However, after the mission of the reconquest, chivalric activities and traditions began to dwindle over time.įollowing the conquest, King Ferdinand decreed for immediate conversion of Muslims and other out religions, and the expulsion of obstinate followers who wouldn’t agree to convert to Christianity. However, with the accedence of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel around the 1490s, the Christian kingdoms became powerful enough to drive out the last remnants of Muslims from Spain, with the help of Christian knights, or Caballeros, as it was called in Spanish.

Prior to this, The Muslims or Moors from North Africa had invaded and conquered Spanish lands from the year 711, ruling over them for tenths of decades. The height of chivalric culture in Spain is dated back to the 15th century when two Christian Kingdoms were united by the marriage between King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, a unity which would result in the expulsion of Muslim dwellers, and ensure the unification of the regions of Spain. ‘ Don Quixote‘, as a story by Cervantes, comes against the backdrop of recapturing the culture and traditions of chivalry to which Spain was popular for many hundred years ago. The reconquest was a period in Spanish history when the Christian kingdoms united and began conquering over the Muslim dwellers who had ruled Spain for more than seven hundred years.

Miguel de cervantes books