De Re Militari | Book Reviews
Francisco García Fitz
Guerra y relaciones políticas. Castilla-León y los musulmanes, ss. XI-XIII
[War and diplomatic relations. Castille and Leon and the Muslims, 11-13th centuries]
Universidad de Sevilla, 2002. pp. 253 + 23pp bibliografía.
This book is the first part of the author's PhD thesis (defended in 1996). In fact the second part of that thesis was published in 1998 with the title "Castilla y León frente al Islam. Estrategias de expansión y tácticas militares (siglos XI-XIII)" [Castile and Leon face the Islam. Strategies of expansion and military tactics]. The present book should have been published then, because in this book the author explains the political context and diplomatic activities-war for which the military tactics and strategies referred in his first book were used for. Furthermore, most or the main points of the present book have already been presented in different articles, in Spanish, that the author published between 1997-1999. Therefore if you are one of those who read those articles, you will find nothing new in the present book. Now that first part of his thesis has been reformed to fit it into a book format and the bibliography has been slightly updated with a few books and articles after 1998. The book deals with the "diplomacy of war", using a modern terminology. That means that here you have the treaties, pacts, alliances and diplomatic contacts between the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Leon and the Muslims kingdoms and empires of Al-Andalus. The Christian kings used theses diplomatic contacts to achieve the same aim that they pursued with their military activity: the subjugation of any Muslim power to the Christian rule. The chronological scope of the study goes from the middle of the 11th century, once the Cordoba's Muslim caliphate had fallen, to the end of the 13th century, during the first part of the so called "War for the Strait" (of Gibraltar, of course). According to the author this time was marked by the straightforward, continuous and conscious Castilian Christian royal policy of trying to dissolve the Muslim power in the Iberian Peninsula, at least since the time of Fernando I y Alfonso VI. Professor Fitz defends the idea that the Christian rulers had a real strategy of expansion upon the Muslims lands; a policy that made use both of military activity, diplomatic pressure and politic contacts in order to achieve one single objective. The book is divided in five parts, chronologically: 1. Fernando I y Alfonso VI; 2. Christian policy Vs Almoravid and second taifas (petty Muslim kingdoms); 3. Almohads; 4. third taifas; and 5. the time of Alfonso X and Sancho IV and the problem of the Strait.
The introduction deals with some general concepts about strategy and political relations. Strategy could involve diplomatic measures, economical pressure and treaties without the need to reach a military intervention. The idea of "convivencia" (tolerance) of the three religion/cultures in Medieval Spain is put in doubt all thorough out the book, specially as far as Christian-Muslim relations is concerned. García Fitz tends to think that Christian tolerance to the Muslim population and powers was more a tool (or a strategic need) than a base of acting.
Just one point about the cover of the book. A miniature from the Alfonso´s X book of games and chess has been chosen to illustrate the front of the book. Here you have depicted four men playing a game on a chessboard where every single one has to play for himself. I find it quite appropriate to illustrate the complex diplomatic play between Castile-Leon, the Muslim andalusíes, the north African Muslim powers, the Papacy and the rest of the Iberian Christian kingdom.
Due to its political approach the book will interest both those people who deal with the military activity of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon vs Al-Andalus during 11-13th centuries (in order to place each campaign within its context), as well as those general readers on the Castilia-Leon / Al-Andalus relations.