Exploring the Medieval Frontier: The Reconquista

Abstract

This project focuses on material history, the study of objects and their role in history, and deriving meaning from artifacts in order to synthesize an applied historical thesis. The objects studied in this research project are of particular importance to the study of the Reconquista, a unique frontier conflict in the Iberian Peninsula between Christians and Muslims that lasted from the eighth through fifteenth centuries. The artifacts brought together in this digital exhibit bring into material focus the visible exchanges and borrowings between Christians and Muslims across the frontier of the Reconquista. In their material relationship, they demonstrate the unique blending of religion and culture that was a result of a prolonged period of conflict and exchange