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History of Spain series
Prehistoric Iberia
Roman Hispania
Medieval Spain
– Visigothic Kingdom
– Suebic Kingdom
– Byzantine Spania
– al-Andalus
– Reconquista
Kingdom of Spain
– Age of Expansion
– Age of Enlightenment
Reaction and Revolution
First Spanish Republic
The Restoration
Second Spanish Republic
Spanish Civil War
Spain under Franco
Transition to Democracy
Modern Spain
Topics
Economic History
Military History

After the disorders of the passage of the Vandals and Alans down the Mediterranean coast of Hispania from 408, the history of Medieval Spain begins with the Iberian kingdom of the Arianist Visigoths (507–711), who were converted to Catholicism with their king Reccared in 587. Visigothic culture in Spain can be seen as a phenomenon of Late Antiquity as much as part of the Age of Migrations. The Moorish conquest, completed in the decade after 711, forms a more decisive cultural break with the Roman past.

The Middle Ages in Spain are often said to end in 1492 with the final acts of the Reconquista in the capitulation of Granada and the Alhambra decree ordering the expulsion of Jews. Early Modern Spain was first united as an institution in the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as Carlos I of Spain.

See the relevant section of History of Spain.

For Early Medieval Spain, see:

• Hispania Baetica, and to a lesser extent the other Roman provinces, Hispania Tarraconensis and Lusitania.
• Vandals
• Alans, confederates of the Vandals
• Suevi in northern Hispania, 411–585
• Basques
• Visigoths: cultural developments can be followed in the careers of the major Visigothic kings:
  • Amalaric
  • Athanagild
  • Leovigild
  • Reccared

The broadest cultural divisions in Hispania during the medieval period are between Islamic and Christian societies.

For Medieval Islamic Spain, see Al-Andalus. For specific Muslim dynasties, see:

• Umayyad Dynasty in Spain:
  • Umayyad Emirate of Cordoba, 756– 912(929)
    • Abd ar-Rahman I, 756–788
    • Hisham I, 788–796
    • al-Hakam I, 796–822
    • Abd ar-Rahman II, 822–852
    • Muhammad I, 852–886
    • al-Mundhir, 886–888
    • Abdallah ibn Muhammad, 888–912
    • Abd ar-Rahman III, 912–929
  • Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba, 929–1031
    • Abd ar-Rahman III, as caliph, 929–961
    • Al-Hakam II, 961–976
    • Hisham II, 976–1008
    • Mohammed II, 1008–1009
    • Suleiman, 1009–1010
    • Hisham II, restored, 1010–1012
    • Suleiman, restored, 1012–1017
    • Abd ar-Rahman IV, 1021–1022
    • Abd ar-Rahman V, 1022–1023
    • Muhammad III, 1023–1024
    • Hisham III, 1027–1031

• Taifa kingdoms

For Northern Spain see individual kingdoms and polities:

• Aragon
  • Valencia
  • Murcia
• Asturias
• Basque Country
• Castile
• Catalonia
  • Spanish Marches
  • Count of Barcelona
• León
• Navarre (Navarra)
  • Pamplona

• and histories of other individual provinces of modern Spain.

Medieval Spain was as much as a network of cities, which were cultural and administrative centers, the seats of bishops and sometimes kings, with markets and housing expanding from a central fortified stronghold. Medieval Spanish history can also be followed through its major cities:

• Almería
• Barcelona
• Bilbao
• Burgos
• Córdoba
• Granada
• León
• Málaga
• Oviedo
• Salamanca
• Santander
• Seville
• Toledo
• Valencia
• Zaragoza (Saragossa)

and at the great shrine of Santiago de Compostela.

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Medieval Iberia

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