How Did Spain Become One Country?

Check Out Knight's Honour II Sovereign:

Today Spain is one of two countries in the Iberian Peninsula alongside Portugal, though in the Middle Ages the political situation looked very different, divided between a Muslim, Moorish South, the kingdoms of Asturias, Leon, Galicia, Portugal, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Aragon all vying for power.

Music Used:
Sunday Dub - Kevin MacLeod
Laid Back Guitars - Kevin MacLeod
Ibn Al Noor - Kevin MacLeod
Himalayan Atmosphere - Kevin MacLeod
Desert City - Kevin MacLeod
Suonatore Di Liutto - Kevin MacLeod
Angevin B - Kevin MacLeod
Crossing the Chasm - Kevin MacLeod
Division - Kevin MacLeod
Constancy Part III - Kevin MacLeod

Raid the Merch Market:

Go Fund My Windmills (Patreon):

Join in the Banter on Twitter:

Enter the Fray on Facebook:

Indulge in some Instagram..?(the alliteration needs to stop):

#Spain #Portugal #history

[locusamoenus]

There's a fun fact that could be included. In medieval Europe, the term "Spain" was used to refer to the whole set of Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. When Isabella of Castile and Fernando of Aragon, the Catholic Kings, conquered Granada, they declared themselves "kings of (a unified) Spain". The Portuguese monarch complained to this stating that such thing couldn't be possible since they were all "Spanish" and the kingdom of Portugal was independent, thus implying that Spain wasn't really united.
It's interesting to see how this word evolved over time. Eventually, "Spanish" was used to designate those lands under the reign of the successors of the Catholic Kings and then solidified with the Decrees of Nueva Planta and later with the Spanish independence war against Napoleon and the creation of the Liberal Constitution, therefore cementing what we call now "Spain" and creating this Spanish identity, while Portugal lost this sense of "Spanishness" and gained its own Portuguese identity, specially after 1640.

[exudeku]

Funny thing is we Filipinos didn't use the term "Español" when referring to the spanish but "Kastilla" or Castille because they haven't been bonded with the Aragon crown to form Spain later on

[docjoe]

17:38 Charles V/I was Joanna the Mad’s son, not husband. Her husband was known as Philip the handsome, who was from the Hapsburg family.

[PB-some]

You oversimplified the Portugal part...

The western part of the peninsula has been divided since Roman times between Galicia, to the north, and Lusitania, to the south... both regions were Christian and remained so during Roman and Visigoth rule...

When the Muslims invaded, they conquered Lusitania but Galicia was capable of remaining independent...

Later, the kingdom of Galicia was divided into competing regional powers... the south of Galicia, which was richer than the north because of Bracara (Braga) the largest city and diocese, and Portus (Porto) the main financial and commercial center, wanted more autonomy from the kingdom of León, to whom the kingdom of Galicia was a vassal, while the northern part of the kingdom was more loyal... so in 868 the kingdom of León created the county of Portus Calle (Port of Galicia), giving them more autonomy... Calle comes from Calleci which means Galicia...

In 1095, the King of León gave the county of Portus Calle to a French crusader named Henry of Burgundy, who fought in the Spanish reconquista...

He later married a Portuguese/Galician woman named Teresa, who was the daughter of Afonso VI, King of León, and they had a son, Afonso Henriques (Alphonse Henry)...

Henry of Burgundy was a crusader linked to those who would go on to create the order of the Temple in 1119... so when he became count of Portus Calle many Templars joined him in the reconquista... the county of Portus Calle became a center of Templar activity and later Henry of Burgundy's son, Alphonse Henry, would be initiated into the order of the Temple...

Alphonse Henry's seal shows a Templar cross with a play on words saying Pour Tu Graal (For You Grail)...

Alphonse Henry, along with other Templars, declared Portugal's independence from Galicia and León in 1139 and started a crusade to reconquer Lusitania, which was being occupied by Muslims, for Christianity and annex it to the kingdom of Portugal...

In Portuguese mythology, the reconquest of Lusitania is described as the first empire, the second being in Asia when the Portuguese crossed the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in India, the third the creation of Brazil and the fourth in Africa... the fifth empire is a mystical empire that is to come and is known as the Empire of the Holy Spirit...

When the order of the Temple was abolished in 1312, the then king of Portugal, King Dinis, went to the Vatican to ask the Pope for permission to create a new order that would absorb the Templars who were being persecuted in the rest of Europe... this order was the order of Christ created in 1319...

Then the order of Christ began the Age of Discoveries in the XV century, initiating the process that would lead to Europe's hegemony over the world, and spread Christianity throughout all continents...

So basically Portugal was created by the Templars, and the Age of Discoveries was a partnership between the Portuguese and the surviving members of the order of the Temple under the order of Christ...

Merry Christmas...

[nenenindonu]

Spain went through Germanic, Arabic, and Romance identities all in half a millennium

[AlexDKS]

I would just make 2 corrections:

1. That Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire/Charles I of Castille and Aragon, was the son of Joanna of Castille and Aragon of the House of Trastamara, not her husband. Her husband was Phillip the Handsome, son of Maximilian I of Austria of the House of Hapsburg.

2. The Kingdom of Spain did not only conquer South America, as shown in the map at minute 21:36, but also Central America and parts of North America. You were missing the whole of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which corresponds to what is now Mexico and the Western and Southwesthern states of the USA (California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida and parts of Wyoming, among other states)

[Dan-doop]

Hi Hilbert - Great video on a topic that doesn't get much coverage!

Some constructive feedback -- It would be a lot easier for me, the viewer, if you showed the map with labels every time you mentioned a kingdom. eg. around 10:30, you mention Jaca, Aragon, Navarre and their interactions without a visual aid.

[joshdonn]

Spain is the place where a lot of the world met each other. From the Mediterranean and the Levant/Middle east to Africa and Europe and then later on the Americas.
Spain is a fulcrum for different peoples and cultures

[EHonda-dsve]

Actually there are 3 countries there. Portugal, Spain and Andorra

[ferrjuan]

18:40 it wasn’t the French king that was allowed to rule Spain it was King Louis IV’s grandson Philippe, Duke of Anjou who became King Philip V of Spain. Treaty of Utrecht forbade any future possibility of unifying the French and Spanish crowns while confirming his accession to the throne of Spain.

[INBCPC]

There are a lot of mistakes in this video, but the biggest one is saying that Charles was Johanna's husband, he was actually her son, Phillip von Habsburg was his father and thus Johanna's husband.
This video was subpart to what you usually make, like your videos are usually way better than this lol

[emequaza]

Great video! I understand you couldn't include everything and didn't want to make it too long. Still there is some thing I would add:
1. At 12:15 you said Navarre instead of Aragon. While both of these kingdoms had territories across the Pyrenees, Navarre didn't expand across the sea or conquer any muslims by this point.
2. Kingdom of Pamplona existed until 1162. Only after that point can you speak of Navarre. And you didn't mention what happened to Navarre in the video. Iberian part was conquered by Castile, but remained autonomous enough to be considered in personal union with it (this existed until 1841), while the part across the Pyrenees was inherited by France. (remaining a titular kingdom until the French revolution - very cool!)
3. When Pamplona was divided in 1035, one of those parts (County of Castile, recently conquered from Leon) went on to conquer Leon! This dynasty introduced their succesion laws in Leon (before it was elective/primogeniture - I think?, while pamplona, like you have mentioned, liked dividing their realm across many smaller kingdoms on ruler's death), which led to the following:
4. You should have included 1065 and 1157 partitions of Leonese monarchy. In 1065 partition Leonese monarchy was partitioned in 3, into: Leon, Castile (first time it became a kingdom!) and Galicia (Portugal was basically a rebellious part of this kingdom). While it was short it reinforced the division of the peninsula.
Then the 1157 partition was the reason why Castile eventually became dominant over Leon in the monarchy.
5. Partitions before that were usually not long lasting nor planned. It was more like rebellions of local aristocracy with a royal son to take charge of the region or entire kingdom. (Which you've mentioned). I like how you didn't fall for the trap of considering Asturias and Leon as wholly diffrent entities, but more like a change of capital.
6., ,Iberian union'' should have been at least mentioned. While it was officialy a personal union and it didn't last long and Portugal was more autonomous than rest of, ,Spain'', as you yourself mentioned, ,Spain'' itself was an union of de jure diffrent kingdoms.

I think that's all. If I made a mistake feel free to tell me.

Edit: Another fun fact, Catalonia was considered de jure French until union with Aragon. Still, French ultimately abandoned the region only in 1258 in Treaty of Corbeil.

[jcs]

People have pointed out some missed points, though the video is quite good as it is. I was however surprised that you didn't mention the concept of "las Españas" or "the Spains" (in plural), which reinforces the idea of a collection of kingdoms as opposed to a unified estate. Literary, socially and historiographically it is a well-known and well-used concept that could help and reinforce your explanation.

[mvdbergrede]

Very nice video. More videos like this tracking the various predecessor states of modern European nationstates and their territorial expansions/losses would be very interesting. Lekker bezig Bert, fijne feestdagen!

[alansmithee]

Hello Hilbert. Happy Xmas or Feliz Navidad. The season for El Cid on TV every year as a kid, beyond which I knew little of how complicated this was, despite spending time in Relleu in Valencia province, where the language is much like Catalan. The village was on TV here in UK this week, showing the community, which has British and Dutch in it, raising money for Ukraine, which you have done quite a few videos on this year.
These days, but the nearest I get is watching Benidorm Stuff channel, which I never would have before going there, preferring to think of more typically Spanish areas to visit, though "typical" seems wrong after this video.
I will try to leave you with a laugh at the typically English. I helped my host in Spain by digging a hole about 1.5m for an orange tree. A short distance away I did the same for a lemon tree, shunning the idea of a midday break. Tired, but satisfied, I climbed out of the second hole and stepped back to admire my efforts. Another step and oops, down the first hole I went.

[roballister]

1:00 as a native spanish speaker btw, (and dont ask why rob allister for a name i mean just an alias ffs), the word "moros" u mentioned, has two "r"s. that's all :) It's, "morros", and modernly we in spain and mexico mostly use that word to refer to a girl thats DFT or has a phat a**, u change the "o" to an "a" so, "Morra", like "let's get a morra" (lets get some sl*t to boink tonight) or "mira esa morra" (look at that morra; look at that fat a** girl). Also, the pronounciation, you roll the "r" really hard, like you do whenever u have double r's in spanish. loved the video btw, 10/10!! and i put 80 hours into knights of honor 2 btw, it's way more fun if u can bring in 2-3 buddies to play, but then it falls off when someone doesn't win after 3 hours like it's just lingering ehh. i'd still rate it a 8.5/10 game, pretty fun, just lategame falls off

[faenethlorhalien]

Hm... Technically, Andorra is in the Iberian peninsula, making it 3 countries. Also, part of Spain (part of Catalonia, I'm referring to the Vall D'Aran) is technically north of the Pyrenees, so it's not in the peninsula. Not to mention all the islands.

[mateolopez]

Would of been nice for the irmadiña wars in galicia to have been mentioned against the nobles, Castile, and Portugal. That was the time when Isabela of Castile was able to remove the Galician clergy and nobles to Castilian ones who also spoke Castilian and changed Galician from a language of a kingdom to a peasant language (which is why the nationalism in galicia is based around the rural and is socialist). You already speak about Galicia some what in other videos which is more than light we usually get on media so it's still good to see. Great videos 👍

[SpanishDio]

I'm very thankful you are one of the few english speaking youtuber who make historic content about Spain beyond the conquest of the americas, I really appreciate your work! much love from Mallorca Hilbert! <3

[johannestzimiskes]

Great Video but Charles I./V. was Joannas son not husband. Her husband was Phillip the fair (son of Maximillian I.), who was king of Castille between Ferdinand/Joanna and Charles.