Spain

4 posts tagged with this keyword.

Painting of the Battle of Villalar (1521), where royalist forces defeated the Comunero army.

A Foreign King's Close Call

Apr 23, 2026 By Andy Barca

On 23 April 1521, royalist forces crushed the Comuneros on a muddy field at Villalar. The revolt had almost ended the Spanish reign of Charles V before it properly began - a teenage Habsburg who spoke no Castilian, travelled with a Flemish court, and treated Spain as a bank to finance his Imperial ambitions elsewhere.

Vicente Mostre's painting of the Morisco expulsion at the port of Denia, following Philip III's 1609 decree.

The Last Muslims of Spain

Apr 9, 2026 By Andy Barca

On 9 April 1609, Philip III signed the decree expelling the Moriscos from Spain - the descendants of Muslims whose families had lived on the Iberian peninsula since 711. The Treaty of Granada had promised them peace. It took 117 years to break that promise.

Gerard ter Borch's 1648 painting of the swearing of the peace in Münster (Westphalian peace negotiations).

Eighty Years

Jan 30, 2026 By Andy Barca

On 30 January 1648, in a German town that would give its name to a more famous treaty nine months later, Spain signed a separate peace with the Dutch Republic. The Eighty Years' War ended. Madrid finally admitted, in writing, that it had lost.

The Surrender of Granada, by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz, 1882 — Boabdil surrenders the city to Ferdinand and Isabella

The Moor's Last Sigh

Jan 2, 2026 By Andy Barca

On 2nd January 1492, Boabdil - the last Sultan of Granada - handed the keys of the Alhambra to Ferdinand and Isabella, ending 781 years of Muslim rule in Iberia. The same year: Jews expelled, Columbus sets sail. One morning opened a very long sequence.