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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

XIX. EUROPEAN NATIONS DURING THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

Growth of the Nations   * England under William the Conqueror, 1066-1087 A.D., the Norman Kingship   * England under Henry II, 1154-1189 A.D., Royal Justice and the Common Law   * The Great Charter, 1215 A.D.   * Parliament during the Thirteenth Century   * Expansion of England under Edward I, 1272-1307 A.D.   * Unification of France, 987-1328 A.D.   * The Hundred Years' War between England and France, 1337-1453 A.D.   * The Unification of Spain (to 1492 A.D.)   * Austria and the Swiss Confederation, 1273-1499 A.D.   * Expansion of Germany

Page 27

CHRISTIAN STATES OF SPAIN

The Moors never wholly conquered a fringe of mountain territory in the extreme north of Spain. Here a number of small Christian states, including León, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, came into being. In the west there also arose the Christian state of Portugal. Geographically, Portugal belongs to Spain, from which it is separated only by artificial frontiers, but the country has usually managed to maintain its independence.

RECOVERY OF SPAIN FROM THE MOORS

Acting sometimes singly and sometimes in concert, the Christian states fought steadily to enlarge their boundaries at the expense of their Moslem neighbors. The contest had the nature of a crusade, for it was blessed by the pope and supported by the chivalry of Europe. Periods of victory alternated with periods of defeat, but by the close of the thirteenth century Mohammedan Spain had been reduced to the kingdom of Granada at the southern extremity of the peninsula.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy