A life-long dedication to the study of Medieval Spain enables the author to address one of the most discussed issues in this field. Spanish historiography has had to deal for years with the topic of the specificity of the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, because of its Muslim inhabitants. Whether it be as a state or as subjects of Christian kings (known as Mudejars), these people felt they were as ‘Spaniards’ as the Christians. Christian propaganda of the ‘Reconquista’ as a war to eject the Muslims from territories rightfully owned by Christians (dealt with in ‘The Reconquest: Evolution of an Idea’, chapter 1) has been idealised in Spain, both as part of the origins of the nation, and because of the traditional alignment in the Roman Catholic faith. Despite some challenging in the last thirty years, the word Reconquest is still used for the sake of general understanding, and public in general continue to use the term in common conversation. It is not strange that Hispanists such as O’Callaghan himself, J. Hillgarth, P. Linehan, the late D. Lomax and A. MacKay have largely discussed the convenience of using this concept for the history of medieval Spain.

Another side to the question is whether the war conveyed by the Christian kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula -both for territorial and religious reasons-, can be classified in the more general field of confrontation between Christians and Muslims in the wider Mediterranean basin, that is, as a part of the crusades. Again, recent historiography has been proposing this new approach to the Reconquest (1). However, it is this book by O’Callaghan the one that shows the most accurate and detailed study of this question in a long period of time and throughout the whole Peninsula.

First, Joseph O’Callaghan discusses the problem of vocabulary applied to religious conflicts seen under modern eyes, in a chapter entitled ‘Reconquest, Holy War and Crusade’. He continues with a good description of the Christian and Islamic sources he has used for this book. This chapter needs further commentary. Far from limiting his survey to Spanish and Portuguese medieval sources, both in vernacular and Latin, O’Callaghan has undertaken extensive research in Arabic material (in translation), French, German and Pontifical records and chronicles in Latin. This wealth of sources gives a balanced view of the dilemma ‘reconquest versus crusade’ and helps to place the Iberian conflict in a worldwide perspective (according to medieval standards).

Chapters two to five focus on a chronological overview of crusading in the Iberian Peninsula, from the late eleventh to the middle of the thirteenth century. Although the reason for such chronological cut is not given in the text, we can assume that the author is analysing the origins of the crusading phenomenon on both sides of the Mediterranean, and tracing its history up to the Fifth crusade, that is, the period of splendour of the crusades. The argument is clear: the precedent of crusade as a religious war can be found in the Spanish Reconquest (Barbastro, 1063). The concept was then elaborated by the Papacy for the first and second crusades, when the attack on Islam was envisaged as a double offensive on both sides of the Mediterranean. When the crusades to the Holy Land started to decay, Spanish crusades were on their apogee, concentrating the efforts of native and foreign fighters, and the bulls of several Popes. During all this period, the indulgences granted to the ‘fighting pilgrims’ were the same as the ones granted for those going to the Holy Land. Pilgrimage to Santiago was very closely linked to crusade in Spain, and to the ideology of pilgrimage/crusade to the Holy Land. Popes always tried to keep Spanish knights compromising in their own territory, while offering the Church and faithful the possibility to finance both the Eastern and the Western endeavours.

In this part of the work, the author uses Papal bulls extensively to demonstrate that the ones issued for the Holy Land were very similar in their clauses to those issued for war against Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula. He relies heavily on the pioneering work by José Goñi Gaztambide, Historia de la bula de cruzada en España, (Vitoria: Editorial del Seminario, 1958), which is completed with references to other primary sources. It would have been interesting to have the actual text of some of the bulls quoted so as to compare the style of the ones dealing with Spanish matters to those concerning the Holy Land. The stress is always placed in the fact that the Pope transformed the Reconquest in a crusade. Nevertheless, there is also another question: whether the earlier Spanish propaganda affected the Roman curia and moved th Pope to call for the First Crusade. This has been proved through the close contacts between popes and the high clergy coming from the Iberian Peninsula to Rome for different reasons, as Theresa Vann has shown in her work "Reconquest and the Origin of the Crusades", in The Crusades: Other Experiences, Alternate Perspectives, Khalil Semaan, ed, (Binghamton: in press).

An obscure point is why would those French knights, who had already fought in Jerusalem, join the crusade in Spain afterwards (Baleares, Zaragoza), if the remission of their sins was already achieved (pp. 35-38). Maybe more stress should be made on economic matters at this point.

The last three chapters examine more earthly matters, such as the current state of warfare technology and armies, the financing of the crusade and the ritual accompanying the whole campaign, as sanctioned by Mozarabic and Roman liturgy. Those three aspects were vital for the success of Christian campaigns, and should not be ignored. I would like to underline the chapter on finance, enlarged and changed, but inspired in a previous paper presented by the author in the conference which commemorated the conquest of Seville by Fernando III: "La financiación de la conquista de Sevilla", in Sevilla, 1248, M. González Jiménez, coord., (Madrid: Fundación Ramón Areces/Ayuntamiento de Sevilla, 2000), pp. 191-206. It is the clearest explanation of the variety of incomes used by the king to subsidise his wars one can read on this particular subject. However, I missed the detailed study of the changing meaning of ‘tercias’, which he included in the article but not in the book, and which is often difficult to find.

The eighth chapter, ‘The Liturgy of Reconquest and Crusade’, gives a groundbreaking approach to crusading campaigns in Spain, as it studies the development of a religious war step by step. This is a very convenient explanation for students and public who are not experts in the field of crusades. Another interesting issue mentioned by the author is preaching. The study of this subject for the Spanish front is still to be made. Unfortunately, O’Callaghan has not undertaken this task more in depth –undoubtedly due to space constraints-, especially given that recent works on the subject have ignored or misunderstood the role of preachers and their mission in the Iberian Peninsula (2). There are also some interesting works on the ‘Cleansing of Mosques and Consecration of Churches’ which have been omitted in the –otherwise- very complete and updated bibliography of this book (3).

Only a few objections to minor errors: the word "parias" has no Arabic origins, but comes from the Latin pars, partis, that is, the kinglets paid "their parts" to the Christian monarchs. Two mistakes can be found in pages 17 and 289 (Aníbal Barbero for Abilio Barbero), 191 and 196 (San Isidro instead of San Isidoro or Saint Isidore) which do not hinder comprehension of the text, but may confuse the reader when looking for references.

The genealogical tables should be very useful to the reader. However, the maps included in the book may help the non-Spanish reader with the evolution of frontiers in the Iberian Peninsula, but do not clarify the arguments given in the text. Nowadays we can count on very good cartographic material for the Reconquest, offered in a small but valuable volume entitled Atlas de la ‘Reconquista’, J. Mestre Campi and F. Sabaté, eds, (Barcelona: Peninsula, 1998), which depicts the issues involved much more clearly.

In the light of recent events, the study of the long-lasting armed confrontation between Christianity and Islam can provide new clues for the understanding of the mechanisms of world power. Joseph O’Callaghan has provided an interesting approach to the phenomenon of religious wars, focused on such recent concerns as propaganda and economic foundations. It is our hope, as historians of Medieval Spain, that he will also succeed in calling the attention of other scholars on the importance of a broader view in crusading studies, which should take into account the Spanish scenery.

(1) For an updated bibliography, see José Manuel Rodríguez García, "Historiografía de las cruzadas", Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Sección III- Historia Medieval, 13, 2000, pp. 341-395.

(2) The two works by Christoph T. Maier, Preaching the Crusades. Mendicant Friars and the Cross in the Thirteenth Century, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) and Crusade Propaganda and Ideology: Model Sermons for the Preaching of the Cross, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), fail to include the Iberian Peninsula in the European context. A work which should be acknowledged, still in press at the time when Joseph O’Callaghan was working on this book, is Patrick Henriet, "L’idéologie de la guerre sainte dans le Haut Moyen Âge hispanique", Francia. Forschungen zur Westeuropäischen Geschichte, 29/1 (2002), pp. 171-220.

(3) I am thinking of a thought-provoking article written by Pascal Buresi, "Les conversions d’églises et de mosquées en Espagne au XIe-XIIIe siècles", in Villes et religion: Mélanges offerts à Jean-Louis Biget par ses élèves, (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2000, pp. 333-350)

Reseña original para el

Institute of Historical Research. Londres, 2003.