The Moor's Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End by Elizabeth Drayson - review by Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Handing over the Keys to Paradise

The Moor's Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End

By

Profile Books 191pp £17.99
 

When the kingdom of Granada fell to Ferdinand and Isabella in January 1492, a humanist in their pay hailed ‘the extinction of Spain’s calamities’. The victory, according to a chronicler in the Basque Country, ‘redeemed Spain, indeed all Europe’. The pope agreed, ordering bonfires and bells. The conquest and its aftermath changed the profile of Europe, where, outside the range of Ottoman conquests, no Muslim-ruled state ever re-emerged. Until the creation of an independent Albania in 1928, there was no state with a Muslim majority. It became possible – though the argument is perhaps not convincing – to claim that the culture of Europe, if such a thing exists, is Christian. Until recently, the habit of identifying Europe with Christendom went almost unchallenged. 

Before Granada’s fall, its leader, Boabdil, as Christians called him, had not behaved with exemplary valour, relying on conspiracy, compromise and a series of tactical alliances to perpetuate an apparent anachronism. Christian conquerors had long ago swept up every other Muslim kingdom in Iberia. Ferdinand and Isabella could

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

RLF - March

A Mirror - Westend

Follow Literary Review on Twitter