The predominance of the law of the Hispano-Roman majority over that of the Visigoths was another manifestation of the ascendancy of Roman civilization. The form and content of the Liber Judiciorum, a code of law promulgated about 654 by the Visigothic king Recceswinth (649–672), was fundamentally Roman. Although Germanic elements (such as the test of innocence by the ordeal of cold water) were included, the code consistently accepted the principles of Roman law, and, unlike Germanic customary law, it was meant to have territorial rather than personal application. The Liber Judiciorum was a principal part of the Visigothic legacy received by medieval Spain.
The extraordinary cultural achievements of the 7th century also testify to the continuing impact of the Roman heritage. The most prolific author was St. Isidore, bishop of Sevilla (Hispalis) from about 600 to 636, a friend and counselor of kings. In addition to his history of the Visigoths and theological treatises, his chief contribution to medieval civilization was the Etymologiae (Etymologies), an encyclopaedic work that attempted to summarize the wisdom of the ancient world.
Toward the end of the 7th century, a critical time in Visigothic history began. The deposition, through deception, of King Wamba (672–680), a capable ruler who tried to reform the military organization, was a portent of future problems. As agitation continued, Wamba’s successors made scapegoats of the Jews, compelling them to accept the Christian religion and threatening them with slavery. After the death of Witiza (700–710), the persistent turbulence of the nobility thwarted the succession of his son and allowed Roderick, duke of Baetica (710–711), to claim the throne. Determined to oust Roderick, Witiza’s family apparently summoned the Muslims in North Africa to their aid. Subsequently, Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād, the Muslim governor of Tangier, landed at Calpe (Gibraltar) in 711 and routed King Roderick and the Visigoths near the Guadalete River on July 19. The triumphant Muslims rapidly overran Spain, meeting only feeble resistance from the leaderless Visigoths. Although the kingdom of the Visigoths vanished, its memory inspired the kings of Asturias-León-Castile to begin the reconquest of Spain. Christian Spain from the Muslim invasion to about 1260
Despite ongoing warfare among its various Christian kingdoms, a recurring theme in Christian Spain from the Islamic invasion of the 8th century to the coming of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, in the late 15th century was the unification of the Iberian Peninsula under Christian rule. The Islamic conquest disrupted whatever measure of unity the Visigoths had achieved and raised new religious, cultural, legal, linguistic, and ethnic barriers to assimilation with the native population. A number of tiny Christian states eventually rose from obscurity in the northern mountains and, prompted by self-preservation and religio-cultural hostility toward Islam, initiated the Reconquista (Reconquest). Christian success was in direct proportion to the strength of Islamic Spain at any given time. When Islamic power waned, the Christians usually advanced their frontiers. The kings of Asturias-León-Castile, declaring themselves the heirs of the Visigoths, claimed hegemony over the entire peninsula. However, the rulers of Portugal, Navarre (Navarra), and Aragon-Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña; Catalan: Catalunya), whose frontiers began to be delineated in the 11th and 12th centuries, repudiated and often undermined the aspirations of their larger neighbour. The Reconquista was nearly completed by the middle of the 13th century, by which time the Muslims retained only the small kingdom of Granada (Arabic: Gharnāṭah) in vassalage to Castile until 1492.
The Trastámara dynasty, which came to power in Castile in the late 14th century, gave a new impetus to the search for peninsular unity by using marriage, diplomacy, and war to acquire dominion over the neighbouring Christian kingdoms. At the same time, the Trastámaras struggled to extend royal power against the resistance of the nobles. Ferdinand and Isabella linked Aragon and Castile by marriage and also brought the Reconquista to a conclusion by conquering Granada. However, as they were unable to incorporate Portugal into a family union by marriage, the unification of the peninsula was incomplete. The political union of Castile and Aragon could not by itself, of course, overcome the two realms’ centuries-old diversity of languages, laws, and traditions. The Christian states, 711–1035
Soon after the Islamic invasion, fleeing Visigothic nobles and the mountaineers of Asturias united under the leadership of Pelayo (718–737), a Gothic lord, in opposition to the Muslim forces. Later generations acclaimed Pelayo’s victory over the Muslims at Covadonga, about 718, as the beginning of the Reconquista and the “salvation of Spain.” Alfonso I (739–757) expanded the Asturian kingdom by occupying Galicia after the withdrawal of rebellious Imazighen garrisoned there. He also created an uninhabited no-man’s-land between Christian and Islamic Spain by devastating the Duero River valley to the south. The Basques apparently recovered their independence in the western Pyrenees, while the Franks drove the Muslims from Septimania (southwestern France) and moved into northeastern Spain. Although Charlemagne failed to take Zaragoza (Saraqusṭah) in 778, his troops captured Barcelona in 801 and occupied Catalonia. This region, later known as the Spanish March, consisted of several counties under Frankish rule and long maintained strong political and cultural connections first to the Carolingian empire and then to the kingdom of France. Thus, for several centuries Catalans looked to the north.
By contrast, the Asturians turned to the south. After advancing his chief seat to Oviedo, Alfonso II (791–842) attempted to recreate Visigothic institutions. In the late 9th century Alfonso III (866–910) took advantage of internal dissension in Islamic Spain to plunder enemy territory and to seize notable strongholds such as Porto. He also initiated the repopulation of the lands reaching southward to the Duero that had been deserted for about a century. His construction of numerous castles to defend his eastern frontier against Muslim assaults gave that area its distinctive character and thus its name, Castile. During this time the earliest known Christian chronicles of the Reconquista were written, and they deliberately tried to demonstrate the historical connection between the Visigothic and Asturian monarchies. Portraying themselves as the legitimate heirs of Visigothic authority and tradition, the Asturians self-consciously declared their responsibility for the Reconquista of Islamic Spain.
However, Asturian leadership did not go unchallenged: King Sancho I Garcés (905–926) began to forge a strong Basque kingdom with its centre at Pamplona in Navarre, and Count Wilfred of Barcelona (873–898)—whose descendants were to govern Catalonia until the 15th century—asserted his independence from the Franks by extending his rule over several small Catalan counties.
The apparent weakness of Islamic Spain and the growth of the Asturian kingdom encouraged García I (910–914) to transfer the seat of his power from Oviedo southward to the city of León. Nevertheless, any expectation that Islamic rule was set to end was premature. During the 10th century the caliphs of Cordóba (Qurṭabah) not only restored order and unity in Islamic Spain but also renewed their raids on the Christian north. Although the Christians suffered great destruction, they occasionally won some victories. The triumph of Ramiro II (931–951) over the great caliph ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III at Simancas in 939 was extraordinary, but within his own dominions Ramiro encountered increasing hostility from the Castilians. As a frontier people hardened by exposure to the dangers of daily Islamic raids, they were disinclined to bow to Leonese tradition and law. Fernán González (c. 930–970), the count of Castile, defied Ramiro and established the foundations for the later independence of Castile.