The Last Crusade in the West: Castile and the Conquest of Granada by Joseph F. O’Callaghan (review)

The Last Crusade in the West is the final book of O’Callaghan’s trilogy on the Iberian Reconquista. The previous two books, Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain (2004) and The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait (2011), deal with the late eleventh to the mid-thirteenth centuries, when Christian expansion in Iberia began to be associated with a crusading ideology, and the subsequent campaigns to secure the most vulnerable southern ports up to the mid-fourteenth century. In the same manner as these two previous installments, this book offers a close chronological narrative of the Castilian campaigns to conquer Granada between the middle of the fourteenth century and 1492. There are two additional chapters that thematically analyze important elements of the military and religious dimensions of this story. Although the book’s narrative style does not explicitly offer many arguments, O’Callaghan makes some of his views clear, foremost: that the conquest of Granada must be understood as “essentially a war of religions” (226). Religious motivations best explain the unshakeable resolve of the Catholic Monarchs, and the expenditure of exorbitant sums of money, manpower, new technologies and political capital, necessary to complete the conquest of Granada.

The lengthy narrative of about 150 years of history covered in chapters 1 through 7 is effective in answering the most frequent question surrounding the final phase of the Reconquista—why did it take Castile so long to conquer the kingdom of Granada after the impressive successes of the first half of the thirteenth century? There is no simple answer because various factors at different times hindered or halted determined attempts to accomplish this. Simply by reading through O’Callaghan’s narration of the various false starts, dynastic conflicts, determined defenses, revenue shortfalls and lack of expansionary political programs one reaches a deeper understanding of the tremendous difficulties of this enterprise.

The book’s introduction briefly explains the situation of the mid-fourteenth century and the main textual sources for the period covered. The story thus begins with Alfonso XI’s victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Río Salado in 1340 and the halt to the Reconquista following his death besieging Gibraltar in 1350. O’Callaghan bases his narrative mostly on chronicles and official histories, but also incorporates letters, accounting records, and verse and songs, which are often used to highlight certain moments of Zeitgeist usually following victories or defeats, for example, the impact of the loss of Granada on Muslim writers (230–231).

Chapter 8 discusses the funding procedures, new technologies, military organization and strategy that were required for the success of the campaign. Throughout the book O’Callaghan frequently discusses the terms of crusading bulls and their essential role in raising new sources of revenue from ecclesiastical incomes and the sale of indulgences. One example demonstrates the deft use of propaganda: the reports that Queen Isabel sold her own jewelry to pay for the campaign, which was meant to incentivize contributions by the nobility and sales of indulgences. Advances in artillery by the late fifteenth century were key because the conquest of Granada required an ‘island hopping’ strategy of capturing a series of vital fortresses and fortified cities (215). Artillery was especially important in the most difficult sieges of the final campaigns, such as at Málaga and Baza. These artillery needs led to the creation of new foundries, assistance from other kingdoms in Europe and the creation of the first permanent artillery corps in 1489 (216–217).

Despite a variety of motivations behind the conquest of Granada, the most important and what gave the late Reconquista its particularly marked character was the idea of a Christian struggle against Muslims invaders, the subject of chapter 9. The idea of equating the fight against the Moors and the crusades in the Holy Land was already firmly established by the thirteenth century. This is why crusading...