Land--is one of the most striking developments of the period and was both a reflection and a catalyst of profound structural changes within both Christian and Muslim society.

In Spain, the movement usually referred to as the Reconquista has often been seen in purely political terms, as a period of military expansion of the Christian kings fuelled by crusading fervour which led, inexorably and inevitably, to the conquest of the Muslim states of the south. In reality, both the process and the end results were much more complex. Muslim rule may have been brought to an end in many parts of Spain and Portugal by 1200, but Islamic influences remained allpervasive in Iberian life and although crusading ideology gained considerable influence amongst the knightly élite of Spanish society, the first impetus towards Reconquista came from other causes.

Iberian historical development has been most successfully interpreted in terms of a 'frontier experience' in which the Christian populations overcame geographical constraints to push forward colonization and settlement. A shortage of manpower encouraged a relaxation of social bonds and conventions, the need for able military leadership precipitated men with no claims to high birth to positions of power. It was a period in which heroes, like the famous El Cid ( Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, 1043-99) could be made almost overnight.

The location of Christian power in the tenth and eleventh centuries clearly demonstrates these geographical determinants. Two 'clusters' of Christian states lay to the north-west and the south-east of the meseta, the great central plateau of Spain. The court of the kingdom of the Asturias was transferred to the city of León by King Ordoño II in 914 and from the new centre at the junction of the roads to Galicia and the Asturias and those to the Duero and Ebro rivers, the kings of León held back the incursions of the Muslim forces of the south. Castile, under Count Fernán González, had split away from León in the midtenth century and constituted an independent kingdom. East of the meseta, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, lay the other centre of Christian power. From the counties of the Carolingian marches emerged more consolidated states with powerful

-190-