Iberian Crusades
The Iberian Crusades were papally promoted wars, part of the, fought against the Muslim states of the Iberian Peninsula within the wider Crusading movement from 1095 to 1492. The Muslim conquest of the peninsula was completed in the early 8thcentury, when the Christian Visigothic Kingdom fell, yet the small realm of Asturias endured in the north-west. From the 9thcentury, its southward expansion against al-Andalus was portrayed in local chronicles as a divinely sanctioned war of recovery. This expansion, along with Frankish advance, gave rise to new Christian realms—Navarre, León, Aragon, Castile, Portugal, and Barcelona—in the north. After al-Andalus split into in 1031, the Christian realms exploited Muslim disunity to further expansion. From the 1060s, the papacy occasionally supported campaigns against al-Andalus by granting spiritual rewards to participants.
As the advanced, the rulers sought aid from the fundamentalist Almoravids of North Africa, who halted the Christian expansion. Soon after proclaiming the First Crusade for the liberation of the Holy Land at the Council of Clermont in 1095, Pope Urban II extended the same spiritual privilege—remission of sins—to Iberian lords who took up arms against the Moors. Peter I of Aragon was the first ruler, in 1100, to fulfil his crusading vow within the peninsula, and his example was soon followed by others. Leading crusading armies, AlfonsoI of Aragon captured Zaragoza (1118), Afonso I of Portugal seized Lisbon (1147), and Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona took Tortosa (1148). The renewed Christian advance provoked another North African intervention, this time by the Almohads, who could only temporarily halt the Christian expansion. Occasionally, the Moors' Christian allies, such as Alfonso IX of León were also targeted by crusading campaigns. After crusader forces inflicted a decisive defeat on the Almohads at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, the gained new momentum. Papal grants of crusade indulgence then supported James I of Aragon in the conquest of Mallorca (1231) and [Conquest of Taifa of Valencia|Valencia (1238)|Valencia (1238)], and Ferdinand III of Castile in the capture of [Siege of Siege of Córdoba (1236)|Córdoba (1236)|Córdoba] and Seville (1248), reducing al-Andalus to the Emirate of Granada by 1262.
Terminology
As the historian Andrew Jotischky notes, before the close of the 11thcentury the Iberian Peninsula was "the only part of Latin Christendom to have undergone lasting conquest by the Islamic world". The idea of recovering lost Christian lands first appeared in 9th-century chronicles by clerics of the Kingdom of Asturias, a Christian enclave in north-western Iberia. Texts such as the Prophetic Chronicle and the Chronicle of Albelda were the first to articulate this ideology. Waging war to reclaim Christian territory provided a moral rationale for campaigns against Muslims, as Christianity condemned aggressive warfare. The gradual recovery of regions once under Christian rule became known as the . Extending until 1492, it was, in the words of the medievalist Nikolas Jaspert, "not an ongoing war, but a succession of long periods of peace punctuated by shorter crises".The historian Christopher Tyerman observes that "the Reconquest and crusading were not synonyms". Scholars defining crusades narrowly—as papally directed efforts to recover the Holy Land—exclude the papally endorsed wars of the. Paul Rousset concedes their crusading aspects—papal backing, international participation, and anti-Muslim intent—while Hans Eberhard Mayer calls them "a substitute for a crusade". By contrast, historians identifying crusades through the granting of a specific spiritual privilege, the crusade indulgence, include papally sponsored Iberian wars within the broader crusading movement.
Early Christian sources, composed in Latin in the 9thcentury, drew on Genesis to describe Muslim foes, using and ; the more neutral became dominant from the 11thcentury, later evolving into in Spanish and "Moors" in English. Muslim writers described Iberian Christians with various terms—some neutral, such as and —others disparaging, including, and . Christians under Muslim rule are known as Mozarabs, while Muslims remaining in Christian-held lands are termed Mudejars.
Background
The Christianisation of the Iberia began under Roman rule. Organised church life is first attested in a 254 letter from the congregations of León and Mérida. In the early 4thcentury, the Council of Elvira gathered 19bishops and 24priests. After successive migrations, the Visigoths gained control of most of Hispania by. Originally Homoian Christians, deemed heretical by Nicene (Catholic) Christians, they converted under King Reccared I to Catholicism, shared by most Hispano-Romans. By the late century the archbishops of Toledo consecrated bishops across the realm, establishing the Toledan liturgy as standard. The Visigothic kingdom was unstable, marked by aristocratic coups. In 711 Muslim forces from North Africa defeated the Visigoths at Guadalete, and conquered most of the peninsula in a decade. Christians became second-class citizens, or, paying the tax.Al-Andalus was initially ruled by governors of the Umayyad caliphs. After the Abbasid overthrow in 749, the Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman escaped to al-Andalus and made Córdoba his capital. From 929 its rulers adopted the title of caliph, asserting independence from the Abbasids. Restrictions on Christians—including bans on converting children of mixed marriages—sparked an anti-Muslim movement in the 840s. The "Martyrs of Córdoba" sought execution by publicly denouncing the Prophet Muhammad; ensuing persecution drove migration north, though rural al-Andalus remained largely Christian for centuries.
In the unconquered north, Asturias emerged after the Visigothic noble Pelayo defeated Muslim troops Covadonga. Exploiting divisions in al-Andalus, Asturian kings advanced south to the River Duero. When the capital moved from Oviedo to León in the 910s, Asturias evolved into the Kingdom of León. In the northwest, the shrine of the apostle James the Great at Santiago de Compostela became a major pilgrimage centre.
In 778 Charlemagne, king of the Franks, invaded al-Andalus. Later Frankish campaigns established Catalan counties along the Pyrenees, while Basque resistance produced the Kingdom of Navarre in the 820s. Dominated by a warrior aristocracy, the Christian realms often divided and reformed, giving rise to new polities such as Castile and Aragon. From the 10thcentury Western Europe experienced economic and demographic renewal, the "Commercial Revolution", benefiting merchants of Italian city-states such as Pisa and Genoa.
In 1031 the Caliphate of Córdoba fractured into, many paying to Christian rulers. The revived, and the papacy occasionally granted spiritual rewards to those fighting the Moors. The popes asserted supremacy over Christendom as successors of Peter the Apostle in the episcopal see of Rome, invoking Jesus' words empowering Peter. In the mid-11thcentury reforming clerics in Rome, seeking freedom from lay control, banned simony and vested the right to elect popes in senior clergy, the cardinals.
On the eve of the Crusades
For warriors fighting in Iberia, Pope Alexander II issued the first papal bull promising spiritual rewards in 1063. He ordered them to confess their sins and granted absolution and release from penance "by the authority of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul". The next summer, French, Italian, and Catalan troops joined Sancho Ramírez, king of Aragon, in besiege Barbastro in the of Zaragoza. They captured the town and massacred or enslaved its people, but the Moors recaptured it within a year. The historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal called the campaign "a crusade before the crusades", while the medievalist Peter Lock classed it among the "proto-crusades".Pope Gregory VII opposed secular rulers investing their own candidates with church offices, bringing him into armed conflicts. The Investiture Controversy revived interest in the theology of war, prompting Anselm of Lucca to compile the late antique theologian Augustine's scattered thoughts on just war into a coherent synthesis. Drawing on classical philosophy, Roman jurisprudence, and biblical precedent, Augustine argued that war, though sinful, could be just if fought for a rightful cause—defence or recovery of possession—declared by legitimate authority and pursued with proper intent.
In 1085 [Alfonso VI of León, Spain|León and Castile|AlfonsoVI of León-Castile] intervened in a succession dispute and seized Toledo. That year, the of Zaragoza and Valencia sought protection from the exiled Castilian noble Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, known El Cid, while Seville, Granada, and Badajoz appealed to Yusuf ibn Tashfin, leader of the fundamentalist Almoravids in Morocco. Yusuf invaded Iberia and crushed Alfonso at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086, later returning to begin the conquest of the in 1090. The Almoravids reunited Muslim Spain but failed to push north. El Cid captured Valencia in 1094, but the Muslims retook the city after his death.
Confronting resurgent Muslim powers
By the late 11thcentury the papacy had consolidated its authority and could direct major military enterprises. At the Council of Clermont on 27November 1095, Pope Urban II urged an expedition to relieve eastern Christians from Muslim rule. Combining just-war principles with penitential pilgrimage, he promised spiritual rewards to participants. His appeal initiated the First Crusade: thousands adopted the cross as a badge of their crusade vow and set out for the Holy Land. The campaign created four Crusader states in the Levant, whose defence inspired subsequent crusades for nearly two centuries.From 1095 to 1212 Muslim power in Iberia revived under the Almoravids and later the Almohads, Berber movements from North Africa that gained limited support in al-Andalus. Despite occasional Christian reverses, the strategic balance altered little as Muslim forces could win engagements yet rarely hold territory.
Aftermath of the First Crusade
Pope UrbanII's call for the First Crusade inspired zeal in Iberia. [William I, Count of Cerdanya|WilliamI Raymond of Fitero|Raymond of Cerdanya], and Berenguer RamonII of Barcelona were among those who took the cross. Yet Urban discouraged Catalan magnates such as Bernard I of Besalú, Giselbert II of Roussillon, and William Raymond, urging them instead to defend nearby churches from Moorish attacks with remission of sins. His successor, Pope Paschal II, in 1102 formally forbade Iberian Christians from abandoning lands threatened by Almoravid raids.[Peter I of Aragon|PeterI of County of Aragon|Aragon and Navarre], son of Sancho Ramírez, was the first Iberian ruler to fight as a within the peninsula. He took the cross in 1100 but, abandoning his plan to reach Jerusalem, turned to attack Zaragoza. In February he built a castle near the city named Juslibol, from the Crusaders' cry, yet failed to take it. Sigurd I of Norway, the first crowned ruler to go on armed pilgrimage to the Holy Land, fought Iberian Muslims by sea and land during his voyage east in 1108.
In 1113 the Pisans sought Pope PaschalII's support backing for a campaign against the Balearic Islands. Paschal offered spiritual rewards for freeing Christian captives and named Cardinal Boso of Sant'Anastasia as papal legate. A fleet led by Pietro, Archbishop of Pisa, sailed in August 1113, wintered in Catalonia, and was joined by Catalan and Occitan nobles including Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona, William VI of Montpellier, and Ramon Guillem, Bishop of Barcelona. By 1114 the armada of over 120ships seized Ibiza and in 1115 took Palma de Mallorca, but the Almoravids retook the islands in 1116.
The Almoravids had seized Zaragoza, the last, in 1110. AlfonsoI, successor of PeterI, sought external aid to reconquer it in 1118. His allies included leading Occitan, Castilian, and Catalan nobles such as Gaston IV of Béarn, Centule II of Bigorre, Diego López I de Haro, and Ramon of Pallars. The siege began on 22May 1118. Alfonso sent Pedro, bishop-elect of Zaragoza, to Pope Gelasius II, who granted absolution to those slain in the campaign. Acting as legate, Bernard, archbishop of Toledo, extended similar benefits to donors. Zaragoza capitulated on 18December 1118.
The historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan argues that Alfonso's conquest of Zaragoza prompted Pope Calixtus II to strengthen papal support for crusading in Spain. In 1123 he convened the First Lateran Council, which recognised that crusading vows could be fulfilled in both the Holy Land and Iberia. Calixtus appointed Olegarius, archbishop of Tarragona, as legate for a new Iberian crusade. O'Callaghan links this appeal to the Battle of Corbins, where Christian forces were defeated in 1124. The following year Diego Gelmírez, bishop of Santiago de Compostela, described Iberian crusades as "a road toward the... Holy Sepulchre which is shorter and less difficult". O'Callaghan reads this as a plan for a major crusade through Iberia and North Africa, while Jotischky interprets it as an allegory suggesting that crusading in Iberia offered an easier path to spiritual reward.
Second Crusade
After 1120 the Almoravids faced rebellion from the Almohads in Morocco. Denouncing the Almoravids as apostates, the Almohads proclaimed their leader Ibn Tumart as the divinely guided. Although their first rising failed, after Ibn Tumart's death in 1131 his successor, Abd al-Mu'min, declared himself caliph and began conquering Morocco.AlfonsoI waged campaigns until his death in 1134, leaving his dominions by will to religious institutions—the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Holy Sepulchre, but his subjects ignored these bequests. His brother RamiroII, a monk, was proclaimed king of Aragon, while a distant kinsman, García Ramírez, king of Navarre. After the birth of his daughter Petronilla, Ramiro returned to monastic life, arranging her marriage to Ramon BerenguerIV of Barcelona, uniting the Catalan counties with Aragon into the Crown of Aragon. By then AlfonsoVII of León-Castile had become the leading Christian ruler in Iberia. His vassals included García Ramírez, Ramon BerenguerIV, and Alfonso Jordan of Toulouse. In 1135 he assumed the title Emperor of Hispania. His cousin Count Afonso Henriques of Portugal advanced south and, after victory the Battle of Ourique, adopted the title of king. In 1142 he besieged Lisbon backed by northern crusaders sailing for the Holy Land, but failed to capture it.
The Muslim capture of Edessa in the East in December 1144 alarmed Western Christendom, prompting Pope Eugenius III to call the Second Crusade. He extended crusading privileges to Iberia in the bull on 13April 1147. Meanwhile, Almoravid decline under Almohad pressure revived the system in al-Andalus. One ruler, Ibn Qasi, sought 'Abd al-Mu'min's protection, and early in 1147 Almohad troops crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to begin conquering al-Andalus.
According to the historian Jonathan Phillips, Afonso Henriques enlisted the support of Bernard of Clairvaux, leading preacher of the Second Crusade, for an attack on Lisbon. A fleet of over fiftyFlemish, Frisian, German, and Anglo-Norman ships left the port of Dartmouth in April 1147 under nobles like Arnold of Aerschot, and Hervey de Glanvill, reaching Lisbon on 28June. Despite some wishing to continue east, the Crusaders joined the Portuguese in besieging the city. After five months, the city surrendered on terms of safe conduct, but many, including its Mozarabic bishop, were killed in the sack. After securing nearby fortresses such as Sintra and Almada, most Crusaders sailed for the Holy Land on 1February 1148.
Genoese envoys approached AlfonsoVII with a proposal for a joint assault on the city of Almería. They agreed Alfonso would pay 20,000gold dinars and grant Genoa commercial privileges in return for naval and military aid. His vassals Ramon BerenguerIV and William VI of Montpellier also joined. In July 1147, a fleet of 63Genoese galleys and 164other ships, with over 450knights and 1,000infantry, besieged Almería, which capitulated on 17October. Meanwhile, Ramon Berenguer arranged another campaign with the Genoese against Tortosa, for which Pope Eugenius granted crusading privileges. Reinforced by crusaders from France and northern Europe, Ramon Berenguer and the Genoese captured Tortosa on 31December 1148 after a six-month siege.
Wars against the Almohads
Fought across three theatres—the Holy Land, Iberia, and the Baltic—the Baltic achieved lasting success only in Iberia. Its failure in the Holy Land caused deep disillusionment among the French nobility. Nevertheless, AlfonsoVII of León-Castile concluded the Treaty of Tudilén with Ramon BerenguerV of Barcelona, dividing future conquests and assigning the of Dénia, and Murcia to Ramon Berenguer under his suzerainty. At his request, Pope EugeniusIII in 1152 and AnastasiusIV in 1153 granted crusading indulgences for his campaigns against the Moors, which strengthened his control along the Ebro valley.After the Almohads united all former Almoravid lands in 1154, the papal legate Cardinal Hyacinth offered crusading privileges to those fighting them. Hyacinth himself took the cross, and, according to O'Callaghan, AlfonsoVII's conquests of Andújar and nearby towns were tied to this crusade. In 1157 the Almohads launched a counteroffensive, regaining these towns and Almería. Alfonso died returning from the campaign on 21August. His sons succeeded him: SanchoIII in Castile and FerdinandII in León. By the 1158 Treaty of Sahagún, they divided Portugal and the remaining Muslim territories in the west. Sancho died that August, leaving his three-year-old son, AlfonsoVIII, as heir. Ramon Berenguer died in 1162, succeeded by his son, Alfonso II of Aragon.
Unlike his predecessors, Pope Adrian IV withheld crusading privileges from those fighting in Iberia, focusing instead on the Holy Land. The Almohads consolidated control over al-Andalus, exploiting rivalries among Christian rulers. In 1170 AfonsoI of Portugal attacked Badajoz, prompting FerdinandII of León to ally with the Almohads to relieve it. Two years later, the new caliph YusufI seized Murcia and Valencia. When he attacked Huete in 1172, Cardinal Hyacinth granted remission of sins to the defenders, and AlfonsoVIII relieved the town. Back in Rome, Hyacinth convinced Pope Alexander III to issue a crusading bull on 23March 1175 granting absolution to those dying against the Moors and remission of penance to those serving a year. In 1177 the kings of León, Castile, and Aragon met at Tarazona to coordinate campaigns. AlfonsoVIII and AlfonsoII captured Cuenca, and their Treaty of Cazola confirmed a new division of Muslim lands, assigning Murcia to Castile and freeing Aragon from Castilian suzerainty. The treaty also envisaged partitioning Navarre between Castile and Aragon.
In 1184 Afonso, aided by León, repelled Yusuf's attack on Santarém; Yusuf died of his wounds and was succeeded by his son al-Mansur. The next year Afonso's son SanchoI became king of Portugal. In 1188 FerdinandII of León died and was succeeded by AlfonsoIX, who did homage to his cousin AlfonsoVIII of Castile to secure his crown, though this later strained relations.
Third Crusade
In July 1187, Muslim forces destroyed the field army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and captured the relic of the True Cross. Hearing of the disaster, Pope Gregory VIII issued the bull that October, calling for th Third Crusade. The next year his successor, ClementIII, extended crusader privileges to Iberian Christians fighting the Moors and ordered their kings to maintain a truce of at least ten years.In spring 1189 Danish and Frisian crusaders, en route to the Holy Land, helped SanchoI of Portugal seize the Castle of Alvor, massacring its inhabitants. In July they were joined by German, French, and English crusaders led by HenryI of Bar and Saer de Sandwich, who together besieged Silves. Starved into surrender, the defenders were granted safe conduct, but the crusaders plundered the city. In July 1190 the Almohad caliph al-Mansur launched his first Iberian campaign from Morocco. His assault on Silves failed, and Sancho repelled his attack on Santarém with English aid, but in the next year's campaign al-Mansur capturing Alcácer do Sal and Silves in July. After these victories he concluded truces with the Christian monarchs.
Almohad triumph and internal rivalries
In 1191 Cardinal Hyacinth, former papal legate to Iberia, was elected pope as CelestineIII. Condemning Iberian monarchs for alliances with Muslims, he urged reconciliation and issued crusading indulgences to promote anti-Moorish warfare. Bypassing royal authority, he appealed directly to the Christian populace. AlfonsoII of Aragon, AlfonsoVIII of Castile, and AlfonsoIX of León soon made peace before their truce with the Almohads expired in 1194.Meanwhile, AlfonsoVIII ordered a fortress built at Alarcos on the south bank of the Guadiana River. Provoked also by an earlier raid by Archbishop Martín of Toledo, the Almohad caliph al-Mansur launched a campaign from Morocco in spring 1195. Though Alfonso sought aid from León and Aragon, he confronted al-Mansur before reinforcements arrived. At the Battle of Alarcos on 19July 1195, al-Mansur gained the last major Almohad victory over the Christians but withdrew within three weeks.
AlfonsoIX reached Toledo only after AlfonsoVIII's crushing defeat, and their meeting revived old rivalries. He then forged an anti-Castilian alliance with Sancho VII of Navarre and the Almohads. When Almohad forces invaded Castile in early 1196, AlfonsoIX and SanchoVII attacked from the west and north. The papal legate, Cardinal Gregory of Sant'Angelo—nephew of CelestineIII—excommunicated AlfonsoIX for his Muslim alliance and persuaded Sancho to make peace. By year's end, Celestine proclaimed a crusade against León.
In spring 1197 al-Mansur raided the Tagus valley but soon agreed to a ten-year truce with the Christians. AlfonsoVIII then invaded León with PeterII of Aragon, while SanchoI of Portugal attacked from the northwest. Seeking support, AlfonsoIX met al-Mansur in Seville, but, failing to gain aid, he made peace with his Christian foes and, as a token of reconciliation, married AlfonsoVIII's daughter Berengaria in October 1197.
The truce with the Almohads revived rivalries among the Christian monarchs. Castilian and Aragonese forces invaded Navarre, but SanchoVII preserved independence with Almohad support. In 1199 al-Mansur was succeeded by his son al-Nasir, who completed the conquest of the Balearics with the capture of Mallorca PeterII sought papal backing for a campaign against the island and, after agreeing to hold Aragon as a papal fief, was crowned by InnocentIII on 10November 1204. Although Aragonese barons rejected Peter's proposed property tax to fund the war at an assembly in November 1205, he continued preparations and in summer 1210 launched the campaign, capturing several fortresses around Teruel.
Crusade of Las Navas de Tolosa
In 1210 Pope InnocentIII wrote to Ferdinand, heir of AlfonsoVIII of Castile, declaring that kings were not bound by truces with infidels and referring to remission of sins—implying, according to O'Callaghan, that Ferdinand had taken the cross. When the truce with the Almohads expired, Christian raids resumed, prompting Caliph al-Nasir to invade Castile. He captured Salvatierra Castle in July 1211 but soon withdrew. Expecting a renewed offensive, Alfonso ordered his vassals to gather at Toledo on Trinity Sunday. Though Ferdinand died meanwhile, preparations continued. Innocent directed French and Provençal bishops to grant indulgences to volunteers, while Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo sought aid in France with limited success amid the Anglo-French conflict.On arriving in Toledo in February 1212, some crusaders carried out a pogrom against the Jewish community. Around 70,000crusaders gathered there by Pentecost. Arnaud Amalric, Archbishop of Narbonne and leader of the French contingent, persuaded SanchoVII of Navarre to make peace with Castile en route. More French forces followed under Archbishop Guillaume of Bordeaux and other clerical and noble commanders. Crusaders from León and Portugal also joined, though their kings abstained.
The army left Toledo on 2June. Most of the French contingent withdrew after Alfonso forbade plundering, save Archbishop Arnaud and 130knights. Soon after, SanchoVII joined the host. On 16July the crusaders won a decisive victory over the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa. Al-Nasir fled, many of his troops were slain, and rich spoils were taken. The Muslim chronicler al-Marrakushi attributed the defeat to the flight of poorly paid soldiers. The crusaders advanced further, but shortages and plague forced them to end the campaign before month's end. The victory was celebrated throughout Catholic Europe.
Acceleration of the
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa was a major turning point in medieval Iberian history. The Almohads' defeat deepened tensions between native Moors and their North African rulers, leading to a new disintegration of al-Andalus.Aftermath of Las Navas de Tolosa
In early 1213 AlfonsoVIII of Castile captured several Moorish fortresses. He made peace with AlfonsoIX of León, who likewise campaigned against the Moors and captured Alcántara on the Tagus. Meanwhile, PeterII of Aragon became embroiled in the Albigensian Crusade in Occitania, opposing the crusader Simon de Montfort's war against his brother-in-law RaymondVI of Toulouse. When mediation failed, Peter attacked Montfort but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Muret on 12September.He was succeeded by his underage son JamesI. That same year the child al-Mustansir became Almohad caliph after al-Nasir was slain by a retainer. In Castile, AlfonsoVIII was succeeded by his young son HenryI in 1214. Believing the Moorish and Albigensian threats diminished, Pope InnocentIII withdrew crusading privileges from both Iberia and Occitania.
Fifth Crusade
Convoked by Pope InnocentIII, the Fourth Lateran Council, meeting in November 1215, proclaimed the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land. It also standardised the crusade indulgence, granting full remission of confessed sins to all crusaders. In July 1217 about 300ships with Frisian and German crusaders reached Lisbon. The new king of Portugal, AfonsoII, was unwilling to violate the truce with the Almohads, but Bishop Soeiro urged them to help recapture Alcácer do Sal. Although the Frisians continued east, the Germans under WilliamI of Holland and George of Wied stayed with some 180ships. Allied with the Portuguese, they besieged and captured Alcácer do Sal on 18October. The Portuguese later petitioned Pope Honorius III, Innocent's successor, to let the crusaders fulfil their vows locally, but he granted absolution only to those unable to proceed to the East.After the child king HenryI of Castile died in an accident, his sister Berengaria—whose marriage to AlfonsoIX of León had been annulled for consanguinity—secured the throne for their son, FerdinandIII. Having already taken the cross, AlfonsoIX joined in an attack on Cáceres in November 1218 with an army including crusaders from across Europe, such as Savari de Mauléon, but heavy rains and flooding forced their withdrawal before year's end. In June 1219 Pope Honorius granted indulgences for Archbishop Rodrigo's campaign against Valencia. The crusaders took several fortresses but failed to seize Requena. He likewise extended the indulgence to AlfonsoIX's attacks on Cáceres, which the King failed to capture in 1221 and 1222.
Disintegration of the Almohad Empire
The Almohad caliph al-Mustansir died young in January 1224, and the ensuing power struggle allowed the native rulers of al-Andalus to cast off caliphal authority. Though not stated outright, references to his vows suggest FerdinandIII of Castile took the cross soon after John of Brienne, former king of Jerusalem, married his sister Berenguela in April 1224. The Almohad governors Abu Zayd of Valencia and Abu Mohammad of Baeza did homage to him, though Abu Zayd soon defected. Crusading privileges were granted for local causes: part of church revenues went to the noble Alfonso Téllez de Meneses for Alburquerque's defence, and his brother Tello, bishop of Palencia, received indulgences to fortify Aliaguilla.Pope HonoriusIII appointed Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo and Bishop Mauricio of Burgos as protectors of the Iberian crusaders. After the Moors of Córdoba murdered Abu Mohammad in 1225, Ferdinand captured Baeza and Capilla. In 1228 Ibn Hud, a native Moorish aristocrat, seized Murcia and broke from the Almohads, gaining control over much of al-Andalus. AlfonsoIX of León renewed the war, taking Mérida in spring 1230, defeating Ibn Hud at Alange, and capturing Badajoz in May. He was preparing to attack Seville when he died suddenly on 24September. Ibn Hud's defeat undermined his rule, and he was soon expelled from Murcia.
After taking the cross in April 1225, JamesI of Aragon planned to invade Valencia. Abu Zayd secured peace by agreeing to pay a fifth of his revenues as tribute to Aragon, but was expelled from Valencia by Zayyan ibn Mardanish. Soon converting to Christianity, Abu Zayd sought James's aid, yet the king turned instead to Mallorca, which under [Abu Yahya Muhammad ibn Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman|Ali ibn Abi Imran al-Tinmalali|Abu Yahya] had broken from the Almohads and become a corsair base. Pope Gregory IX authorised his legate Jean d'Abeville to grant indulgences to participants. In spring 1229 about knights and over 2,000infantry set sail on ships. Palma de Mallorca fell after a months-long siege on 31 December, and by 1231 most of the island's Muslims had fled to North Africa.
Christian expansion
Although expelled from Murcia, Ibn Hud retained control over much of al-Andalus, including Granada, Córdoba, and Seville. His authority was soon contested by MuhammadI of the Banu Nasr, who began establishing his own dominion. Other rivals included Zayyan of Valencia and Ibn Mahfuṭ of Niebla in the Algarve.FerdinandIII of Castile resumed his campaigns against the Moors in 1229, pausing only on the death of his father, AlfonsoIX of León, which allowed him to reunite the two kingdoms. In 1231 Pope GregoryIX granted crusading indulgences to those joining the expeditions of Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo or Ferdinand, or contributing funds. After Rodrigo captured Quesada and Cazorla, the Pope directed the Toledo clergy to support him for three years. Ferdinand then took Úbeda, compelling Ibn Hud to pay tribute. When Christian troops occupied part of Córdoba, Ferdinand besieged the city in February 1236 and forced the defenders to surrender on 29June, granting them safe conduct.
JamesI of Aragon began the conquest of the divided of Valencia in 1232, prompting Pope GregoryIX to grant indulgences to volunteers for three years. James renewed his alliance with Valencia's former ruler, Abu Zayd, who had converted to Christianity as Vincent. In April 1238, aided by French and English crusaders, he besieged Valencia; on 28 September, Zayyan surrendered in return for safe conduct. Ibn Hud was assassinated in 1238, and his family sought FerdinandIII's support against Muslim rivals. In May 1243 al-Mutawakkil of Murcia paid homage to Ferdinand, permitting Castilian troops to garrison his capital. Rival claims to Muslim territories led to war between Castile and Aragon until the Treaty of Almizra fixed the frontier in March 1244. Thereafter JamesI captured the remaining fortresses of Valencia, forcing Zayyan to flee to Tunis, and the remnants of al-Andalus fell under Castilian influence. James began planning an eastern crusade, but the Mudejars of Valencia rebelled, prompting Pope Innocent IV to proclaim crusades against them in 1248 and 1250.
AfonsoII of Portugal's son, SanchoII, played no active role in the for much of his reign due to disputes with the Church and nobility, leaving the warrior monks of the Order of Santiago to capture several towns, including Beja and Mértola. Sancho's brother, Fernando—excommunicated for his excesses against the clergy—formed an anti-Moorish alliance with the Leonese Alfonso of Molina. At their request, Pope GregoryIX in 1239 granted indulgences for a projected campaign, though none was launched. Sancho later renewed the war against the Moors; in 1241 the Pope granted indulgences to his supporters as the Portuguese took Alvor and Paderne. Sancho's conflict with the Church deepened, and GregoryIX authorised Sancho's brother Afonso to restore order. The coup succeeded, and Sancho died in exile in 1248. In the following two years AfonsoIII completed the conquest of the Algarve, capturing Faro and other towns.
FerdinandIII renewed his campaigns by besieging Jaén on the Guadalquivir. Instead of supporting the defenders, MuhammadI, now ruler of Granada, did homage to Ferdinand, forcing Jaén's Muslim inhabitants to surrender in March 1246. Around this time Pope Innocent granted indulgences to Castilians and Leonese who joined or financed the campaign. After Jaén's fall, the Muslims of Seville, the chief centre of al-Andalus, offered tribute, but the militant populace overthrew the moderates and accepted Tunisian suzerainty. In response, Ferdinand began the siege of Seville in July 1247, supported by a fleet of thirteengalleys. The defenders failed to destroy the fleet with Greek fire, while the besiegers were reinforced by crusaders from Aragon and Portugal. Seville surrendered on 23November 1248, and its fall compelled the remaining Moorish cities, including Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz, to pay annual tribute to Castile.
Survival of al-Andalus
After the fall of Seville, al-Andalus became, in the words of the medievalist Paul M. Cobb, "a hemmed-in, isolated, and besieged toehold at Granada". For nearly 250years it was ruled by the Banu Nasr dynasty, whom Cobb describes as "in many ways the greatest kings of Muslim Spain". Although a tributary state, Granada resisted Christian attacks through its formidable fortifications, watchtowers, and skilled troops. Its distance from the Christian centres of power also enabled support from the Muslim rulers of North Africa. Alongside Granada, the minor of Niebla endured in south-western Iberia. Following the Christian advance of the early 13thcentury, an expanded Castile alone bordered al-Andalus. Its relations with its weaker Christian neighbours were cursory and uneasy. James II of Aragon even declared that final victory over the Moors could not be achieved without the partition of Castile.Conflict over the Strait of Gibraltar
In 1245, the Muslim ruler of Salé in Morocco—identified by O'Callaghan as al-Hasan, son of the convert Abu Zayd—offered to cede the town to the Order of Santiago. The plan failed when al-Hasan was executed on the orders of the Almohad caliph al-Said. Preoccupied with the resettlement of Seville, FerdinandIII of Castile concluded peace with the Almohads before his death on 30May 1252. His son, AlfonsoX, succeeded him and began his reign by quelling Mudéjar revolts. To prepare for campaigns in North Africa, Alfonso established shipyards in Seville and ports at Cádiz and El Puerto de Santa María to strengthen his navy. In 1260, aided by a crusading indulgence, his fleet raided Morocco for three weeks; two years later, he annexed the of Niebla.In 1262, as Alfonso prepared to invade North Africa, the Mudéjars—encouraged by Granada—rose in revolt across southern Spain. The uprising was crushed with crusader levies, but the revolt revealed that war could not shift to Africa while Granada endured. Meanwhile, the Marinids replaced the Almohads as North Africa's leading power, and in 1275 MuhammadII, MuhammadI's successor in Granada, allied with the Marinid ruler Abu Yusuf. Marinid forces crossed the Strait, capturing Algeciras and Tarifa, and routed the Castilians at Écija. Alarmed by the Marinids' ascendancy, MuḥammadII persuaded AlfonsoX to besiege Algeciras; yet, after taking Málaga from the Marinids, he reversed allegiance and assisted them in compelling the Castilians to lift the siege.
After the death of AlfonsoX's eldest son, Ferdinand, Castile descended into civil war between Alfonso and his second son, Sancho, who claimed the succession over his late brother's son, Alfonso de la Cerda. During the conflict, the father allied with the Marinids, while the son was supported by Granada. On his father's death in 1284, SanchoIV succeeded to the throne and continued to regard the Marinids as his principal Muslim adversaries. Meanwhile, under the reign of PeterIII, son of JamesI, Aragon had seized Sicily from Charles I of Anjou, a papal vassal, thereby inciting a crusade against Aragon.
To ease Aragonese fears of Castilian expansion, SanchoIV concluded the Treaty of Monteagudo with James II of Aragon, son and successor of PeterIII, in 1291, apportioning prospective North African conquests: territories west of the Moulouya River to Castile, and those to the east to Aragon. The following year, Sancho captured the key Iberian port of Tarifa from the Marinids. Amid domestic turmoil, the papacy withheld crusading indulgences for his campaigns, prompting him to invoke earlier bulls of Popes InnocentIV and ClementIV when preparing an assault on Algeciras in 1294. Sancho's death rekindled civil war in Castile during the minority of his son, FerdinandIV, and enabled Aragon to occupy Murcia for several years despite prior treaties.
MuhammadIII, who succeeded his father in Granada in 1302, launched several raids into Castilian territory. In 1306 he captured the North African port of Ceuta from the Marinids, prompting an alliance between FerdinandIV, JamesII, and the Marinid sultan Amir. Pope Clement V granted indulgences for the war against Granada, leading to the conquest of Gibraltar for Castile in 1309 the nobleman Alonso Pérez de Guzmán with the support of an Aragonese fleet; however, Ferdinand failed at Algeciras and James at Málaga, while Amir, having retaken Ceuta, allied himself with Granada. The setback weakened Aragon's commitment to anti-Moorish campaigns in Iberia, and thereafter the papacy offered only limited support for operations against Granada.
Papal indulgences for campaigns against Granada were reinstated in 1328, three years after AlfonsoXI, son and successor of SanchoIV, attained his majority. Exploiting the Castilian nobility's desire to avenge a humiliating defeat at the 1319 Battle of the Vega, Alfonso consolidated his authority and launched incursions into Granada. The indulgences inspired several foreigners to join the campaigns. In response, Muhammad IV of Granada allied with the Marinid sultan Ali, and their combined forces recaptured Gibraltar from the Castilians in 1333.
Crusade of Salado
Following the fall of Gibraltar, Pope John XXII granted new indulgences in support of Castile, yet AlfonsoXI concluded a five-year truce with Granada's new ruler, YusufI in 1334. The death of the Marinid prince Abu Malik during a raid near Jerez de la Frontera in 1337 led his father, Sultan Ali, to prepare a fresh campaign against Castile. When the Marinid fleet of some 200ships sailed from North Africa, Admiral Alfonso Jofré Tenorio, aided by Aragonese vessels, attempted to intercept it, but the combined fleet was defeated at the Battle of Getares in April 1340.YusufI soon joined the Marinid forces in besieging Tarifa, prompting Peter IV of Aragon to dispatch galleys for its defence. Pope Benedict XII proclaimed a crusade, and AlfonsoXI advanced to Tarifa with Afonso IV of Portugal. On 30October, the combined Christian armies, aided by a sortie from Tarifa's defenders, defeated the united Marinid and Granadan host at the Battle of Salado. This victory ended the last major Muslim invasion of Iberia from North Africa, though it left the Emirate of Granada largely intact.
Despite the considerable plunder gained from the battle, Alfonso required two years to amass the funds to besiege Algeciras in 1342, completing the operation only two years later with papal financial aid. During the siege, an Aragonese fleet supported the Castilians, and crusaders such as Philip III of Navarre and the English nobles Henry of Grosmont and William Montagu fought against the Moors. In July 1349, Alfonso turned his assault to Gibraltar, the Marinids' final foothold in Iberia, but the Black Death claimed his life on 27March 1350, compelling his army to abandon the siege.
Decline of the
Secure within the rugged Sierra Nevada, Granada could be subdued only through firm leadership and sustained national resolve—qualities Castile lacked for more than a century. During this time, the assumed two main forms: constant frontier skirmishes and occasional large-scale campaigns, collectively known as the or . Castile and Granada frequently concluded truces lasting two or three years, though raiding persisted in the intervals.Although AlfonsoXI's son, Peter of Castile, sought crusading privileges from Pope Innocent VI for a North African campaign, he soon became embroiled in conflict with Aragon, sparking a war that endured until 1366. He was deposed in 1369 by his illegitimate brother, Henry of Trastámara, with French support. Henry's planned conquest of Granada stirred crusading fervour in France in 1375, but renewed hostilities with Portugal forced its abandonment. After his death, the claim of his son JohnI to the Portuguese throne, together with the Western Schism, produced rival papal crusades: in 1382 Pope Urban VI preached one against Castile, while his opponent, ClementVII, granted indulgences to JohnI of Castile for his war against John I of Portugal.
Piracy revived enthusiasm for anti-Moorish warfare towards the close of the 14thcentury. In 1398 the Avignon pope BenedictXIII granted indulgences to Valencians and Mallorcans who launched counter-raids against North African pirates. Granadan forces penetrated deep into Castilian territory in 1401 and 1406. King Henry III of Castile persuaded the to approve an extraordinary subsidy for a counter-attack. Although Henry died of illness, his brother Ferdinand, acting as regent for the young JohnII, soon renewed the war. The Castilian fleet defeated the Marinid navy on 26August, but aristocratic indifference compelled Ferdinand to abandon the sieges of Ronda and Setenil in 1407. Reviving the campaign in 1410, he captured the strategically vital fortress of Antequera in September. Although no crusade bulls survive, Ferdinand's campaigns were supported by foreign volunteers, among them the French James de La Marche and the Burgundian Guillebert de Lannoy.
Ferdinand became king of Aragon in 1412, but his grants of lands and offices to his younger sons, John and Henry, enabled them to obstruct royal policy in Castile. Royal authority was restored under JohnII's favourite, Álvaro de Luna, by 1431. Meanwhile, Granada descended into anarchy amid rivalries between three claimants—MuhammadVIII, MuhammadIX, and YusufIV—permitting Castilian intervention. The ensuing campaigns, endorsed by indulgences granted by Popes MartinV and EugeniusIV, led to Castile's victory at the Battle of La Higueruela and a temporary expansion into the Emirate. Civil war broke out in Castile in 1438, undoing these gains, though Pope Nicholas V renewed indulgences for anti-Moorish campaigns between 1448 and 1452.
NicholasV and CallixtusIII were the first popes to regard crusading in Iberia within the wider context of the Ottoman advance. While recognising that Castile could not confront the Ottomans directly, they invoked its victories over Granada to urge other Catholic powers to take up arms against the Ottoman threat. Henry IV of Castile, son of JohnII, conducted raids into Granadan territory between 1455 and 1458 but sought to avoid prolonged and costly campaigns for which both his opponents and the traveller Gabriel Tetzel accused him of sympathy towards Islam. When frontier hostilities resumed, a coalition of Castilian nobles, notably Juan de Guzmán and Rodrigo Ponce de León, aided by urban militias, captured the weakly garrisoned Gibraltar in 1462.
Granada War
Castile was racked by civil wars. The first, between King HenryIV and his opponents, forced him in 1468 to disinherit his daughter Joanna—suspected of illegitimacy—in favour of his half-sister Isabella. After Henry died in 1474, a second war broke out between Isabella and Joanna: Isabella was supported by her husband, Ferdinand, heir to the Aragonese throne, while Joanna was backed by her fiancé, Afonso V of Portugal. Isabella and Ferdinand triumphed in 1479, the year Ferdinand also became king of Aragon.The union of Castile and Aragon under their rule ended Granada's ability to exploit rivalry between the two kingdoms. In 1480, the Ottoman capture of Otranto in Italy heightened fears that Granada might serve as a base for an Ottoman invasion of Iberia. From 1482, the emirate was divided between MuhammadXII in Granada and his deposed father, Abu'l-Hasan, in Málaga.
The final war against Granada began with frontier raids and evolved into annual campaigns that gradually eroded the emirate's defences. The fall of Ronda in 1485 cost Granada its western provinces. Under mounting pressure, MuhammadXII allied with the Castilian–Aragonese forces, first against his father and later his uncle, MuhammadXIII. The capture of Málaga in 1487 ended any realistic prospect of Muslim naval aid from North Africa. In the closing phase of the war, MuhammadXIII allied with the Christians against his nephew who defended the emirate's capital. After an eight-month siege, it capitulated on 2January 1492. In announcing the victory to Pope Innocent VIII, Ferdinand declared that the fall of Granada marked the end of nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia.
Warfare
While the medievalist Luis García-Guijarro Ramos concludes, crusading "contributed to Christian military expansion in Iberia only in a subsidiary way", O'Callaghan notes that "the organization and operations of Christian armies" underwent substantial development in the crusading period. The improvement of army organisation was accompanied by frequent consideration of strategic matters—defensive and offensive alike—including the advisability of raids, sieges, and pitched battles.Organisation of armies
Campaigns were usually waged between late spring and early autumn. With no standing armies, forces were raised for each expedition. Secular and ecclesiastical leaders were summoned by name. Under the Usages of Barcelona, musters were called by letters, envoys, or signal fires, requiring recruits to assemble fully equipped at a set place and time. Absence incurred fines, disinheritance, or excommunication. Nobles and townsmen generally served three months for pay or tenure. Disobedience, disorder, theft, desertion, or aiding the enemy were harshly punished.Kings commonly led their armies in person, accompanied by sons, brothers, and a corps of knightly guards known as the. Bishops, abbots, and other prelates were expected to provide spiritual and military support. Following the conquest of Lisbon, SanchoI of Portugal maintained the clergy's military duty only when the realm faced Muslim attack. Aristocratic self-awareness was strengthened by chivalric ideals, demanding lifelong devotion to arms. Noble children trained as squires under experienced knights and were knighted after proving themselves in battle. The leading magnates kept personal retinues, while royal charters defining municipal privileges also specified military obligations, often redeemable by a tax called the. Fortresses were often manned by warrior monks of the military orders.
Corps fought under the standard of the king, a great noble, a military order, or a municipality. Defending these banners was a point of honour, and abandoning one was punished as treason. The royal standard was borne by the or, a high-ranking aristocrat who commanded the army in the king's absence. The militia banner was carried by the town's, always of knightly rank. Lesser commanders included the, leading cavalry, and the, commanding infantry. Candidates for both offices were nominated by twelve of their peers. From the mid-14thcentury, frontier warfare was chiefly waged by the region's powerful Castilian nobility, including the Guzmáns and the Fernández de Córdoba family.
Naval forces were initially provided by the Pisans and Genoese. The first Aragonese fleet was established under JamesI, with a royal shipyard at Barcelona. Castile first employed its own navy at the siege of Seville, while AfonsoIII of Portugal built a fleet to defend the Algarve. Sieges were occasionally coordinated with naval raids on nearby coastal bases.
Military equipment
A knight's chief weapon was a double-edged iron sword, about long, with a hilt, used mainly to cut through chain mail rather than pierce the body. Knights also carried lances in length. They rode either, in the Moorish fashion with short stirrups, or, in the French style with longer ones.Foot soldiers bore lances or shorter javelins, while both mounted and foot troops employed projectile weapons, such as the crossbow. Armour comprised a mail coat over a quilted jacket, a helmet or iron cap, and metal or leather limb braces. Shields of wood, leather, or iron were round or kite-shaped, and warhorses might wear mail protection. Equipment varied by rank: great lords sometimes adorned their helmets with jewels. On the frontiers, the Almogavars—light raiders on foot or horseback—favoured daggers and darts.
Raids, sieges and battles
Cavalcades and raids were the chief forms of offensive warfare. Short raids of a day or two sought plunder, while longer expeditions, launched after the harvest, aimed at devastation. Minor raids rarely exceeded 300troops; major incursions, involving thousands, were organised into vanguard, rearguard, and flanking forces.Small garrisons were often taken by surprise, but great sieges could last for months. Besiegers frequently plundered the surrounding countryside, while defenders launched sorties against them. Walls were breached by battering rams or mining, and siege towers enabled archers and crossbowmen to fire from above, although such towers were often destroyed by burning oil poured from the walls. Trebuchets and mangonels were employed for bombardment. Psychological warfare included impaling the heads of captives or taunting besiegers about their wives' fidelity during long absences. Defenders were usually subdued by famine or disease. When a city surrendered, its inhabitants were generally allowed to depart or remain; if taken by storm, they were often massacred. Gunpowder was first used by the Granadans in Iberian warfare, but the Castilians quickly adopted it for mines and small cannons, known as lombards. Cannons were employed extensively, together with large siege towers, during the siege of Antequera.
Battles generally resulted from sieges or raids, as pitched battles were avoided to limit casualties and territorial loss. The scale of combat is poorly documented. O'Callaghan estimates that major actions involved up to 10,000troops on each side, though 3,000–5,000was typical.
Booty from raids enhanced a soldier's standing, and border towns profited from the spoils of war. Municipal statutes held that plunder seized by the militia belonged to the urban community. It was auctioned publicly, with proceeds distributed as follows: one-fifth to the king; compensation to those who lost kin, horses, or equipment; payments to commanders and rewards to the distinguished; the remainder to the rank and file. Prisoners of war were usually ransomed by relatives or monastic orders founded for that purpose, such as the Trinitarians and Mercedarians. Ransoms were negotiated by, specialists fluent in Arabic.
Military orders
The military orders were religious communities uniting monastic discipline with a martial life, reflecting the diversity of Western Christian spirituality at the turn of 11th–12th centuries. As the historian Peter Lock notes, they combined "knighthood and monasticism in an innovative and appealing way" consistent with crusading ideals. Members took the usual monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, living communally within convents. They attended the divine offices and recited prescribed. Meditative reading was not required of the lay brethren—knights and —who formed the majority, and little is known of their peacetime training.Templars and Hospitallers
The Knights Templar, the first religious order dedicated to arms, arose from crusaders who, after the First Crusade, settled in Jerusalem to serve the Holy Sepulchre. Led by Hugues de Payens, they declared the protection of pilgrims their principal aim and gained papal recognition at the Council of Troyes in 1129. Though the union of knightly and clerical callings drew criticism, Bernard of Clairvaux became their chief advocate. The militarisation of a second order, the Knights Hospitaller—originally a charitable brotherhood—is attested from the 1130s.Both orders gained extensive estates in Aragon after an accord with Ramon BerenguerIV of Barcelona over the will of AlfonsoI. They held lands across Christian Iberia, with headquarters at Monzón and Amposta. As both sent much of their Iberian revenue to the Holy Land, AfonsoI of Portugal required that their income be spent locally.
After the fall of the last Crusader strongholds in the Holy Land in 1291, the Templars faced mounting criticism. Acting on Philip IV of France's orders, all French Templars were arrested in 1307 for heresy, idolatry, and sodomy. Under royal pressure, Pope Clement V dissolved the order at the Council of Vienne in 1312. Across most of Europe, the Hospitallers took over Templar estates, but in Iberia two new orders were formed: in Aragon, the Order of Montesa received both Templar and Hospitaller lands in Valencia; in Portugal, the Order of Christ received the Templar holdings.
Iberian orders
The example of the Templars and Hospitallers inspired the formation of indigenous Iberian military orders whose resources were concentrated on warfare within the peninsula. The first such confraternity, or, was founded in 1122 by AlfonsoI of Aragon: the Confraternity of Belchite, whose members fought in exchange for absolution from sin. Around 1124, Alfonso established another confraternity at Monreal for overseas campaigns, while in 1138 Iberian prelates, led by Bishop Guifré of Barbastro and Roda, founded a third to defend his see. None endured long; Belchite is last recorded in 1136.The Order of Calatrava, first of the native Iberian military orders, arose after the Templars abandoned the border fortress of Calatrava la Vieja. In 1158, SanchoII of Castile granted it to Raymond, Cistercian abbot of Fitero, who gathered monks and laymen with remission of sins to defend it. Recognised by the papacy in 1164, the order gained wide estates across Iberia. In 1187 its monastic rule was codified, and it was placed, in theory, under the Cistercian abbey of Cîteaux.
The first Leonese order, that of San Julián del Pereiro, was first recorded upon its papal recognition in 1176. After its headquarters moved to Alcántara in 1218, it became the Order of Alcántara. The Portuguese Order of Évora, likewise attested in 1176, took the name of its new seat at Avis in the early 1220s. The Order of Santiago, the most prominent Iberian military order, was founded at Cáceres in 1170. Within a decade it came under the authority of the cathedral chapter of Santiago de Compostela and gained wide endowments across the Iberian realms and beyond. Its rule, derived from that of St Augustine, was confirmed by the papacy in 1175. Uniquely, Santiago accepted married men as full members.
Several short-lived orders were founded but soon incorporated into larger ones, such as the Order of Mountjoy, whose Aragonese branch passed to the Templars in 1196 and its surviving branch, the Order of Monfragüe, to the Calatravans in 1221. Aware of the harm caused by rivalries between the Templars and Hospitallers in the Holy Land, leaders of the Iberian orders at times made pacts to secure cooperation, the first between the masters of Calatrava and Santiago in 1221. Despite royal pressure, the orders generally remained neutral in wars among the Christian realms.
After the extensive conquests of the 13thcentury, the military orders turned chiefly to the defence of the frontiers—against both Moors and Christians—and to the colonisation of their lands. Under the patronage of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, the Order of Christ directed naval expeditions along the Atlantic coast of Africa, thereby inaugurating the Age of Discovery. During the Granada War, the orders' military role briefly revived. By this time, the Iberian monarchs had assumed control of all the orders, at times appointing illegitimate or underage sons as their heads. Following the completion of the, secularisation advanced steadily: within a century, all the orders had been incorporated into the royal crowns, and their members were released from monastic obligations such as celibacy.
Finances
Crusading warfare, as O'Callaghan notes, "placed a heavy strain on the resources" of the Iberian Christian states "and required extraordinary financial support". Yet the royal archives of Castile, León, and Portugal have not survived, while in Catalonia only financial records from the late 12th and early 13thcenturies remain. The considerable diversity of coinage in circulation further complicates the study of the available evidence.From the 12thcentury onwards, unlike in much of Catholic Europe, the Iberian Christian monarchs compensated their vassals with stipends rather than land grants. These payments were chiefly drawn from ordinary royal revenues—such as tolls on pasturage, trade and market dues, fines, fees, and tributes from Jewish and Mudejar communities. Levies on clerical income emerged as a significant extraordinary source of finance for crusading expeditions, first introduced in 1199 as a one-off 2.5per cent tax by Pope InnocentIII. The Fourth Lateran Council later authorised a 5per cent levy over three years to fund crusades in the Levant; yet the Iberian clergy's reluctance to comply provoked stern rebukes from Pope HonoriusIII. Under pressure from Iberian monarchs and prelates, he ultimately conceded a share of this tax to support campaigns within the peninsula.
Kings occasionally appropriated church revenues—most commonly the —and at times seized the property of deceased prelates. The use of the for crusading purposes was first authorised by Pope HonoriusIII for Archbishop Rodrigo of Toledo in 1219, and they later helped to finance FerdinandIII of Castile's campaign against Seville. Extraordinary taxes included the in Castile and León, the in the Crown of Aragon, and the . The re-emerged as a significant source of royal income after the collapse of the Almoravid and Almohad empires. Iberian monarchs frequently contracted loans to finance military expeditions, often from ecclesiastical institutions, the Templars, merchants, and Italian bankers. Under FerdinandIII, towns and cities were regularly compelled to advance such loans.
From the 1430s, crusade indulgences were offered at a fixed rate. Under Pope MartinV the standard price was eightducats, reduced by EugeniusIV to fiveflorins and by NicholasV to three. The establishment of a fixed charge increased the financial returns and augmented royal revenue in Castile. In 1460, Pope PiusII authorised the granting of indulgences to those engaged in the wars against Granada, stipulating that half of the proceeds be allocated to anti-Ottoman crusading efforts.