Early chroniclers treated the Muslim conquest of Spain as minor news

Evidence

The reader of the Chronicle of 741 would have no reason to think that the Muslim conquest of Spain was of special importance. In a section devoted to the reign of the caliph Walîd I (705–15), the chronicler recounts the Muslim conquests in Asia Minor (Romania), India, and the Mediterranean islands. The conquest of Spain receives one sentence: “In the western regions the Kingdom of the Goths, for so long and so solidly established in Spain, was invaded by a general named Mûsâ, with his army, was conquered and made to pay tribute.” — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 471

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: the ‘711 conquest of Spain’ — a hinge of Spanish national myth — barely registered in its own century’s historiography; it gained weight only when later writers needed a founding trauma.