Victory's Shadow: Conquest and Governance in Medieval Catalonia by Thomas W. Barton (review)

In the mid-twelfth century, the county of Barcelona and Crown of Aragon, united under Roman Berenguar IV, conquered the upper limits of al-Andalus, including two major cities—Tortosa and Lleida. By the thirteenth century, Valencia had also come under the control of the Crown of Aragon. The interceding years between these major Christian triumphs along the frontier of New Catalonia did not follow a linear path to victory; instead, they were defined by "cycles of conquest, delegation, and repossession" (289). As Thomas Barton masterfully argues in Victory's Shadow, the policies that led to thirteenth-century conquest were predicated on the inconsistently successful efforts by the preceding eleventh- and twelfth-century count-kings to solidify comital-royal authority and consolidate territory. Thomas Barton's new monograph moves away from a Castile-centric view of the Christian conquests, traditionally known as the Reconquista, to shed new light on a familiar medieval Iberian topic.

Barton's study concerns the area of New Catalonia along the frontier with al-Andalus between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. More specifically, he compares two case studies in the Ebro River valley, Tortosa and Lleida. What Barton's nuanced study finds is that conquest and colonization were highly individuated along the Catalonian frontier, systems of consolidation were diversified, and administrative implications of territorial expansion diverged greatly from one area to the next over the decades. While not altogether rejecting Robert Bartlett's theory, Barton opposes his belief in a "general rising trend of homogeneity throughout Europe and its peripheries" (7). Instead, Barton argues that there was a trend of "heterogeneity" as a result of territorial expansion. By widening the chronological boundaries of his study to a 150-year period, unlike traditional frontier studies of the Reconquista that only consider the moment of conquest, Barton is able to trace the transformation in the Ebro River valley from a relatively collaborative preconquest frontier to a postconquest society controlled by a Christian monarchy.

One of the great achievements and academic contributions of this monograph is its extensive archival research, on which his study is based. He makes use of previously unexploited local archives in Tortosa and Lleida (listed in his selected bibliography), which include a broad range of royal, ecclesiastical, municipal, and noble documents.

This monograph is the second book in what Barton calls a trilogy, preceded by the award-winning Contested Treasure: Jews and Authority in the Crown of Aragon (2015) and preceding his in-progress From the Hands of the Infidels: The Christianization of Islamic Landscapes in Europe. This volume is split into eight chapters in three parts: "Interaction and Conquest," "The Implications of Victory," and "New Catalonia after Valencia." The chapters follow a generally chronological organization, centering around the counts and kings of Barcelona and the Crown of Aragon. In his introduction, Barton acknowledges the limitations of a study that is European- and Christian-centric, and provides clarity for his use of the often ill-defined term "frontier."

Part 1 investigates the conflictive and collaborative nature of Muslim-Christian relations along the frontier before the mid-twelfth-century Christian conquests in the Ebro River valley. The system of parias kept Christian polities in violent competition with each other over Muslim tribute. Demanding tribute from the taifa kings was often less dangerous and more profitable than territorial expansion. Territorial expansion into Muslim lands meant the lost revenue of tribute, and a difficult to control population. While economic factors, including the parias system, contributed to the desire for or the disinterest in conquest, they also had the ability to create or limit social and cultural collaboration as well. For example, the treaty made between Sancho IV (Pamplona, r. 1054–1076) and al-Muqtadir (Zaragoza) in 1069 agreed they would both safeguard the roads between their two kingdoms.

However, the religious leaders on both sides of the frontier disapproved of any friendly associations between the kingdoms. In fact, one of Barton's themes throughout the monograph is...