Birth of the Reconquista: Battle of Covadonga 722 AD

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🚩 In the early eighth century, the Iberian Peninsula stood transformed by rapid conquest, as Umayyad authority spread across former Visigothic lands. Yet in the remote mountains of Asturias, geography and politics combined to resist complete submission. Local elites, displaced nobles, and frontier communities chafed under new taxation and governance, finding refuge in terrain ill-suited to large armies. Among them emerged Pelagius, a figure rooted in Visigothic tradition, rallying followers bound by faith, identity, and survival. What unfolded was less a grand campaign than a confrontation born of pressure and defiance. In those narrow valleys, the future balance of power in Iberia hung in the balance.

📢 Narrated by David McCallion

🎼 Music:
EpidemicSound
Filmstro

📖 Sources and Citations:
Joseph F. O’Callaghan – A History of Medieval Spain
Joseph F. O’Callaghan – Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain
Roger Collins – Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity
Roger Collins – The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797
Henry Coppee – History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors
Hugh Kennedy – Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of Al-Andalus
David Nicolle – Poitiers, AD 732: Charles Martel Turns the Islamic Tide

#history #documentary #medieval