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Reviewed by:
  • Knights on the Frontier: The Moorish Guard of the Kings of Castile (1410–1467)
  • Kim Bergqvist
Ana Echevarría. Knights on the Frontier: The Moorish Guard of the Kings of Castile (1410–1467). The Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World 36. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2009. 358 pp. ISBN: 978-90-04-17110 7

Ana Echevarría presently teaches medieval history at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid. Her research focus has been the relations between Christianity and Islam in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. She has published various books and articles on such topics as the situation of religious minorities under Christian rule; the conversion of such minorities; religious and political polemics; as well as legislature, power, social status and structures. These aspects of life in the medieval realms in the Iberian Peninsula are also present in the work currently under review.

Knights on the Frontier was originally published in Spanish as Caballeros en la Frontera: La guardia morisca de los reyes de Castilla, in 2006. It is an in-depth study of the Moorish personal guard of the kings of Castile during the fifteenth century, mainly in the period that coincides with the reigns of Juan II (1406–1454) and Enrique IV (1454–1474). Members of this military unit were highly regarded and given many privileges, some of them even enjoying a close personal relationship with the king, because of their high social standing in their societies [End Page 354] of origin, their maintained relationship with the elite across the border, and their proven skill in frontier combat. Another important fact was that these knights, because of their different origin, held no other bonds of loyalty within Castile aside from those that tied them to the king; therefore they would most probably not be used by noble factions opposed to the king in times of crisis.

This study deals, among other things, with the much-debated issue of the convivencia, or perceived peaceful co-existence, of different religious groups in medieval Iberia- and adds some new insights into this subject.

The first chapter places the study within a wider historical context, that of the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth century, a period during which the two kings mentioned above and their co-regents ruled Castile. During the same period the kingdom of Granada saw the rise and fall of a number of rulers, some of them backed in the violent and stormy struggle for power by the Castilian kings because of their willingness to swear oaths of vassalage to them. Echevarría gives an overview of the political, social, economic and judicial developments within the realms on both sides of the frontier, thus setting the scene for what is to come during the rest of the book. It is all very well done, and an excellent service provided to the nonspecialist reader.

Chapter 2 treats thoroughly the military and political situation of the Iberian Peninsula during the fifteenth century. Echevarría describes the types of campaigns and raids carried out in the frontier region, the crusading aspect, as well as the economic factors and diplomatic relations. She describes the political games and the inherent symbolism with great detail and clear exposition. The chapter goes on to discuss the conversion of soldiers and the switching of sides during violent conflicts and military campaigns in the frontier region. The burgeoning organization of the Moorish guard (which seems to have been well under way in the 1420s) is detailed, and the development of the position of knight of the guard into a sort of hereditary office, complete with the conversion of all the knights, is described. The author points out the increasing importance of the royal guard in times of political turbulence, when troops entirely loyal to the king were scarce. Echevarría moreover takes the time to compare the guard with similar contemporary institutions from other areas in the medieval European and Arabic world.

Chapter 3 depicts the development of the standing royal armies of late medieval European kings and the establishment of personal royal guards within [End Page 355] this framework. Furthermore, this chapter goes more profoundly into the organization of...

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