The History Of Spain Podcast

This is episode 29 called Kingdom of Pamplona and County of Aragon and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Why Vasconia has always been subject to external attacks - How the Carolingian Empire and Emirate of Córdoba fought to control Iberian Vasconia and how that led to the emergence of pro-Frankish and pro-Umayyad Basque parties - The assassination of the Banu Qasi governor of Pamplona, led by Velasco the Basque who represented the pro-Frankish party - How Íñigo Arista, supported by the Banu Qasi and Córdoba, gained control of Pamplona - Why the Kingdom of Pamplona is not considered a kingdom and the game of double legimitacy - The origins of the County of Aragon, briefly under the Carolingian Empire and how García the Bad made the County of Aragon a vassal of Pamplona instead - The last attempt of the Carolingian Empire to regain control over the Western Pyrenees, the Second Battle of Roncesvalles and its consequences - What kind of relationship did the Banu Qasi and Arista-Íñigo dynasty had - Th

This is episode 28 called Camino de Santiago and Spanish Romance languages and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The background of the Revolt of Arrabal or Revolt of the Suburb - The Revolt of Arrabal and the brutal aftermath - Why al-Hakam reconciled with the Maliki ulema who instigated the revolt and how al-Hakam secured the succession - The legacy that Abd al-Rahman II inherited from al-Hakam - The origins of the link between Santiago el Mayor or Saint James the Great and Spain - What's the story behind the discovery of the alleged tomb of Santiago in Santiago de Compostela - What long-term consequences had the Camino de Santiago for the Kingdom of Asturias and later Spain - Clarification of a few concepts about languages and Latin, and the development of Romance languages throughout Europe - The origins and development of the Spanish Romance languages: Mozarabic, Catalan, Galician-Portuguese, Navarro-Aragonese, Astur-Leonese and Castilian / Spanish - A reflection about the figure of Santiago

This is episode 27 called Marca Hispanica and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The dynastic struggle between al-Hakam and the brothers of former Emir Hisham, Sulayman and Abd Allah - The conspiracy of Córdoba in 805 led by Maliki jurists and scholars - The formation of a feared bodyguard known as The Mutes - The story of the Day of the Moat, following the revolt of Toledo - The revolts of the other capitals of the marches, Mérida and Zaragoza - How Alfonso II of Asturias strengthened ties with the Carolingian Empire - Why the Carolingian Empire wanted to control the Pyrenees - The Frankish conquest of Barcelona in 801, that led to the establishment of the Marca Hispanica - How the Spanish March was administered and colonized - What feudalism is - A reflection on why the Marca Hispanica and later Catalan Counties barely expanded for three centuries

This is episode 26 called Administration of al-Andalus and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The succession practices of Arab royal families - The quick war of succession between Hisham and his elder brother Sulayman, following the death of Abd al-Rahman I - A revolt in Zaragoza that led to the rise of the Banu Amrus - What characterized the rule of Hisham - The reign of Bermudo of Asturias and the aceifas of the Emirate of Córdoba under Hisham against the Kingdom of Asturias - The return of Alfonso II 'the Chaste' from his exile and the definitive capital of Asturias, Oviedo - The introduction and adoption of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence - What was the central administration of the Emirate and Caliphate of Córdoba like - The territorial organization of al-Andalus: interior and frontier marches - Administration of justice in al-Andalus - Financial administration of al-Andalus: legal and extralegal taxes, coinage, and how were taxes paid - An anecdote that shows how the orthodoxy of

This is episode 25 called Emirate of Córdoba and Abd al-Rahman and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Opposition of former wali Yusuf and Syrian commander al-Sumayl - Revolts of Yusuf's family, local particularistic revolts and Abbasid-backed conspiracies - The last stand of Emir Abd al-Rahman in Carmona's fortress - The autonomy of Muslim cities far from Córdoba and the fall of Narbonne in 759, marking the end of Muslim presence in France - Charlemagne's first campaign in Spain, resulting in a complete failure and the disaster at the Pass of Roncesvalles - The organization of an Andalusi standing army, improvement of infrastructure and transformation of the capital of the Emirate, Córdoba - Start of the building of the Great Mosque of Córdoba - Analysis of the legacy of Abd al-Rahman I of Córdoba - How interfaith marriages between Muslim men and Christian women were used to pacify and colonize the Iberian Peninsula - Status of concubines of the Umayyad court and why concubines were useful to pres

This is episode 24 called Consolidation of the Kingdom of Asturias and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The transformation of Asturias from an Asturias chiefdom to a multi-regional kingdom under Alfonso I of Asturias - How Alfonso I took advantage of the turmoil, famines and droughts of al-Andalus to conquer, raid, colonize and depopulate - Formation of the Desert of the Duero, a large no man's land that functioned as a buffer zone between the Kingdom of Asturias and the Emirate of Córdoba - Economic and demographic changes due to the incorporation of new peoples (Mozarabs, Western Basques and Galicians) - The revolts of the elites of Galicia and western Vasconia during the reign of Fruela of Asturias - The role of monasteries in the processes of expansion and colonization of the Reconquista - What was the royal court of Asturias like - The causes of the anti-seignorial revolt during the reign of Aurelio - The reign of Silo and how Alfonso II couldn't yet rule due to the usurpation of Mauregato

This is episode 23 called Fall of the Umayyad Caliphate and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Important announcement regarding the new website that has now a store and the start of monetization of the podcast, through Patreon, donations, ads and the store - The military failures of wali Anbasa and the rise of taxes, leading to increasing internal strife, as it was happening in the rest of the Caliphate - The reappointment of Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi as wali of al-Andalus and the last major expedition of the Umayyad Caliphate in the West, devastating Aquitaine but ending as a disaster with the Battle of Tours - After the death of al-Ghafiqi, factionalist Arab conflicts and ethnic struggles between Arabs and Berbers became uncontrollable - The start of the Great Berber Revolt in Maghreb due to the second-class treatment that Muslim Berbers received - Permanent political division of Islam after the success of the Great Berber Revolt in the Battle of the Nobles and the Battle of Bagdoura - First step

This is episode 22 called Reconquista starts! Pelayo and Covadonga and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Why a Christian kingdom first emerged in Asturias and not in other regions - A disucssion on the reliability of the Asturian Chronicles and the context in which they were written - The Asturian origins of Pelayo - Context of the Battle of Covadonga, the reasons for the revolt and the election of Pelayo - The actual scale of the Battle of Covadonga - Details of the Battle of Covadonga and its aftermath, with the rise of the caudillo Pelayo and the fragility of the newborn kingdom - The importance of Pedro, the Duke of Cantabria - The short reign of Favila of Asturias - What is the Reconquista: as a historical period, ideology, and colonization - What are the most common historiographic objections and challenges to the Reconquista - My opinion on the accuracy of the idea of the Reconquista: why, not without some buts, I find the Reconquista as a valid idea - Reflection about the use of exaggerat

This is episode 21 called Formation and Society of al-Andalus and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Why Musa ibn Nusayr and Tariq, the conquerors of the Visigothic Kingdom, fell into disgrace - How Musa's son Abd al-Aziz, wali (governor) of al-Andalus, pretended to establish his own dynasty in al-Andalus, and how he failed in attempting so - The objectives of wali al-Hurr, among them develop the administration of the Umayyad Caliphate in al-Andalus - How were lands distributed among the Muslim conquerors and settlers, and the different treatment that Arab and Berber settlers received - The mission of governor al-Sahm to develop the fiscal system of al-Andalus and how he finished the conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, that was still present in Septimania - How realpolitik made religious divisions and identities vague - The key Battle of Toulouse, which proved that the Umayyad Caliphate was overestreched and why the Umayyad Caliphate didn't have the short-term aim to conquer Europe - What do dar a

This is episode 20 called Muslim Umayyad conquest of Spain and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Introduction to a new and complex era of the history of Spain, the Medieval Spain of Muslims and Christians - What was Pre-Islamic Arabia like - A brief history of the rise of Islam, from the reveleations of the Prophet Muhammad to the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates - Why the conquest of Spain was the logical step to follow after the conquest of North Africa and what was the Iberian Peninsula like before their conquest - Introduction to the main characters of the initial conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom: Tariq ibn Ziyad and Count Julian - How the Muslim forces of Tariq crushed the Visigothic army of Roderic in the Battle of Guadalete, and the betrayal of the brothers of former King Wittiza, Oppas and Sisebut - Why the weak military system was a cause of the abrupt fall of the Visigothic Kingdom - How Tariq ibn Ziyad took advantage of his victory and transformed the expedition from a large-scale rai

This is episode 19 called Visigothic Twilight and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The succession of Recceswinth and the rebellion of Paul against Wamba - The social problems that late 7th century Visigothic Kingdom was facing - The coup of Erwig and Julian of Toledo to disqualify Wamba as king - Why Julian of Toledo supported the coup and his fervent antisemitism - The weakness of Erwig and the backstabbing of his successor Egica - The ruthless rule of Egica and his brutal antisemitic policies - The weak rule of Egica's son Wittiza and the famines and plagues of his rule - The coup of Roderic (Rodrigo in Spanish), and the emergence of the pretenders Agila II in northeastern Spain and Oppas, leaving the Visigothic Kingdom divided right before the Muslim conquest - Final thoughts on the key political features of the Visigothic Kingdom

This is episode 18 called Tyranny and Peace and in this episode you will learn: […]

This is episode 17 called Changing dynasties and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - What was the ideal of good government in 7th century Christian Europe - The early internal problems of Sisebut due to eclipses - Sisebut's campaign against Byzantine's Spania, and why he decided not to completely expel them from Spain - The start of a trend under Sisebut: anti-Jewish policies, fake conversions and the problem of crypto-Jews - The passive role of the Church in the forced conversions of Sisebut - Suintila's successful campaigns against the Vascones and his success in ejecting the Byzantines from the Iberian Peninsula, which meant that Suintila became the first king of all Spain - The failed attempts of Suintila to centralize and his overthrown led by Sisenand - What was a agreed in the Fourth Council of Toledo to limit royal power while securing more strongly the position of the king - The reigns of Chintila and Tulga where the position of the king was very weak, and an explanation of why was that th

This is episode 16 called Visigothic conversion to Catholicism and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Why there was a religious conflict in Visigothic Spain between Catholics and Arians - Why the reformed Arianism of Leovigild didn't work and why it was so difficult to make Catholicism the state religion of the Visigothic Kingdom - What King Reccared did to reduce opposition following his conversion - Details about the three attempts to overthrow Reccared between his personal conversion and the Third Council of Toledo and how the Visigoths repelled the Frankish invasion of Septimania - Reccared's strategy to strengthen royal power using the Church - Third Council of Toledo: Visigoths abdjure the Arian heresy and embrace Catholicism, alliance between the Visigothic state and the Church and firsts anti-Jewish policies - Why Reccared's religious policy wasn't that different from that of Leovigild and the implications of the religious unity of Visigoths and Hispano-Romans - Comparison of the Medieval

This is episode 15 called Leovigild, restorer and unifier, and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The solution of Liuva to save the Visigothic Kingdom and the importance of that decision - Leovigild's successful campaign against the Byzantine province of Spania - The first campaign against self-governed areas in Baetica - Visigothic campaign in the north to conquer the buffer zone between the Suebi and themselves and the short campaign against the Suebi - The conquest of the last self-governed region of southern Spain, Orospeda - Leovigild's legal, administrative and territorial reforms to strengthen the Visigothic state and unify the Goths and Hispano-Romans to rule over a more homogenous society - The background of the rebellion of his son Hermenegild - Why Hermenegild's rebellion wasn't a religious nor an ethnic war - The attempts of Leovigild to solve the religious issue by imposing religious unity with a national, reformed, and more Catholic version of Arianism - How Hermenegild's rebellion f

This is episode 14 called Ostrogothic interval and Byzantine invasion and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The context and political map of Europe and North Africa after the traumatic Battle of Vouillé - What happened right after the Battle of Vouillé: Visigothic retreat led by Gesalic and Ostrogothic aid - The efforts of Theodoric the Great to unite the Goths under one rule to stop Frankish advance - How weak Visigothic rule was in Hispania at that time - How limited Theodoric's influence was over the Visigoths due to the power of the appointed governor, Theudis - The fall of the Balti dynasty and the problems that that caused to the long-term stability of the Visigothic Kingdom - A revival of Roman power in North Africa and Italy under Justinian - Decreasing Visigothic control over Hispania and civil war between Agila and Athanagild - Byzantine conquest of southern Spain due to Justinian's intervention in the civil war and the foundation of the province of Spania - The reemergence of sources o

This is episode 13 called Good bye, Roman Empire! and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Who were Ricimer and Majorian, leaders of the coup d'état against Emperor Avitus - The situation of Hispania, especially in Gallaecia that was divided between two factions of Suebi - The very delicate situation of the Western Roman Empire when Emperor Majorian took power in 457 - The impressive achievements and conquests of Majorian, against the Vandals, Visigoths, Burgundians and Suebi - What went wrong in 460 that ended the dream of the restoration of the Western Roman Empire - How the Visigoths under Theodoric II and Euric conquered much of Hispania - How the Kingdom of the Suebi was restored under King Remismund, as a vassal state of the Visigoths, and why we don't have information about the Suebi for the next 80 years - The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and the peak of Visigothic power - The consolidation of the Visigothic state with the promulgation of the Code of Euric and Breviary of Alaric a

This is episode 12 called The Apogee of the Kingdom of the Suebi and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The situation of Hispania and Italy after the Vandals had left Hispania for North Africa - How weak the foundations of the Kingdom of the Suebi under King Hermeric were - The peak of the bagaudae groups in Gaul and Hispania and the expansion of the Vandal Kingdom - The ambitious Suebic campaign of King Rechila to conquer Lusitania and Baetica - How the Suebic control actually worked in those provinces - The progressive emotional disconnection between the Hispano-Romans and the Western Roman Empire as Valentinian's III expeditions failed - The firsts of King Rechiar: first Catholic Germanic king and the issue of coins - Why the Visigoths and the Suebi briefly sealed an alliance - How the threat of the Huns ended their alliance - How King Rechiar took advantage of the weakness of the Empire to invade Hispania Carthaginensis and Tarraconensis - How the Visigoths decisively crushed the Suebi in 456

This is episode 11 called Barbarians against Barbarians and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - The origins of the Visigoths and the Hunnic threat - The turbulent and complicated relationship between Visigoths and Romans - How the Visigoths first entered Hispania under Ataulf - The rule of Wallia and his campaign under Roman service that destroyed the Alans and Silingi Vandals of Hispania - What territories Honorius gave to the Visigoths in Gaul and why he gave those territories (spoiler: to suppress the bagaudae) - How the Imperial army assissted the Suebi against the Vandals of Gunderic to prevent them from becoming the dominant force in Hispania - Yet another crisis with the failed campaign of Castinus in Hispania and the death of Honorius, the usurpation of Joannes and the rise of Flavius Aetius - The period of hegemony of the Vandals in Hispania before leaving Hispania for North Africa in 429 - Reflections about the Imperial strategy of playing barbarians off against each other

This is episode 10 called First Barbarian Invasions: Vandals, Suebi and Alans and in this episode you will learn: SHOW NOTES - Why the Migration Period started in the first place - Who the Alans, Vandals and Suebi were: their origins, characteristics and how many were they - What consequences had the withdraw of Imperial troops from Britannia, Gaul and Germania: the usurpation of Constantine III and execution of Stilicho - Why Constantine III attacked Hispania before attempting to attack Italy - About the usurpation of Gerontius and Maximus of Hispania, and why the Vandals, Suebi and Alans didn't enter the Iberian Peninsula as invaders - How the Vandals, Suebi and Alans parceled out Hispania - How the Hispano-Romans received the immigrants, positive views like that of Orosius or negative like that of Hydatius, and why the barbarians weren't that barbarian - How the usurpers Constantine III, and Gerontius-Maximus were defeated - How historiography has treated the Suebi and why most views are wrong - Reflecti