Medieval Spain: Society, Culture, and Art
Reforestation and Models of Social Organization
After the military occupation of Muslim lands, it was necessary to ensure the conquest by repopulating, applying different stocking systems:
- Reforestation of Haste or Quick: The occupation of the lands of the Douro Valley by peasants, nobles, and monasteries resulted in the predominance of small and large properties.
- Reforestation Concejil: Councils divided the conquered territories, the king granted a charter, and the settlers were granted a plot and enjoyment of lands. This was applied in the Tagus Valley.
- Repopulation of the Military Orders: Sparsely populated areas, in front of a Knight of the Order of Commander, formed large domains with an economy almost exclusively based on livestock. This was applied in the Guadiana Valley.
- The Repopulation by Divisions: Division of territory between officers who had participated in the conquest (military orders, nobility, and Church). This was applied in the Guadalquivir Valley and the Levant.
Tripartite Estate Society was defined by the role played by each sector within the community: the Clergy (speakers), Nobility (defenders), and Commoners (farmers). It was a rigid social division with few opportunities to ascend or descend the social ladder. Each establishment was governed by different rules. The nobility and clergy enjoyed privileges (legal, fiscal, monopolies), whereas the Third Estate (peasants, servants, artisans, merchants) did not enjoy any privileges and paid taxes (tithes, corvee, etc.).
Cultural Diversity: Christians, Muslims, and Jews
During the Middle Ages, the presence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews facilitated contact and exchange of knowledge between these three cultures. Hence, one can speak of a plural culture. Moreover, the church, and particularly the monasteries, were the cultural centers (San Millán de la Cogolla, Sahagún). From the twelfth century, with the renaissance of cities, cathedral schools emerged that provided elementary education (trivium, quadrivium). Universities also looked to the emergence of these, secularizing culture. One of the oldest is that of Palencia. The emergence of the Romance languages (Castilian, Galician, Catalan) and linguistic domains helped to develop the idea of kingdom, territory, or nation.
Schools of translators were a broadcast medium between Christianity and Muslims, including the translation school in Toledo (Alfonso X the Wise). Another way of cultural and artistic exchange from Europe was the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostle Santiago.
Art: Romanesque and Gothic
Romanesque Art
In architecture, its most characteristic elements are the walls and columns. For the lift, the arch is used. Temples are covered with barrel vaults and stone ovens. The sculpture has an anti-naturalistic character and plays a decorative and doctrinal role in the churches, covering the capitals, archivolts, eardrums, and entrance doors (Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela). Romanesque painting is characterized by its anti-naturalism, the lack of perspective, and the use of linear strokes and colors (San Isidro de León and San Clemente de Taüll).
Gothic Art
In architecture, the pointed arch, often called Gothic, is derived from the vault that allows the movement of the push to external buttresses, which are further away from the walls by using flying buttresses. That allowed the construction of buildings much broader and higher, and the predominance of the openings on the walls. The supporting elements (columns of intricate design) are much more stylized. Gothic sculpture and paintings transcend the Romanesque anti-naturalism, providing greater mobility to the elements represented in works of religious and civil nature.