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

- The political history of the County of Aragon in the 9th century and the origins of surnames like Sánchez or García

- Brief talk about social and economic aspects of the Kingdom of Pamplona and the County of Aragon

- What are the origins of the Basques (genetic studies)

- The external history of the Basque language, why its usage declined and the current situation of Euskera

- Reflection on the pragmatic relationship between the Kingdom of Pamplona and the Banu Qasi

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 Matamoros or Saint James the Moor-slayer

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 the Maliki school was not always applied, in this case concerning the consumption of wine

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 preserve the royal dynasty

- My two cents on interfaith relations during the centuries of Islamic hegemony

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

- The controversy of Spanish Adoptionism and its role to reaffirm the independence of the Asturian Church and to bring Asturias closer to the Carolingian Empire

- The works of Beato de Liébana, the most prominent intellectual of the Kingdom of Asturias

- Reflection on why Alfonso I couldn't annex the large area of the Duero Valley

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 steps towards the self-government of al-Andalus

- Rebellion of the Berbers of al-Andalus, who abandoned their garrisons of the north and allowed Alfonso I of Asturias to take them

- The coming of the Syrians who survived the Battle of Bagdoura under Balj ibn Bishr

- The suppression of the Berber revolt in al-Andalus and the seizure of power by the Syrians

- Last attempt to restore Umayyad caliphal rule in al-Andalus, by agreeing to a governor to reestablish peace and order and stop the civil war

- Restart of the civil war and coup d'état led by the Syrians al-Sumayl and Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman, who became the last wali of al-Andalus although he was de facto independent from Umayyad central authority

- Success of the Abbasid Revolution in 750 and fall of the Umayyad Caliphate

- The arrival in al-Andalus of an exiled survivor of the Umayyad dynasty, Abd al-Rahman, who would establish the Emirate of Córdoba in 756

- Reflection on the consequences of the Abbasid Revolution for the Islamic world

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 exaggerations in historiography

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 al-Islam and dar al-harb mean and how it affected Muslim expansionism

- The interim government of Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, future Arab leader in the Battle of Tours/Poitiers, and the appointment of wali Anbasa

- Key concepts and vocabulary of the society of al-Andalus, such as the religious or ethnic division, or combination of both while differentiating Hispano-Goths who converted (Muladi) and those who didn't (Mozarabs)

- The dhimmi status that the Peoples of the Book (Christians and Jews) received in Muslim states, and how that affected taxation with taxes such as jizya

- The discrimination that the Peoples of the Book faced in Muslim Spain

- The different legal and economic status that the nobility, middle classes, common people, slaves, and women received in al-Andalus

- Long discussion on the origins and truth behind the convivencia, the theory that claims that Muslims, Christians and Jews coexisted peacefully in Islamic Spain

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 raid to a full-scale invasion

- The probably brief proclamation of Oppas as King and the fall of Toledo, that eliminated the possibility of a centrally organized resistance

- Why Musa ibn Nusayr, governor of Ifriqiya, prepared a second expedition to Spain

- The resistance of Mérida and the Treaty of Orihuela, as an example of the numerous treaties of capitulation signed between the Muslim conquerors and the Christian nobles, priests and towns

- The Muslim conquest of the Ebro Valley, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia under Musa and Tariq

- What was the strategy followed to conquer the Iberian Peninsula

- The unhappy ending of Musa and Tariq

- How was the success of the Muslim conquest interpreted by both Muslims and Christians

- Reflection on the common motivations that all conquests have