Spain in the Middle Ages: From frontier to empire, 1000-1500 (New studies in medieval history)

'From Frontier to Empire': the sub-title of this book summarizes the developments which made medieval Spain unique. In 711 the Muslims overran most of the Iberian peninsula, and was only in 1492, after centuries of frontier warfare, that the Christians completed their reconquest by taking Muslim Granada. As Angel Ganivet pointed out at the end of the last century, no sooner had fragmented Spain achieved some measure of unity after the struggles against Islam, than she emerged to dominate the European stage and administer a vast Empire. Spain moved 'from Frontier to Empire;--from, so to speak, 'minus' to 'plus'.