Osprey Men-at-Arms 348 : The Moors : The Islamic West 7th-15th Centuries AD

The high point of medieval Islamic expansion was the 700-year presence of the 'Moors' in Spain and Portugal. The Arab and Berber conquest was followed by the establishment of a richly distinct culture in Andalusia, where for a while Muslim and Christian cooperated as often as they fought. The rise and fall of successive Islamic dynasties brought new invaders, fragmentation and disunity; and the growing Christian kingdoms to the north eventually doomed the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish bastion, which fell to the Castilians in 1492. The colourful armies of Western Islam are described and illustrated here in detail. This book focuses on the armies of two major regions of the medieval Islamic world, namely al-Andalus and the western provinces of North Africa. This region was one of the powerhouses of the medieval Islamic world culturally, economically and militarily. The armies of al-Andalus, though originally of Berber and Arab origin, almost immediately included a large indigenous Iberian (ex-Visigothic) element. Thereafter Andalusian military development had at least as much in common with its Christian neighbours as it did with the Islamic Middle East. In their heyday one of the great threats to Christian Europe, the Moors played a pivotal role in the development of medieval Spain. The last of the Islamic kingdoms did not fall until 1492 - the same year Columbus set foot in the Americas. Text by Dr David Nicolle with illustrations by Angus McBride.

Contents

• The Arab Conquest
• The Armies of European Islam
• Umayyad Navies in the Mediterranean and Atlantic
• The Reconquista Begins
• The Almoravids
• Berber Armies and the Saving of Andalusia
• The Moorish Collapse
• Granada - The Last Bastion