition to this authoritarian monarchy was observed in the outbreak of the civil war (1369) that ended with the assassination of Pedro I and the rise of Henry II.
The Crown of Aragon emerged from the union of Aragon and Catalonia in 1137, with the subsequent accession of Valencia after its conquest by Jaime I in the 13th century. It was a kind of federation of kingdoms in which each held its own institutions, such as:
- Cortes in each of the kingdoms, which, in the case of the Crown of Aragon, did have legislative power.
- The Generalitat and the Consell de Cent (which controlled local power in Barcelona) in the case of Catalonia.
- The Chief Justice in the case of Aragon.
This political diversity, along with the development of the feudal tradition and the development of a theory of pacts under which the king’s power was based on the consent of the governed, limited the power of the king and seriously hindered the development of monarchical authoritarianism. The Compromise of Caspe (1412) marked the establishment of a minor branch of the Trastámara dynasty as the reigning dynasty. From a social point of view, the protest of the remensa peasants was sustained, which ended with the abolition of seigniorial abuses in the Arbitral Award of Guadalupe by Ferdinand.