General History of Spain – Ancient and Medieval

General History of Spain – Ancient and Medieval
Intermediate or Advanced level
Universitat de Barcelona
20 contact hours
OBJECTIVES
To familiarize students with basic aspects of Spain’s history from Prehistoric times
up until the Roman period, looking at the key eras between the Paleolithic and
Romanization. Students study the historical periods known as Prehistory. Visits will
be organized to the historic areas of Barcelona to introduce students to the Roman
and Visigothic cities.
In the second term students will be introduced to the Spain of the Moors and the
Christians, analysing the most important historical events between the introduction
of Islam (early 8th century) and the Late Middle Ages (14th and 15th centuries).
For more than seven hundred years Spain was the scenario for the coexistence of
two cultures, two societies and two economies, the Christian and Muslim, which
were often in conflict. For this reason, the Middle Ages in the IberianPeninsula is
totally different from the rest of Europe. Visits to historical Barcelona will introduce
students to the Medieval city.
SYLLABUS for the FALL semester (see below for Spring syllabus):
• Prehistory: Paleolithic and Neolithic.
• Entering History: colonization and the metal route, Phoenicians and Greeks,
Tartessos, the Carthaginian empire, consequences of the colonizations.
• The pre-Roman peoples: social organization, economic structure.
• The Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula.
• The fall of the Roman Empire: Sueves, Vandals and Alans in Hispania.
• The Visigothic Kingdom of Tolosa (418-507).
• Visigothic Spain. The Kingdom of Toledo: political institutions, law, society,
economy and culture.
• Crisis of the Visigothic kingdom: the spread of Islam.
READING LIST
Geografía e Historia de España y de los Países Hispánicos, IBÉRICA, (1989),
Barcelona, Vicens Vives.
BLÁZQUEZ, J.M., (1974), La romanización, Madrid, Istmo.
MARTÍN, J. L., (1978), La Península en la Edad Media, Barcelona, Teide.
ORLANDIS, J., (1977), Historia de España. La España Visigótica, Madrid, Gredos.
SANTOS, J., (1997), Los pueblos de la España Antigua 2 vols., Madrid, Historia 16.
TARRADELL, M. - MANGAS, J., (1980), Historia de España. Primeras culturas e
Hispania romana, Barcelona, Labor.
THOMPSON, E.A., (1971), Los godos en España, Madrid, Alianza.
TOVAR, A. - BLÁZQUEZ, J.M., (1980), Historia de la Hispania Romana. La Península
Ibérica desde el 218 a.C. hasta el siglo V, Madrid, Alianza.
SYLLABUS for the SPRING semester (see above for Fall syllabus):
• Moorish Spain (al-Andalus): the dependent and independent emirates (711929), the Caliphate of Cordoba (929-1031).
• Society, economy and urban life.
• Christian Spain: the first centres of resistance: the kingdom of Asturias and
León, Castile, the Catalan Counties, Aragon, the kingdom of Pamplona.
• The great expansion (11th-13th centuries): the Empire of Castile-León,
Aragon and the will of Alfonso I el Batallador, the confederation of Catalonia
and Aragon, the Kingdom of Navarre. The Taifa kingdoms (1031-1086), the
Berber dinasties (1086-1212).
• The crisis of the Late Middle Ages (14th-15th centuries).
• The equilibrium of the peninsula: Castile and the Crown of Aragon. The
Nazarí kingdom of Granada (1212-1492).
• Unity under a dynasty : the Catholic Monarchs.
READING LIST
Geografía e Historia de España y de los Países Hispánicos, IBÉRICA, (1989),
Barcelona, Vicens Vives.
ARIÉ, R., (1982), Historia de España III. La España musulmana (s. VIII-XV),
Barcelona, Labor.
CHEJNE, A.G., (1980), Historia de España musulmana, Madrid, Cátedra.
DUFOURCQ, Ch.E. - GAUTIER-DALCHÉ, J., (1983) Historia económica y social de la
España cristiana en la Edad Media, Barcelona, El Albir.IRADIEL, P. - MORETA, S. SARASA, E., (1989), Historia Medieval de la España cristiana, Madrid, Cátedra.RIU,
M., (1989), Manual de Historia