The Arab Conquest of Spain: 710 – 797

This book, now available in paperback, is a challenging and controversial account of the history of Spain in the eighth century. In it Roger Collins assesses the political and cultural impact on Spain of the first hundred years of Arab rule, focusing upon aspects of continuity and discontinuity with Visigoth Spain. He begins with a consideration of the background to Arab invasion, and explains how the Arab military occupation of Spain and the restoration of order was achieved. Throughout, events in Spain are set within the wider context of developments in France, North Africa and the Near East.

List of Abbreviations. Preface. 1. A Developing Kingdom. The Visigoth Twilight? Visigothic Hispania and its Neighbours. 2. Adjusting to Conquest. Problems of Evidence and Interpretation. Military Occupation and the Restoration of Order. 3. The Tenacity of a Tradition. Christian Chroniclers and Arab Rulers. Toledo and the Spanish Church. 4. The Conquerors Divided. A Peaceful Decade in the Peninsula. Wars with the Franks. Arab versus Berber; Arab versus Arab. 5. The Rise of an Adventurer. The Making of a Dynastic Legend. The Umayyad Coup d′etat. 6. A Dynasty of Opportunities. Pelagius and the Asturian Revolt. The Kingdom′s Opponents: Muslims and Christians. 7. The Maturing of a Regime. The March to the Ebro. The ′Arab Loevigild′. Administration and Control. 8. Some Winners and Some Losers. The Struggle for the Succession. The Return of the Franks. Adoptionism and the Decline of Toledo. Index.

Roger Collins was formerly Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool, and also a Leverhulme Research Fellow. He is the author of The Basques (Blackwell Publishers, second paperback edition 1990).

"Collins has composed a spirited and challenging survey of the century; the helpful footnotes on almost every page testify to his extensive erudition ... he writes with the confident air of someone pioneering an invigorating, modern approach to a drab and largely forgotten era, and he deserves a discriminating readership." Times Higher Education Supplement "A challenging picture of eighth–century Spain which gives the kaleidoscope a good shake, allowing students a glimpse of events and trends in that shadowy century in a new light." Muslim World Book Review