The Reconquista refers to the gradual reclamation of the Iberian Peninsula by the Christians following the Islamic conquest. It began in the 8th century and lasted approximately 700 years. The term is also occasionally used to describe the increasing Mexican population in the southwestern United States.
Beginning in 711, Muslims from North Africa began invading the Iberian Peninsula. By 719, they had conquered almost all of it, but the Christian kingdoms regrouped and fought back. Their progress was slow initially, but the Crusades gave them additional support and they were able to slowly drive the Moors out of the Iberian Peninsula. The last Muslim kingdom to fall was Granada in 1492.Learn More
The primary residents of European castles during the Middle Ages were the lord and lady of the realm. These might be royalty or simply the liege lords of the district where the castle was built.Full Answer >
In 1753, Ben Franklin won the Copley Medal awarded by the Royal Society of London. The same year, he was also awarded honorary doctorate degrees from a number of prestigious universities, including Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. In 1759, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.Full Answer >
Also referred to as Charles the Great, Charlemagne is considered the first Holy Roman Emperor, and some of his accomplishments included the eliminating the Avar Empire and removing Duke Tassilo from Bavaria. Charlemagne also assisted Pope Adrian I, by seizing Pavia to prevent the Lombard king from pressuring him to anoint his sons as Frankish kings.Full Answer >
Charlemagne's lasting legacies were reviving education during the Dark Ages and making Western Europe safe from attacks by barbarians from the north and Asians from the east. He united anarchic Western Europe under the Holy Roman Empire, which he founded.Full Answer >