Reconquest ideology framed Muslim Spain as illegitimate rebellion against Roman rule

Evidence

Alfonso’s Estoria, like the chronicles of Lucas de Tuy and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, expresses this royal ideology of reconquest. The kings of León and Castile inherited the ideologically charged vision of history from their Asturian predecessors. Theirs was the only legitimate rule in the peninsula: heirs to the Goths, protectors and restorers of the church, even (for Alfonso) heir to the Roman emperors, who could deny their legitimacy? Certainly not the dynasties of foreign, African interlopers, benighted followers of an obscene, heretical pseudoprophet. This is the ideology forged by these medieval kings and their clerical chroniclers, an ideology affirmed by military success, which will thrive into later centuries and cross the Atlantic. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 975 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The thirteenth century saw a flourishing of different strategies to grapple with the “problem” of Islam: crusade, theological refutation, mission, martyrdom. Part 3 is devoted to exploring the complex and varied approaches to Islam in the thirteenth-century Latin West; the focus is on the development of the polemical images of Islam analyzed in part 2 and their deployment for specific ideological purposes: justification of conquest and subjugation of Muslims, elaboration of strategies to convert Muslims, and so on. Chapter 7 examines the use of anti-Muslim images in some of the chronicles and legal texts of thirteenth-century Spain. These polemical ideas, in particular the hostile biography of Muhammad, were used to deny any political legitimacy to Muslim rule in Spain and to justify the social and political subjugation of Muslim subjects of Spanish Christian rulers. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 71 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Denigrating Muhammad legitimized Christian political rule over Muslim Spain — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 939; Medieval Spanish rulers used anti-Islam polemic to justify rule over subject Muslims; Asturian royal ideology prophesied the expulsion of Muslims from Spain — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 556 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-Muslim polemic justified the subjugation of Spanish Muslims and denied their rule legitimacy #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 71
• Reconquest ideology delegitimized Muslim rule as African and heretical #corroborates (1.00) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 975
• Denigrating Muhammad legitimized Christian political rule over Muslim Spain #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 939
• Medieval Spanish rulers used anti-Islam polemic to justify rule over subject Muslims #expands (0.95)
• Anti-Muslim polemics legitimated Christian subjugation of Spanish Muslims #expands (0.95) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 71
• Asturian royal ideology prophesied the expulsion of Muslims from Spain #complicates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 556
• Medieval Christian Spain read Muslim rule as God’s punishment awaiting reversal #complicates (0.85) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 560
• Spanish Reconquest writers saw Islam’s defeat as inevitable and foreordained #complicates (0.80) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1550
• Alleged Islamic influence on adoptionism was really Spanish anti-papal independence #complicates (0.80)
• Christian policy toward Muslims shifted once Iberian monarchs no longer feared Islamic reprisals #complicates (0.80) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 128
• Rapid Muslim conquest produced violent Christian anticolonial backlash in Spain #complicates (0.75) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 504
• Granadan diplomacy seeking Muslim allies nearly triggered reprisals on Spanish Muslims #complicates (0.75) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1551
• Early modern Spain alternately demanded Muslim assimilation and then rejected it once achieved #complicates (0.75)
• Spanish Christians under Muslim rule forged anti-Islam polemics for the same reasons #complicates (0.75)
• A failed revolt by Granada Muslims in 1499 triggered the elimination of Spanish Islam #complicates (0.75) — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 16