The conquest of Iberia in 711, by an Arab and Berber force under the banner of Islam, was a source of endless fascination for medieval chroniclers, whether they were writing fi fty years after the event, or fi ve hundred. 1 Christian or Muslim, in Latin or Arabic, within Iberia or beyond it, authors and editors set out their stalls – ideological, theological, political, juridical – in the way they wrote about the conquest, painting it variously as a dreadful calamity, an act of God, high adventure, or the careful foundation of later administration. For most, it was the start of a new era – destiny, or its subversion – and for all concerned, its signifi cance lay in its presentation and interpretation: in what might be done with it.