Description
Book SynopsisBy 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 Na?rid 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
Trade Review
"Extremely useful book. The Last Crusade follows the thread of Crusade rhetoric and Castilian diplomatic and military operations through the century prior to the conquest of Granada; it is told with skill and erudition." * Speculum *
"With this final volume in his ambitious trilogy, Joseph F. O'Callaghan offers the fullest history of the Reconquista that has ever been made available in English. His familiarity with the sources for medieval Iberian history rivals that of any other contemporary scholar." * Norman Housley, University of Leicester *
"This book is the final volume of Joseph O'Callaghan's excellent trilogy on the crusading movement in medieval Spain. . . . [It] describes the final series of Castilian campaigns against the emirate of Granada, beginning in the mid-fourteenth century and culminating in the surrender of the city to Fernando and Isabel in 1492. . . . A good addition to the shelves of anyone interested in the crusades, Iberian history, or Christian-Muslim relations in the Mediterranean." * The Medieval Review *
Table of Contents
A Note on Money
Genealogical Tables
1. Kings of Castile-León
2. Kings of Portugal
3. Kings of Aragón
4. The Naṣrid Emirs of Granada
Introduction. Castile and the Emirate of Granada
Chapter 1. Pedro I: An Era of Ambivalence
Chapter 2. The Early Trastámaras: An Era of Peace
Chapter 3. The Crusades of Antequera and Ceuta
Chapter 4. The Failed Crusades of Juan II
Chapter 5. The Intermittent Crusades of Enrique IV
Chapter 6. Fernando and Isabel's Crusade: From Alhama to Málaga
Chapter 7. The End of the Crusade: From Baza to Granada
Chapter 8. The Frontier in Peace and War
Chapter 9. A War of Religions
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
