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The Castle Studies Group Journal No 21: 2007-8 228 Islamic Castles In Iberia Islamic Castles In Iberia Peter Burton

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The Castle Studies Group Journal No 21: 2007-8228

Islamic Castles In Iberia

Islamic Castles In Iberia Peter Burton

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Islamic Castles In Iberia1

OriginsWhen the invading Muslim army arrived inthe Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spainand Portugal) in AD 711 they found a coun-try largely ruled by Visigoths who hadthemselves occupied the area after the fallof the Roman Empire. It was a Christianland and even today substantial remains ofVisigothic churches, monasteries and reli-gious artefacts can still be seen.

Of the military buildings of thepre-Islamic period however, little now sur-vives. What is clear though is that resistanceto the invading Muslim army was slight.Largely because of the fragmentation of acentral authority in Iberia and the absence ofany co-ordinated response to the arrival ofthe Muslims their initial success quicklyspread throughout the peninsula.

The speed with which the Muslimsfrom North Africa established both militaryand economic dominance was spectacular.Within thirty years of their first landing onIberian soil (reputedly at the southern coast-al port of Tarifa in Spain)2 they had spreadvirtually throughout the peninsula leavingonly the extreme northwest still underChristian lordship. In this early colonisationstage the Pyrenees Mountains were hardly abarrier and incursions and brief occupationof what is today southern France occurred.

The political, social and economicsituation of the time that made such anastonishing conquest possible and the fac-tors that limited the expansion of the Mus-lims northward is a fascinating story, but notan area we will be exploring in the presentpaper.3 An almost total dominance of thearea by Muslim lords inevitably meant thatthe Islamic religion and culture also becamethe dominant drivers in local society. Settle-ment by agricultural workers and their fam-ilies from North Africa quickly followed themilitary conquest bringing alternative meth-

ods of cultivation of the land and a variety ofnew crops (e.g. lemons and other fruits, etc)

The military organisation required toachieve such a rapid and complete conquestwas of the highest order. The use of fortifica-tions to hold territory gained and to garrisontroops for onward conquest into new regionswas an important factor in the colonisation.

The first Muslim colonisers of Iberiaoriginated from Syria, Egypt and other east-ern areas displaced by internal political dis-cord within the Caliphate (leadership of allMuslims in the Middle East) and settling inNorth Africa. Eventually they would form anew, breakaway Western Caliphate based inCordoba in Spain.

This history brought the architectur-al and military traditions to Iberia via NorthAfrica.

We should note before going furtherthat the Muslim occupation of Iberia andtherefore the story of Islamic Castles, is a longone. This period lasted almost 800 years,much longer than the period from the finalreconquest of Spain by the Christians at theend of the 15th century to the present day.

The most significant period for thestudy of castles and fortifications of Iberiawas during the periods of first the Almoravidand then Almohad invasions of Spain. Thesetwo strong dynasties originated in the Berberregions of southern Morocco and were mili-tarily strong with powerful religious convic-tion and were prodigious castle builders.

The Almorovids ruled in Spain fromthe mid 11th century to be replaced by force ofarms by the Almohads from about the mid12th century. Under these powers some inno-vative castles were created.

Clearly over such a lengthy period ofMuslim occupation the changes in social, cul-tural and architectural styles will be variedand complex and one only has to consider thechanges between the 8th and 15th century in

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one’s own country to consider how long thatwas.

Design and ConstructionRemains of Islamic Castles are to be foundthroughout Iberia save for the extreme northwest of Spain where Muslim occupation,interestingly, didn’t quite extend to the Celt-ic land between the Cantabrian Mountainsand the sea. A common thread to the archi-tecture of these buildings was the use oframmed clay, mud brick or ‘tapial’ in theconstruction of the vast majority. Stone builtand especially ashlar built Islamic castlesare far from being the norm but stone wasused, sometimes on an immense scale whereit was available and where the prestige, thestrength or simply the need to impress wasgreatest.

Tapial as a form of masonry wastraditional in the Arabic speaking world,originating as it did, from areas where tim-ber was not plentiful and might it be consid-ered as the common method of construction,comparable in some respects to the wide-spread use of timber construction techniquesused in northern European architecture.(photo 01) There are many examples of Islam-ic castle construction using a combination ofTapial and stone with the latter being usedfor structural details such as doorways, walljunctions, towers etc.

A surprising number of Islamiccastles were built upon Roman fortressfoundations suggesting that military consid-erations of defensive position was para-mount in the siting of the castles.

As a point of interest, there is agood deal of discussion in UK castle studieson the reoccupation of Roman sites for theconstruction of castles from the time of theNorman Conquest and later. These discus-sions tend to follow a theory of the castlebuilders invoking memories of the imperialRoman past and by reusing the same sites

and especially by incorporating Roman ma-sonry (e.g. the keeps at Colchester and Chep-stow or the banded masonry at Caernarfon)can thereby assume all of the imperial conno-tations for themselves.

The Spanish examples of Romansite occupation do not appear to show any ofthese deliberate imperial connotations and thesites would seem to be reused because theywere the best available and gave the Islamicbuilders a head start using the existing re-mains as a basis.

The early castles from the 8th & 9th

century onwards were purely military struc-tures. Their general purpose was to create anenclosure of strong walls to house a garrison,their horses and equipment and accommoda-tion for the commander or lord.

The construction of fortifications atthis period as purely military establishmentsis reflected in other parts of the Muslim world(e.g. Syria).4 The administrative and residen-tial centres of the regions were usually inseparate palaces, themselves often fortified.

A good example of an early castle isto be found at Banos de la Encina and datesfrom the 9th century. This castle is in Andalu-sia north of Jaen. The curtain walls are ofTapial construction with evenly spacedsquare, open backed, interval towers. Theentrance gateway is a simple horseshoeshaped opening. The survival of this buildingwith little in the way of later alteration isremarkable.

One of the largest enclosure castlesin Spain is that of Gormaz near the DueroRiver frontier area of Castile, an area thatremained an active border between Muslimand Christian from 10th to the 12th century.The castle itself was founded in the mid 10th

century.

Gormaz is built on a high ridge,visible for miles around and dominating thesurrounding landscape. It has walls of 1200metres circumference around a great enclo-

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Photo 01. Tabernas Castle, SE Spain nr. Almeria. Tapial construction on hilltop site.

Photo 02. Fortaleza de Gormaz, Spain. Huge enclosure castle

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sure within. A castle onthis scale not only wasable to house a consider-able army but also the lo-cal inhabitants and theirlivestock in the event ofborder warfare. (photo 02& 03) Gormaz is builtof stone and ashlar con-struction with 26 squareinterval towers, crenellat-ed parapets and an innercitadel with its own de-fended walls and original-ly separated by a drymoat.

These early cas-tles had simple gatewaysinto the enclosure, someof elaborate Moorishhorseshoe shape othersmore simple arched open-ing but no sophisticatedgateways were construct-ed at this early period. Thedoors, although strongand well made of woodwere barred internally butlittle else to add strength,beyond the location andexternal defences. (photo04) Islamic castles were usually provi-sioned with elaborate and often very largewater storage cisterns. The use of waterwithin the Muslim world beyond simply itslife sustaining properties is well known andthe builders of many castles went to greatlengths to collect and retain water. The ter-rain and position of many Islamic castlesmeant wells were often not practical socisterns were constructed.

These were usually containedwithin the curtain walls and could be deepunderground with linked storage chambers

and long access staircases. Other types wereabove ground in specially constructed build-ings. The use and management of water re-sources for agricultural purposes of the periodare renowned in the Muslim world and thisapplied to water management within castlestoo. (photo 05) As settlement became more perma-nent the castles were places of safety andrefuges for the local village that inevitablysprang up below the walls. As with castles ofthe Christian countries there was no one sizefits all as each castle had its unique position

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Photo 04. Forteleza de Gormaz. Double horseshoe entrance gate.

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Photo 03. Forteleza de Gormaz. Hilltop site. Distant view.

Photo 05. Caceres, Extremadura, Spain. Underground water cistern or ‘Aljibe’ in Arabic

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Photo 06. Castillo de Biar, Spain. Islamic tower or keep, mid-late 12th century.

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Photo 07. Villena Castle, Spain. Islamic rib vaulting in keep/tower, similar in date and style to one at Biar castle nearby

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that in turn affected its de-sign, its local purpose andsocial requirements.

Islamic castles thatwere first established to-wards the second half of theMuslim period begin toadopt some of the featuresseen in Christian castles. Inparticular great towers orkeeps (towers of homage inSpanish) begin to appear.The Islamic castle of Biarbuilt on the border of thelong established Islamic ter-ritory of Zaragoza in thesoutheast was built with agreat tower from the outset.This tower still stands withonly minor later alterations.(photo 06) It is of Tapial con-struction on the outer wallsand rises to three stories. Theground floor chamber isvaulted with a simple barrelvault but the first floor cham-ber (the main chamber of thetower) possess a magnificentrib-vaulted masonry ceilingof an Islamic decorative de-sign and clearly was a room of some status.(photo 07)Alcazabas or Walled TownsSome of the most important towns in IslamicSpain were walled and defended by stronggates. These towns were called Alcazabasand were often built on a huge scale in thesouth of Spain. Good examples of these inthe south are to be found at Malaga, Almeriaand of course Seville. (photo 08) There are many others scatteredabout the peninsula with an excellent exam-ple, continuously occupied from the earliestperiod, being the city of Toledo. This city

was one of the most important towns andstrongholds in the Islamic world from the 8th

- 11th century, and a cultural and artistic cen-tre at the heart of all medieval cultures inSpain – Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Tole-do has large stretches of medieval walls andgateways still in excellent condition. TheChristians took the city in 1085 and stretchesof Islamic town wall from before this date arestill to be seen. (photo 09 & 10). The dates of the walls range from11th century to 13th with the earlier stretchesmade up of massive stone blocks and impres-sive gateways in parts, tapial walls in othersand highly decorative gates of the later peri-

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Photo 08. Castillo de Almeria, Spain. Walled town and castle or ‘Alcazaba’ inArabic

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Photo 09. Toledo, Spain. Bisagra Gate and town walls.

Photo 10. Toledo, Spain. Bisagra Gate (detail). c.1050.

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Photo 11. Toledo, Spain. Puerta del Sol. Gateway into town – 13th C.

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od. The post 1085 walls are made in theIslamic styles and Moorish artisans werealmost certainly involved in their construc-tion (photo 11) From the time of the Almoravidoccupation of Iberia from the mid 11th cen-tury the defensive circuit of walls was be-coming more elaborate. In particular,impressive gateways into the town werebeing constructed. These gateways wereoften embellished with decorative patternsin Tapial, stone or brick, often with gate-ways shaped with ‘Moorish’ or horseshoearches but also with increasingly sophisti-cated defences.

The use of the turned entrancethrough the gateways was becoming thenormal arrangement whereby the visitor hadto turn through 90 degrees once and some-times twice, before entering the open spaceinside. The gateways were defended bystrong gates at each turn very often and werecovered by defensive firing positions aboveand in front of each door. (photo 12) An inner defended castle was usu-ally present within the walled town enclo-sure, often at the highest part of the site,where the lord and his palace was located.

Once again the trends we see inIberia were reflected in other parts of theIslamic world and the siting of royal ordynastic palaces within the enclosure of afortified town from the late 11th century canbe found elsewhere (see ref 3 above).

Tapial masonryA characteristic feature of Islamic castleseverywhere, and no more so than in Iberia,is the use of Tapial or rammed earth. Thisword applies to the type in Spain but manycountries have their own name for the mate-rial (Pise in French speaking areas, Adobein some other countries and there are others).

Tapial is made from clay and earthtaken from the site and mixed with water,lime and hard loose material such as peb-

bles, wood, brick and other stone.5 The wallswere made between wooden boards in sec-tions, into which was pressed the mixture asdescribed. This was left to set after whichtime the retaining boards were removed andrepositioned to continue the wallsconstruction.6

The hard set but rough surface pro-duced would then be plastered over to createa smooth and solid wall. It has been convinc-ingly argued (see ref 5 above) that the size ofthe wooden boards corresponded to the reachof a mans arm and no more as the plasteringover process was conducted from above eachsection of wall as it grew in height. A largerwooden board would mean the lower sectionof rough wall was beyond the reach of theplasterer.

In Tapial walls remaining today theexterior plaster render is often missing reveal-ing the very hard core (some are over 1,000years old) and also the regularly spaced holeswhere the wooden retaining bars were placedonto which the exterior wooden boards werefixed. The holes were left in situ (i.e. not filledin) to allow expansion and contraction of thefabric.

InfluencesIt is difficult to propose specific stylistic ante-cedents when examining Islamic military ar-chitecture in Spain in other than the mostgeneral terms. There is ongoing research intothis area. The first builders of military archi-tecture in Spain came to the peninsula withideas and techniques from other parts of theIslamic world, notably the Middle East ( espe-cially the areas of present day Syria, Iraq andEgypt). Research into early Islamic militaryarchitecture in that area shows a number ofsimilar styles and techniques7 in use in thewider Muslim world such as the use of Tapialconstruction, ‘dog-leg’ entrance gates, deco-rative gateways etc. But without doubt by the11th century a particularly Iberian style wasdeveloping that was the result of many influ-

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Photo 12. Toledo, Spain. Town Gates by medieval Alcantara Bridge, the main entry point across the river.

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ences combined with an Andalusian creativ-ity and therefore unique.

As the greatest period for the build-ing of castles and military structures gener-ally in Spain was during the Almoravid andAlmohad periods (late 11th C to mid 13th C)and as these two great dynasties originatedin Morocco it might be reasonably pre-sumed that some influence arrived in Spainfrom that area.

However, there is no obvious evi-dence for this, and the building of Kasbasand other mud built structures bear no rela-tionship to the structures found in Spain.Indeed the sophisticated early structures thatare to be found in Morocco, such as thetower of the Al Kutubiya mosque in Mar-rakesh (mid 12th C) is clearly in the Andalu-sian style and although this tower predatesthe similar Giralda tower in Seville they areboth of the same influence.8

It seems that Almoravid and Almo-had Berbers from Morocco, once settled inSpain, absorbed some of the sophisticatedscientific and cultural Islamic society thathad long existed under the Caliphate fromthe 8th century and brought this back toMorocco.

An interesting building of note inMorocco is the Almoravid fortress of Daral-Hajar in Marrakesh that still has someexcavated remnants visible today. Thisbuilding was constructed towards the end ofthe 11th century and before the Almoravidinvasion of Spain. It is unusual in that it wasconstructed of dressed, quarried stone. Aswe have discussed above the common build-ing material for Islamic castles in Spain wasTapial, not stone, but clearly not from anylack of capability.

The Christian reconquest of Spainbrought northern castle building techniquesinto the Andalusian Islamic sphere andsome influences undoubtedly occurred be-tween the two traditions. The visible re-

mains we see today lean to a view thatChristian architecture in Spain was influencedby the Islamic people they conquered ratherthan the other way around – the Christians inSpain for example adopted the detached oralbarrana towers (see later).

DevelopmentsAs elsewhere in Europe and the Middle Eastthere was no progressive development of cas-tle architecture of one style or feature leadingto another. Castles and fortresses were builtfor many reasons and by many people and noevolution of military architecture existed.

As we have seen the Islamic archi-tecture of the area developed into its ownunique style as a result of the varied set ofcircumstances and influences that existedwithin Iberia.

One unique feature of Islamic mili-tary building in Iberia, found nowhere else,was the use of detached mural towers alongthe exterior walls of the castle. These towersare referred to as ‘torre Albarrana’ or Albarra-na Towers.9 The use of theses detached tow-ers in some Iberian castles gives an immediateidentity to the buildings and marks them outinstantly as being of the area. (photo 13) The introduction of these particularfeatures was during the Almohad period ofoccupation with the first known detached de-fensive tower most likely being the Torre deEspantaperros in the town of Badajoz and wasconstructed in the year 1170. It must be saidthat there is not universal agreement on thisand a number of other examples are some-times championed as the first albarrana towerparticularly the tower of Guzman el Bueno atTarifa on the southern coast of Spain and atMerida, a town not far from Badajoz. Datingevidence is uncertain but are all from aroundthis time give or take a few years.

The purpose of the albarrana towerswas to provide flanking cover to defend theexterior walls or gateways from attackers.Defenders could gain access to the top of the

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Photo 13. Badajoz, Spain. Detached or ‘Albarrana’ towers along the town walls.

Photo 14. Cacres, Spain: Torre de la Yelba. 12th C Muslim town walls

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detached tower via a moveable woodenbridge and be able to fire down onto attack-ers from behind. If taken or brought downthe defenders could retreat back to the wallwalk of the castle leaving the detached tow-er isolated with no fear of the main fortressbeing accessible nor of the mural walls be-ing breached by its collapse.

They also, as we have said, made astriking and impressive feature to any on-looker.

FrontiersThe Islamic occupation of the Iberian Penin-sula gradually withdrew southwards over along period of time. From the 10th century tothe 15th century the contraction of the occu-pied areas left frontier zones between theMuslim and Christian held land.10 The fron-tier areas were in a varied state of flux frombeing rather fixed for very long periods (e.g.the frontier formed by the River Dureo innorth-central Spain that remained fixed formany decades). Frontiers in other timeswere often more fluid with the actual fron-tier being ill defined and changing with theebb and flow of local political and militarysituations.11

Castles were built in the highestdensities along these frontier zones and ar-eas where the frontiers were stable (e.g. theDureo River) had numerous substantial cas-tles at regular intervals along the frontier. Inaddition to the great castles a large numberof stone watchtowers were built. These wereoften constructed on high ground, mountainpasses, hilltops etc and were used as addi-tional outposts of a fortification nearby.Many survive to this day. The frontier zoneswere not always turbulent hostile areas asmany such frontiers within Spain duringthese 800 years were settled and peaceful formany generations. An interesting frontierzone that has a number of fortified farm-houses and small fortresses still remaining isin the area of Torredelcampo in the south ofSpain and these are of Islamic origin.12

Reconquest and DepartureThe great Islamic Iberian empire that occu-pied virtually the entire peninsula in the 9th

century was reduced to the tiny but still sig-nificant Kingdom of Granada by the 15th.Occupying the most southerly part of Spainthe Kingdom was centred on the city of Gran-ada itself but also included the importantcoastal stronghold of Malaga in the west. Thecastle and walled city (alcazaba) of Malagawas strong, sumptuously provided with gar-dens and other luxuries and was only margin-ally less magnificent than the remarkablestronghold, palace and final flowering of theMuslim culture in Spain, the Alhambra inGranada.

The Alhambra embodies all of theculture, artistry and sophistication of late me-dieval Islam but it was also the heart of amilitary complex and walled city. Many ofthe defences of the castle and walled townstill remain and can be traced through theheart of Granada today.

The whole area contains a rich histo-ry of medieval Islamic architecture most no-tably in its castles and palaces but also in thedomestic architecture of the towns and villag-es. The Kingdom of Granada was the finalhome of Muslims in Spain and strong linkswere maintained with the Muslims or‘Moors’ across the straights in Morocco (it isinteresting to see how the village houses inthe Atlas Mountains of Morocco are preciselythe same as those in the Alpujarra Mountainssouth of Granada in the Sierra Nevada ofSpain – even to this day).

The reconquest of Islamic Spain bythe Christians was completed in 1492 whenGranada was finally taken and the Moorsexpelled from the country. This brought an800 year history of Islamic castle buildingand society in Iberia to a close.

Peter A Burton

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1 It is always difficult to find the most appro-priate terms for this area. Iberia was a Romanword for the peninsula. At the pinnacle ofIslamic rule the peninsula was referred to asAl-Andulas. Spain as we know it today wasa series of independent kingdoms until afterthe medieval period. Portugal gained inde-pendence from Castile in the mid 12th-centu-ry as a separate kingdom. Most of this articlecovers the modern country of Spain.2 The main force landed at Algeciras in Au-tumn 712. See D W Lomax, The Reconquestof Spain, Longman, 1978.3 For a full account of this story see HughKennedy, Muslim Spain and Portugal,Longman, 1996.4 See Tabba, ‘Defending AyyubidAleppo:The Fortifications Al-Zahir Ghazi’ in Mus-lim Military Architecture of Greater Syria,Hugh Kennedy (ed.), p. 177. Brill 2006.5 See article, Construction History SocietyNewsletter 69 (July 2004), Archie G. Walls,‘Arabian Mud Brick Technology: Somethoughts after the Bam Earthquake’.

6 The use of the same earth on which the castlestands would give the structure a natural colourand blend into the landscape. It is interesting toconjecture if these smooth finished, plasteredsurfaces were painted externally. The authorhas no evidence for this. Tapial constructedbuildings used until very recently in the Islam-ic world, the Kasbas of Morocco, were notpainted externally but were usually painted onthe inside.7 Hugh Kennedy (ed.), Muslim Military Archi-tecture in Greater Syria. Brill 2006.8 Richard Parker, A Practical Guideto IslamicMonuments in Morocco, Baraka Press, 1981.9 See Peter Burton, ‘Pontefract and Castles inSpain’ in Castles Studies Group Journal 19(2006), pp. 239-244.10 See Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain, Map3, p. ix.11 See Angus Mackay, ‘Religion Culture andIdeology on the late medieval Castillian-Gra-nadan Frontier’, in Bartlett and Mackay, Medi-eval Frontier Societies, Oxford U. P. 1989.

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Photo 15. Castillo de Biar, Spain. Outer curtain, gateway and corner towers - post-Islamic period replacements.