ABSTRACT

During the twelfth century there is little change to be recorded there; the first victorious period of the Reconquest was concluded, and it was not until the beginning of the thirteenth century that the forward movement was to be resumed. The conflict of Christianity and Islam in the West was not entirely confined to Spain, for they came into contact at one other point, where again the contiguity of North Africa with Europe brought them closely together. The history of the Spanish peninsula in the twelfth century is largely conditioned by the position of affairs in North Africa. The Castilian nobles, wanting a man at the head of the State to conduct the war against the Moslems, found him in the warrior-king of Aragon, Alfonso I, and forced Urraca to marry him. The death of Urraca in 1126 somewhat relieved the situation, as there was no opposition to the succession of her son Alfonso VII.