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135-518: The details about the foundation and building of Silves Cathedral are unclear. In the process of the Reconquista , Moorish Silves was conquered in 1189 by King Sancho I of Portugal , but since the city was retaken by the Moors in 1191, it is unlikely that a cathedral was built at this time. Only in 1242 was Silves definitely reconquered by Christian knights during the reign of King Afonso III , and it

270-402: A Basque uprising (probably resistance). Their son is reported to be Alfonso II , while Alfonso I's daughter Adosinda married Silo, a local chief from the area of Flavionavia, Pravia. Alfonso's military strategy was typical of Iberian warfare at the time. Lacking the means needed for wholesale conquest of large territories, his tactics consisted of raids in the border regions of Vardulia . With

405-764: A Hispanic empire like the Visigothic Kingdom (418–720) to reclaim his hegemony over the entire Iberian Peninsula . Within this context, the territory between the Douro and the Tagus was repopulated and a western nucleus was formed in Portugal that wanted independence . This marks the beginning of the Portuguese Repovoação ou Repovoamento occurred during the reigns of the House of Burgundy up to

540-552: A combination of a cylinder and a slab. The structures of Armenian palaces, churches, courtyards ( Dvin , Aruch , Zvartnots , Ishkhan , Banak, Haghpat , Sanahin , Ani structures) are diverse and unique. In the Renaissance period the feature became of the greatest importance and its variety almost as great as in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The flat pilaster, which was employed extensively in this period, called for

675-542: A few places in former Spanish colonies. Pursuant to an Islamophobic worldview, the concept is a symbol of significance for the 21st century European far-right . The term Reconquista , used to describe the struggle between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian peninsula during the Middle Ages , was not used by writers of the period. Since its development as a term in medieval historiography occurred centuries after

810-465: A hard and fast set of canonical rules for the execution of capitals. Two further, specifically Roman orders of architecture have their characteristic capitals, the sturdy and primitive Tuscan capitals , typically used in military buildings, similar to Greek Doric, but with fewer small moldings in its profile, and the invented Composite capitals not even mentioned by Vitruvius, which combined Ionic volutes and Corinthian acanthus capitals, in an order that

945-533: A highly romanticised account of this battle, would later become one of the most famous chansons de geste of the Middle Ages. Around 788 Abd ar-Rahman I died and was succeeded by Hisham I . In 792 Hisham proclaimed a jihad , advancing in 793 against the Kingdom of Asturias and Carolingian Septimania (Gothia) . They defeated William of Gellone, Count of Toulouse, in battle, but William led an expedition

1080-518: A more elongated form, and sometimes being combined with scrolls, generally within the context of Buddhist stupas and temples . Indo-Corinthian capitals also incorporated figures of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas , usually as central figures surrounded by, and often under the shade of, the luxurious foliage of Corinthian designs. Byzantine capitals vary widely, mostly developing from the classical Corinthian, but tending to have an even surface level, with

1215-597: A pilgrimage in 716. In the end, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa's cousin, Ayyub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi became the wali (governor) of al-Andalus. A serious weakness amongst the Muslim conquerors was the ethnic tension between Berbers and Arabs. The Berbers were indigenous inhabitants of North Africa who had only recently converted to Islam; they provided most of the soldiery of the invading Islamic armies but sensed Arab discrimination against them. This latent internal conflict jeopardised Umayyad unity. The Umayyad forces arrived and crossed

1350-482: A planar rendition of the capital, executed in high relief. This affected the designs of capitals. A traditional 15th-century variant of the Composite capital turns the volutes inwards above stiffened leaf carving. In new Renaissance combinations in capital designs most of the ornament can be traced to Classical Roman sources. The 'Renaissance' was as much a reinterpretation as a revival of Classical norms. For example,

1485-684: A rallying call for right and far-right parties in Spain to expel from office incumbent progressive or peripheral nationalist options, as well as their values, in different political contexts as of 2018. The same kind of propaganda was circulated during the Spanish Civil War by the Republicans , who wanted to portray their enemies as foreign invaders, especially given the prominence of the Army of Africa among Franco's troops, an army which

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1620-694: A reason to fight against Muslims, although this argument was not extensively used beforehand. In al-Andalus at that time, the Christian states were confronted by the Almoravids , and to an even greater degree, they were confronted by the Almohads , who espoused a similarly staunch Muslim Jihad ideology. In fact, previous documents which date from the 10th and 11th centuries are mute on any idea of "reconquest". Propaganda accounts of Muslim-Christian hostility came into being to support that idea, most notably

1755-460: A rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya (perhaps all of contemporary Catalonia as well), in an attempt to secure his southern borders to fend off Charles Martel 's attacks on the north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi , the latest emir of al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman. After expelling the Muslims from Narbonne in 759 and driving their forces back over

1890-408: A rebel Berber and lord of Cerdanya , in an attempt to secure his southern borders in order to fend off Charles Martel 's attacks on the north. However, a major punitive expedition led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi , the latest emir of al-Andalus, defeated and killed Uthman, and the Muslim governor mustered an expedition north across the western Pyrenees, looted areas up to Bordeaux, and defeated Odo in

2025-761: A treaty in exchange for maintaining autonomy, in Theodemir 's dominion (region of Tudmir), or Pamplona , for example. The invading Islamic armies did not exceed 60,000 men. After the establishment of a local Emirate , Caliph Al-Walid I , ruler of the Umayyad Caliphate , removed many of the successful Muslim commanders. Tariq ibn Ziyad was recalled to Damascus and replaced with Musa ibn-Nusayr, who had been his former superior. Musa's son, Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa, apparently married Egilona , Roderic 's widow, and established his regional government in Seville . He

2160-582: Is De architectura by the 1st-century BC Roman architect Vitruvius , who discussed the different proportions of each of these orders and made recommendations for how the column capitals of each order were to be constructed and in what proportions. In the Roman world and within the Roman Empire , the Tuscan order was employed, originally from Italy and with a capital similar to Greek Doric capitals, while

2295-421: Is a Baroque addition (18th century). Silves Cathedral is a Latin cross church with a three- aisled nave , transept and three chapels in the east end. The east side of the church with transept was built earlier (mid-15th century) than the nave (probably early 16th century). The eastern chapels and transept are covered by Gothic stone rib vaulting , while the nave aisles are covered by a simple wooden roof. It

2430-507: Is at the top and bottom with a delicate uniting curve. The sloping side of the echinus becomes flatter in the later examples, and in the Colosseum at Rome forms a quarter round (see Doric order ). In versions where the frieze and other elements are simpler the same form of capital is described as being in the Tuscan order . Doric reached its peak in the mid-5th century BC, and was one of

2565-413: Is believed that this king was responsible for beginning the construction of Silves Cathedral as the seat of a newly founded Algarve diocese. The works proceeded with difficulty, and in 1352 the cathedral was damaged by a strong earthquake . In the 1440s, the cathedral workshop was given a great impulse by King Afonso V . This building campaign produced the apse with its three chapels, the transept and

2700-529: Is decorated with a series of reliefs of vegetal motifs and human figures, some playing musical instruments. The decoration of the capitals of the columns reveals the influence of the Batalha workshop, which was active in the 15th century. The portal of the main church of Portimão , located nearby, is almost a replica of the one in Silves and is believed to have been executed by the same artisans. The South portal

2835-463: Is inserted on a stepped rectangular moulding ( alfiz ), a common feature on the façades of Portuguese mediaeval buildings since the Romanesque era. Other primitive features of the portal are the figurative corbels of the upper cornice of the moulding, representing animal and human faces. The portal consists of a series of four columns and several pointed-arch archivolts . The outer archivolt

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2970-730: Is likely that the original plan called for the whole church to be covered by stone vaulting like other Portuguese cathedrals built at the time, like the Cathedral of Guarda . The aisles of the nave are separated by arches of pointed profile supported by columns of octagonal cross section. The south transept arm is illuminated by a large mullioned window with Gothic tracery . 37°11′24″N 8°26′19″W  /  37.1901°N 8.4387°W  / 37.1901; -8.4387 [REDACTED] Media related to Sé Catedral de Silves at Wikimedia Commons Reconquista The Reconquista ( Spanish and Portuguese for ' reconquest ' ) or

3105-699: The Chanson de Roland , an 11th-century French chanson de geste that offers a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass dealing with the Iberian Saracens ( Moors ), and centuries later introduced in the French school system with a view to instilling moral and national values in the population following the 1870 defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War , regardless of

3240-579: The Banu Qasi and rebelled against Frankish overlordship and overcame a Carolingian expedition in 824 that led to the setup of the Kingdom of Pamplona . Aragon, founded in 809 by Aznar Galíndez , grew around Jaca and the high valleys of the Aragon River , protecting the old Roman road. By the end of the 10th century, Aragon, which then was just a county, was annexed by Navarre. Sobrarbe and Ribagorza were small counties and had little significance to

3375-631: The Battle of the River Garonne in 732. A desperate Odo turned to his archrival Charles Martel for help, who led the Frankish and remaining Aquitanian armies against the Umayyad armies and defeated them at the Battle of Poitiers in 732, killing Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. While Moorish rule began to recede in what is today France, it would remain in parts of the Iberian peninsula for another 760 years. A drastic increase of taxes on Christians by

3510-473: The Francoist dictatorship . It thus became one of the key tenets of the historiographical discourse of National Catholicism , the mythological and ideological identity of the regime. The discourse was underpinned in its most traditional version by an avowed historical illegitimacy of al-Andalus and the subsequent glorification of the Christian conquest. The idea of a "liberation war" of reconquest against

3645-579: The Ionic . Composite capitals line the principal space of the nave. Ionic capitals are used behind them in the side spaces, in a mirror position relative to the Corinthian or composite orders (as was their fate well into the 19th century, when buildings were designed for the first time with a monumental Ionic order). At Hagia Sophia, though, these are not the standard imperial statements. The capitals are filled with foliage in all sorts of variations. In some,

3780-465: The Kingdom of León , when Leon became the seat of the royal court (it didn't bear any official name). Alfonso III of Asturias repopulated the strategically important city Leon and established it as his capital. King Alfonso began a series of campaigns to establish control over all the lands north of the Douro river. He reorganised his territories into the major duchies ( Galicia and Portugal) and major counties ( Saldaña and Castile), and fortified

3915-526: The Reconquista . Two northern realms, Navarre and Asturias, despite their small size, demonstrated an ability to maintain their independence. Because the Umayyad rulers based in Córdoba were unable to extend their power over the Pyrenees, they decided to consolidate their power within the Iberian peninsula. Arab-Berber forces made periodic incursions deep into Asturias, but this area was a cul-de-sac on

4050-523: The Roman imperial period saw the emergence of the Composite order , with a hybrid capital developed from Ionic and Corinthian elements. The Tuscan and Corinthian columns were counted among the classical canon of orders by the architects of Renaissance architecture and Neoclassical architecture . The Doric capital is the simplest of the five Classical orders : it consists of the abacus above an ovolo molding, with an astragal collar set below. It

4185-696: The Siege of Córdoba (1236) and the Siege of Seville (1248)—leaving only the Muslim enclave of Granada as a tributary state in the south. After the surrender of Granada in January 1492, the entire Iberian peninsula was controlled by Christian rulers. On 30 July 1492, as a result of the Alhambra Decree , the Jewish communities in Castile and Aragon—some 200,000 people—were forcibly expelled . The conquest

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4320-603: The Spanish March , which included part of contemporary Catalonia , in order to keep the Aquitanians in check and to secure the southern border of the Carolingian Empire against Muslim incursions. In 781, his three-year-old son Louis was crowned king of Aquitaine , under the supervision of Charlemagne's trustee William of Gellone, and was nominally in charge of the incipient Spanish March. Meanwhile,

4455-670: The Sunga Empire period. Some capitals with strong Greek and Persian influence have been found in northeastern India in the Maurya Empire palace of Pataliputra , dating to the 4th–3rd century BC. Examples such as the Pataliputra capital belong to the Ionic order rather than the later Corinthian order . They are witness to relations between India and the West from that early time. Indo-Corinthian capitals correspond to

4590-543: The Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania . Many of Roderic's troops deserted, leading to his defeat. He drowned while crossing the Guadalquivir River . After Roderic's defeat, the Umayyad governor of Ifrikiya Musa ibn-Nusayr joined Tariq, directing a campaign against different towns and strongholds in Hispania. Some, like Mérida , Cordova , or Zaragoza in 712, probably Toledo , were taken, but many agreed to

4725-400: The capital (from Latin caput  'head') or chapiter forms the topmost member of a column (or a pilaster ). It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface. The capital, projecting on each side as it rises to support the abacus , joins the usually square abacus and the usually circular shaft of

4860-599: The dosseret required to carry the arch , the springing of which was much wider than the abacus of the capital. On eastern capitals the eagle, the lion and the lamb are occasionally carved, but treated conventionally. There are two types of capitals used at Hagia Sophia : Composite and Ionic. The composite capital that emerged during the Late Byzantine Empire , mainly in Rome, combines the Corinthian with

4995-573: The kingdoms of Israel and Judah starting from the 9th century BCE, as well as in Moab , Ammon , and at Cypriot sites such as the city-state of Tamassos in the Archaic period. The orders, structural systems for organising component parts, played a crucial role in the Greeks' search for perfection of ratio and proportion. The Greeks and Romans distinguished three classical orders of architecture,

5130-527: The lotus and papyrus plants respectively, and these, with the palm tree capital, were the chief types employed by the Egyptians, until under the Ptolemies in the 3rd to 1st centuries BC, various other river plants were also employed, and the conventional lotus capital went through various modifications. Many motifs of Egyptian ornamentation are symbolic , such as the scarab , or sacred beetle,

5265-522: The muwallad Banu Qasi of Tudela. Although relatively weak until the early 11th century, Pamplona took a more active role after the accession of Sancho the Great (1004–1035). The kingdom expanded greatly under his reign, as it absorbed Castile, Leon, and what was to be Aragon, in addition to other small counties that would unite and become the Principality of Catalonia . This expansion also led to

5400-639: The reconquest of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian kingdoms waged against the Muslim kingdoms following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate , culminating in the reign of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain . The beginning of the Reconquista is traditionally dated to the Battle of Covadonga ( c.  718 or 722), in which an Asturian army achieved

5535-572: The solar disk , and the vulture . Other common motifs include palm leaves, the papyrus plant, and the buds and flowers of the lotus . Some of the most popular types of capitals were the Hathor , lotus, papyrus and Egyptian composite. Most of the types are based on vegetal motifs. Capitals of some columns were painted in bright colors. Some kind of volute capital is shown in the Assyrian bas-reliefs , but no Assyrian capital has ever been found;

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5670-457: The 20th century, an extensive renovation of Silves Cathedral suppressed many of the Baroque additions and returned the building to a more "medieval" look. From the outside, a striking aspect of Silves Cathedral is the contrast between the whitewashed surfaces of the walls and the red sandstone ( grés de Silves ) of the apse , windows and main portal. The main portal, executed in the 1470s,

5805-409: The 3rd century BC. The top is made of a band of rosettes , eleven in total for the fronts and four for the sides. Below that is a band of bead and reel pattern, then under it a band of waves, generally right-to-left, except for the back where they are left-to-right. Further below is a band of egg-and-dart pattern, with eleven "tongues" or "eggs" on the front, and only seven on the back. Below appears

5940-406: The 4th-7th centuries the capitals of Armenian architectural facades and masonry facades are tall rectangular stones with a total volume, which are converted into a slab by means of a bell. In the structures of the early period ( Ereruyk , Tekor , Tsopk , etc.) they were sculpted with plant and animal images, palm trees. In the 10th century and in the following centuries, capitals are mainly formed by

6075-665: The Carolingians. The Asturian kingdom became firmly established with the recognition of Alfonso II as king of Asturias by Charlemagne and the Pope. During his reign, the bones of St. James the Great were declared to have been found in Galicia, at Santiago de Compostela . Pilgrims from all over Europe opened a channel of communication between the isolated Asturias and the Carolingian lands and beyond, centuries later. After

6210-491: The Composite order volutes are larger, however, and there is generally some ornament placed centrally between the volutes. Despite this origin, very many Composite capitals in fact treat the two volutes as different elements, each springing from one side of their leafy base. In this, and in having a separate ornament between them, they resemble the Archaic Greek Aeolic order , though this seems not to have been

6345-801: The Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders; each had different types of capitals atop the columns of their hypostyle and trabeate monumental buildings. Throughout the Mediterranean Basin , the Near East , and the wider Hellenistic world including the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom , numerous variations on these and other designs of capitals co-existed with the regular classical orders. The only architectural treatise of classical antiquity to survive

6480-667: The Ebro valley. Regional lords saw the Umayyad emir at the gates and decided to enlist the nearby Christian Franks. According to Ali ibn al-Athir , a Kurdish historian of the 12th century, Charlemagne received the envoys of Sulayman al-Arabi , Husayn, and Abu Taur at the Diet of Paderborn in 777. These rulers of Zaragoza , Girona , Barcelona , and Huesca were enemies of Abd ar-Rahman I, and in return for Frankish military aid against him offered their homage and allegiance. Charlemagne, seeing an opportunity, agreed upon an expedition and crossed

6615-651: The Etruscans and are found on their tombs. Although the Romans perceived it as especially Italianate, the Tuscan capital found on Roman monuments is in fact closer to the Greek Doric order than to Etruscan examples, its capital being nearby identical with the Doric. The Romans invented the Composite order by uniting the Corinthian order with the Ionic capital, possibly as early as Augustus 's reign. In many versions

6750-457: The Great, around 1038). Subsequent kings titled themselves kings of Galicia and Leon, instead of merely king of Leon as the two were in a personal union . At the end of the 11th century, King Afonso VI of León reached the Tagus (1085), repeating the same policy of alliances and developing collaboration with Frankish knights. The original repoblación was then complete. His aim was to create

6885-454: The Muslims, who were viewed as foreigners, suited the anti-Republican rebels during the Spanish Civil War , the rebels agitated for the banner of a Spanish fatherland, a fatherland which, according to them, was being threatened by regional nationalisms and communism . Their rebellious pursuit was thus a crusade for the restoration of the Church's unity, where Franco stood for both Pelagius of Asturias and El Cid . The Reconquista has become

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7020-456: The Pyrenees by 719. The last Visigothic king Ardo resisted them in Septimania, where he fended off the Berber-Arab armies until 720. After the Islamic Moorish conquest of most of the Iberian Peninsula in 711–718 and the establishment of the emirate of al-Andalus, an Umayyad expedition suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse and was halted for a while on its way north. Odo of Aquitaine had married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa ,

7155-411: The Pyrenees in 778. Near the city of Zaragoza Charlemagne received the homage of Sulayman al-Arabi . However the city, under the leadership of Husayn , closed its gates and refused to submit. Unable to conquer the city by force, Charlemagne decided to retreat. On the way home the rearguard of the army was ambushed and destroyed by Basque forces at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass . The Song of Roland ,

7290-419: The Pyrenees, the Carolingian king Pepin the Short conquered Aquitaine in a ruthless eight-year war. Charlemagne followed his father by subduing Aquitaine by creating counties, taking the Church as his ally and appointing counts of Frankish or Burgundian stock, like his loyal William of Gellone , making Toulouse his base for expeditions against al-Andalus. Charlemagne decided to organize a regional subkingdom,

7425-485: The Senate Vestibule in the United States Capitol in 1807, he introduced six columns that he "Americanized" with ears of corn (maize) substituting for the European acanthus leaves. As Latrobe reported to Thomas Jefferson in August 1809, Another example is the Delhi Order invented by the British architect Edwin Lutyens for New Delhi 's central palace, Viceroy's House, now the Presidential residence Rashtrapati Bhavan , using elements of Indian architecture . Here

7560-404: The Tholos of Epidaurus (400 BC) illustrate the transition between the earlier Greek capital, as at Bassae , and the Roman version that Renaissance and modern architects inherited and refined (See the more complete discussion at Corinthian order ). In Roman architectural practice , capitals are briefly treated in their proper context among the detailing proper to each of the " Orders ", in

7695-496: The Umayyad conquest of the Iberian heartland of the Visigothic kingdom, the Muslims crossed the Pyrenees and gradually took control of Septimania , starting in 719 with the conquest of Narbonne through 725 when Carcassonne and Nîmes were secured. From the stronghold of Narbonne, they tried to conquer Aquitaine but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Toulouse (721) . Ten years after halting their advance north, Odo of Aquitaine married his daughter to Uthman ibn Naissa ,

7830-425: The Umayyads nor the Asturians had sufficient forces to secure control over these northern territories. Under the reign of Ramiro , famed for the highly legendary Battle of Clavijo , the border began to slowly move southward and Asturian holdings in Castile , Galicia, and Leon were fortified, and an intensive program of re-population of the countryside began in those territories. In 924 the Kingdom of Asturias became

7965-409: The actual events. The consolidation of the modern idea of a " Reconquista " is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in the 19th century, associated with the development of a Centralist, Castilian, and staunchly Catholic brand of nationalism, evoking nationalistic, romantic and sometimes colonialist themes. The concept gained further track in the 20th century during

8100-512: The area around Paris. The most varied were carved in 1130–1170. In Britain and France the figures introduced into the capitals are sometimes full of character, these are referred to as historiated (or figured capital). These capitals, however, are not equal to those of the Early English Gothic , in which foliage is treated as if copied from metalwork, and is of infinite variety, being found in small village churches as well as in cathedrals. Armenian capitals are often versions of Byzantine forms. In

8235-448: The area. Alfonso VI was first and foremost a tactful monarch who chose to understand the kings of taifa and employed unprecedented diplomatic measures to attain political feats before considering the use of force. He adopted the title Imperator totius Hispaniae ("Emperor of all Hispania ", referring to all the Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, and not just the modern country of Spain). Alfonso's more aggressive policy towards

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8370-402: The battle. After this defeat, Moorish attacks abated until Almanzor began his campaigns. Alfonso V finally regained control over his domains in 1002. Navarre, though attacked by Almanzor, remained intact. The conquest of Leon did not include Galicia which was left to temporary independence after the withdrawal of the Leonese king. Galicia was conquered soon after (by Ferdinand, son of Sancho

8505-430: The borders with many castles. At his death in 910 the shift in regional power was completed as the kingdom became the Kingdom of León . From this power base, his heir Ordoño II was able to organize attacks against Toledo and even Seville . The Caliphate of Córdoba was gaining power, and began to attack Leon. King Ordoño allied with Navarre against Abd-al-Rahman, but they were defeated in Valdejunquera in 920. For

8640-408: The budget allowed, carvers were able to indulge their inventiveness. Capitals were sometimes used to hold depictions of figures and narrative scenes, especially in the Romanesque . In Romanesque architecture and Gothic architecture capitals throughout western Europe present as much variety as in the East, and for the same reason, that the sculptor evolved his design in accordance with the block he

8775-404: The bull and elephant; a lion occupies the other place. The wheel "Ashoka Chakra" from its base has been placed onto the centre of the National Flag of India The Pataliputra capital is a monumental rectangular capital with volutes designs, that was discovered in the palace ruins of the ancient Mauryan Empire capital city of Pataliputra (modern Patna , northeastern India ). It is dated to

8910-467: The column. The capital may be convex, as in the Doric order ; concave, as in the inverted bell of the Corinthian order ; or scrolling out, as in the Ionic order . These form the three principal types on which all capitals in the classical tradition are based. The Composite order was formalized in the 16th century following Roman Imperial examples such as the Arch of Titus in Rome. It adds Ionic volutes to Corinthian acanthus leaves. From

9045-511: The early 10th century when the focus of Asturian power moved from the mountains over to Leon, to become the Kingdom of León or Galicia-Leon. Santiago's were among many saint relics proclaimed to have been found across north-western Hispania. Pilgrims started to flow in from other Iberian Christian realms, sowing the seeds of the later Way of Saint James (11–12th century) that sparked the enthusiasm and religious zeal of continental Christian Europe for centuries. Despite numerous battles, neither

9180-405: The early 11th century, a series of petty successor states known as taifas  emerged. The northern kingdoms took advantage of this situation and struck deep into al-Andalus ; they fostered civil war, intimidated the weakened  taifas , and made them pay large tributes ( parias ) for "protection". In the 12th century, the Reconquista was above all a political action to develop

9315-412: The emir Anbasa ibn Suhaym Al-Kalbi provoked several rebellions in al-Andalus, which a series of succeeding weak emirs were unable to suppress. Around 722, a Muslim military expedition was sent into the north in late summer to suppress a rebellion led by Pelagius of Asturias (Pelayo in Spanish, Pelayu in Asturian). Traditional historiography has hailed Pelagius's victory at Covadonga as the beginning of

9450-428: The emperor's and the Buddha's words. The capital today serves as the emblem of the Republic of India . Minus the inverted bell -shaped lotus flower, this has been adopted as the National Emblem of India , seen from another angle, showing the horse on the left and the bull on the right of the Ashoka Chakra in the circular base on which the four Indian lions are standing back to back. On the side shown here there are

9585-439: The end of the 9th century. For example, the anonymous Christian chronicle Chronica Prophetica (883–884) claimed a historical connection between the Visigothic Kingdom conquered by the Muslims in 711 and the Kingdom of Asturias in which the document was produced, and stressed a Christian and Muslim cultural and religious divide in Hispania, and a necessity to drive out the Muslims and restore conquered territories. In fact, in

9720-651: The enriched bases exhibited in the British Museum were initially misinterpreted as capitals. In the Achaemenid Persian capital , the brackets are carved with two heavily decorated back-to-back animals projecting right and left to support the architrave ; on their backs they carry other brackets at right angles to support the cross timbers. The bull is the most common, but there are also lions and griffins . The capital extends below for further than in most other styles, with decoration drawn from

9855-589: The entire context, as in Greek Revival . There are numerous newly invented orders, sometimes called nonce orders , where a different ornamentation of the capital is typically a key feature. Within the bounds of decorum , a certain amount of inventive play has always been acceptable within the classical tradition. These became increasingly common after the Renaissance. When Benjamin Latrobe redesigned

9990-400: The events it references, it has acquired various meanings. Its meaning as an actual reconquest has been subject to the particular concerns or prejudices of scholars, who have sometimes wielded it as a weapon in ideological disputes. A discernible irredentist ideology that would later become part of the concept of "Reconquista", a Christian reconquest of the peninsula, appeared in writings by

10125-407: The exception of Navarre, did not have the capacity for attacking the Muslims in the way that Asturias did, but their mountainous geography rendered them relatively safe from being conquered, and their borders remained stable for two centuries. The northern principalities and kingdoms survived in their mountainous strongholds (see above). However, they started a definite territorial expansion south at

10260-748: The first Christian victory over the forces of the Umayyad Caliphate since the beginning of the military invasion. The Reconquista ended in 1492 with the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs. In the late 10th century, the Umayyad ; vizier Almanzor waged a series of military campaigns for 30 years in order to subjugate the northern Christian kingdoms. When the Caliphate of Córdoba disintegrated in

10395-481: The first decades, the Asturian dominion over the different areas of the kingdom was still lax, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances with other powerful families from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Thus, Ermesinda, Pelagius's daughter, was married to Alfonso , Dux Peter of Cantabria 's son. Alfonso's son Fruela married Munia, a Basque from Álava , after crushing

10530-550: The following year across the eastern Pyrenees. Barcelona , a major city, became a potential target for the Franks in 797, as its governor Zeid rebelled against the Umayyad emir of Córdoba. An army of the emir managed to recapture it in 799, but Louis, at the head of an army, crossed the Pyrenees and besieged the city for seven months until it finally capitulated in 801. The main passes in the Pyrenees were Roncesvalles , Somport and La Jonquera . Charlemagne established across them

10665-573: The former capital of the Visigoths, was a very important landmark, and the conquest made Alfonso renowned throughout the Christian world . However, this "conquest" was conducted rather gradually, and mostly peacefully, during the course of several decades. However, Toledo was not fully secured and integrated into Alfonso's kingdom until after a period of gradual resettlement and consolidation, during which Christian settlers were encouraged to move into

10800-591: The fringes of the Islamic world fraught with inconveniences during campaigns and of little interest. It comes then as no surprise that, besides focusing on raiding the Arab-Berber strongholds of the Meseta, Alfonso I of Asturias centred on expanding his domains at the expense of the neighbouring Galicians and Basques at either side of his realm just as much. During the first decades, Asturian control over part of

10935-462: The frontal end of a wall, such as the front of the side wall of a temple. The top of an anta is often highly decorated, usually with bands of floral motifs. The designs often respond to an order of columns, but usually with a different set of design principles. In order not to protrude excessively from the wall surface, these structures tend to have a rather flat surface, forming brick-shaped capitals, called "anta capitals". Anta capitals are known from

11070-555: The frontiers, were more prevalent over the 781 years of Muslim rule in Iberia than periods of military conflict between the Christian kingdoms and al-Andalus. Additionally, both Christian and Muslim rulers fought other Christians and Muslims , and cooperation and alliances between Muslims and Christians were not uncommon, such as between the Arista dynasty and Banu Qasi as early as the 9th century. Blurring distinctions even further were

11205-468: The highly visible position it occupies in all colonnaded monumental buildings, the capital is often selected for ornamentation; and is often the clearest indicator of the architectural order . The treatment of its detail may be an indication of the building's date. Capitals occur in many styles of architecture, before and after the classical architecture in which they are so prominent. The two earliest Egyptian capitals of importance are those based on

11340-411: The history of Silves in the 15th and 16th centuries, leading to the bishop staying for long periods away from Silves. The most notable of the bishops at this time was Jerónimo Osório , one of the greatest Portuguese humanists and theologians . It was during his rule, in 1577, that the bishopric seat was transferred from Silves to Faro , a more prosperous city located by the coast. In the next centuries

11475-586: The independence of Galicia, as well as gaining overlordship over Gascony . In the 12th century, however, the kingdom contracted to its core, and in 1162 King Sancho VI declared himself king of Navarre . Throughout its early history, the Navarrese kingdom engaged in frequent skirmishes with the Carolingian Empire, from which it maintained its independence, a key feature of its history until 1513. Capital (architecture) In architecture ,

11610-516: The indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy . The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures, Galicians, Cantabri, Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society, laying the foundations for the Kingdom of Asturias and starting the Astur-Leonese dynasty that spanned from 718 to 1037 and led the initial efforts in the Iberian peninsula to take back

11745-440: The interior of the church was enriched with Mannerist and Baroque altarpieces , some of which still exist. The Great earthquake of 1755 struck a terrible blow to Silves and its cathedral and destroyed part of the nave. The building was repaired and modified, replacing the simple Gothic forms of the upper part of the main façade with Rococo volutes . The bell tower and the south portal are also 18th-century additions. In

11880-455: The kingdom was weak, and for this reason it had to be continually strengthened through matrimonial alliances and war with other peoples from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. After Pelayo's death in 737, his son Favila of Asturias was elected king. Favila, according to the chronicles, was killed by a bear during a trial of courage. Pelayo's dynasty in Asturias survived and gradually expanded

12015-512: The kingdom's boundaries until all of northwest Hispania was included by roughly 775. However, credit is due to him and to his successors, the Banu Alfons from the Arab chronicles. Further expansion of the northwestern kingdom towards the south occurred during the reign of Alfonso II of Asturias (from 791 to 842). A king's expedition arrived in and pillaged Lisbon in 798, probably concerted with

12150-405: The kingdoms of Portugal , León-Castile and Aragon . The king's action took precedence over that of the local lords, with the help of the military orders and also supported by repopulation . Following a Muslim resurgence under the Almohads in the 12th century, the great Moorish strongholds fell to Christian forces in the 13th century, after the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212),

12285-610: The kings of Pamplona and the Carolingians , thereby gaining official recognition for his kingdom and his crown from the Pope and Charlemagne . The bones of St. James the Great were proclaimed to have been found in Iria Flavia (present day Padrón ) in 813 or probably two or three decades later. The cult of the saint was transferred later to Compostela (from Latin campus stellae , literally "the star field"), possibly in

12420-479: The main motif, a flame palmette , growing among pebbles. The Sarnath capital is a pillar capital, sometimes also described as a "stone bracket", discovered in the archaeological excavations at the ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath . The pillar displays Ionic volutes and palmettes . It has been variously dated from the 3rd century BCE during the Mauryan Empire period, to the 1st century BCE, during

12555-572: The main portal, in Gothic style, dating from the 1470s. The three- aisled nave was only finished in the early 16th century. When King John II died unexpectedly in Alvor ( Portimão ), near Silves, in 1495, he was provisionally buried in the main chapel of Silves Cathedral. In 1499, in the presence of King Manuel I , his remains were exhumed and transferred to the Monastery of Batalha , where John II

12690-548: The many cultures that the Persian Empire conquered including Egypt , Babylon , and Lydia . There are double volutes at the top and, inverted, bottom of a long plain fluted section which is square, although the shaft of the column is round, and also fluted. The earliest Aegean capital is that shown in the frescoes at Knossos in Crete (1600 BC); it was of the convex type, probably moulded in stucco . Capitals of

12825-534: The mercenaries from both sides who simply fought for whoever paid the most. The period is seen today to have had long episodes of relative religious coexistence and tolerance. The idea of a continuous Reconquista has been challenged by modern scholars. The Crusades , which started late in the 11th century, bred the religious ideology of a Christian reconquest. In the years just before the Council of Clermont took place, Spanish kings used religious differences as

12960-455: The mid-5th century BC. The style prevailed in Ionian lands, centred on the coast of Asia Minor and Aegean islands . The order's form was far less set than the Doric, with local variations persisting for many decades. In the Ionic capitals of the archaic Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (560 BC) the width of the abacus is twice that of its depth, consequently the earliest Ionic capital known

13095-557: The middle of the thirteenth century when the Portuguese Reconquista was also brought to an end with the ultimate conquering of Gharb al-Andalus when in March 1249 the city of Faro was conquered by Afonso III of Portugal . Ferdinand I of Leon was the leading king of the mid-11th century. He conquered Coimbra and attacked the taifa kingdoms, often demanding the tributes known as parias . Ferdinand's strategy

13230-567: The most notable ones being Bishop D. Fernando Coutinho, present in the negotiations of the Treaty of Tordesillas and a defender of the Jews , Egas Moniz Teles, nobleman under king Manuel I , whose family were amongst the first inhabitants of the Madeira island, judge João do Rego and his son in law Gastão da Ilha, Squire to Infante John . Economic difficulties and a diminishing population plagued

13365-462: The much more abundant Corinthian-style capitals crowning columns or pilasters, which can be found in the northwestern Indian subcontinent , particularly in Gandhara , and usually combine Hellenistic and Indian elements. These capitals are typically dated to the first century BC, and constitute important elements of Greco-Buddhist art . The Classical design was often adapted, usually taking

13500-560: The next 80 years, the Kingdom of León suffered civil wars, Moorish attack, internal intrigues and assassinations, and the partial independence of Galicia and Castile, thus delaying the reconquest and weakening the Christian forces. It was not until the following century that the Christians started to see their conquests as part of a long-term effort to restore the unity of the Visigothic kingdom. The only point during this period when

13635-877: The north of the Iberian Peninsula. It was the first Christian power to emerge. The kingdom was established by a Visigothic nobleman, named Pelagius ( Pelayo ), who had possibly returned after the Battle of Guadalete in 711 and was elected leader of the Asturians, and the remnants of the gens Gothorum (the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy and the Hispano-Visigothic population who took refuge in the North). Historian Joseph F. O'Callaghan says an unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with

13770-510: The only complete architectural textbook to have survived from classical times, the De architectura , by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, better known as Vitruvius , dedicated to the emperor Augustus . The various orders are discussed in Vitruvius' books iii and iv. Vitruvius describes Roman practice in a practical fashion. He gives some tales about the invention of each of the orders, but he does not give

13905-462: The orders accepted by the Romans. Its characteristics are masculinity, strength and solidity. The Doric capital consists of a cushion-like convex moulding known as an echinus, and a square slab termed an abacus. In the Ionic capital , spirally coiled volutes are inserted between the abacus and the ovolo. This order appears to have been developed contemporaneously with the Doric, though it did not come into common usage and take its final shape until

14040-778: The ornamentation undercut with drills. The block of stone was left rough as it came from the quarry, and the sculptor evolved new designs to his own fancy, so that one rarely meets with many repetitions of the same design. One of the most remarkable designs features leaves carved as if blown by the wind; the finest example being at the 8th-century Hagia Sophia (Thessaloniki) . Those in the Cathedral of Saint Mark, Venice  (1071) specially attracted John Ruskin 's fancy. Others appear in Sant'Apollinare in Classe , Ravenna  (549). The capital in San Vitale, Ravenna  (547) shows above it

14175-441: The plunder he gained further military forces could be paid, enabling him to raid the Muslim cities of Lisbon , Zamora , and Coimbra . Alfonso I also expanded his realm westwards conquering Galicia . During the reign of King Alfonso II (791–842), the kingdom was firmly established, and a series of Muslim raids caused the transfer of the Asturian capital to Oviedo . The king is believed to have initiated diplomatic contacts with

14310-541: The progress of the Reconquista . In the late 9th century under Count Wilfred , Barcelona became the de facto capital of the region. It controlled the other counties' policies in a union, which led in 948 to the independence of Barcelona under Count Borrel II , who declared that the new dynasty in France (the Capets ) were not the legitimate rulers of France nor, as a result, of his county. These states were small and, with

14445-558: The restoration of the Visigothic nation in order to vindicate the expansion to the south. However, such claims have been overall dismissed by modern historiography, emphasizing the distinct, autochthonous nature of the Cantabro-Asturian and Vasconic domains with no continuation to the Gothic Kingdom of Toledo. Pelagius's kingdom initially was little more than a gathering point for the existing guerrilla forces. During

14580-605: The route of their development in early Imperial Rome . Equally, where the Greek Ionic volute is usually shown from the side as a single unit of unchanged width between the front and back of the column, the Composite volutes are normally treated as four different thinner units, one at each corner of the capital, projecting at some 45° to the façade. The Lion Capital of Ashoka is an iconic capital which consists of four Asiatic lions standing back to back, on an elaborate base that includes other animals. A graphic representation of it

14715-718: The scrolls was an abacus, more shallow than that in Doric examples, and again ornamented with egg-and-dart. It has been suggested that the foliage of the Greek Corinthian capital was based on the Acanthus spinosus , that of the Roman on the Acanthus mollis . Not all architectural foliage is as realistic as Isaac Ware's ( illustration, right ) however. The leaves are generally carved in two "ranks" or bands, like one leafy cup set within another. The Corinthian capitals from

14850-617: The second, concave type, include the richly carved examples of the columns flanking the Tomb of Agamemnon in Mycenae (c. 1100 BC): they are carved with a chevron device, and with a concave apophyge on which the buds of some flowers are sculpted. Volute capitals, also known as proto-Aeolic capitals, are encountered in Iron-Age Southern Levant and ancient Cyprus , many of them in royal architectural contexts in

14985-547: The situation became hopeful for Leon was the reign of Ramiro II . King Ramiro, in alliance with Fernán González of Castile and his retinue of caballeros villanos , defeated the Caliph in Simancas in 939. After this battle, when the Caliph barely escaped with his guard and the rest of the army was destroyed, King Ramiro obtained 12 years of peace, but he had to give González the independence of Castile as payment for his help in

15120-536: The small, lush leaves appear to be caught up in the spinning of the scrolls – clearly, a different, nonclassical sensibility has taken over the design. The capitals at Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna ( Italy ) show wavy and delicate floral patterns similar to decorations found on belt buckles and dagger blades. Their inverted pyramidal form has the look of a basket. Capitals in early Islamic architecture are derived from Graeco-Roman and Byzantine forms, reflecting

15255-642: The taifas worried the rulers of those kingdoms, who called on the African Almoravids for help. The Kingdom of Pamplona primarily extended along either side of the Pyrenees on the Atlantic Ocean. The kingdom was formed when local leader Íñigo Arista led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority and was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824), establishing a kingdom inextricably linked at this stage to their kinsmen,

15390-512: The takeover of the southern fringes of al-Andalus by Abd ar-Rahman I in 756 was opposed by Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman , autonomous governor ( wāli ) or king ( malik ) of al-Andalus. Abd ar-Rahman I expelled Yusuf from Cordova, but it took still decades for him to expand to the north-western Andalusian districts. He was also opposed externally by the Abbasids of Baghdad who failed in their attempts to overthrow him. In 778, Abd al-Rahman closed in on

15525-602: The term Reconquista for what was earlier thought of as a restoration of the Visigothic Kingdom over conquered territories. The concept of Reconquista , consolidated in Spanish historiography in the second half of the 19th century, was associated with the development of a Spanish national identity, emphasizing Spanish nationalist and romantic aspects. It is rememorated in the Moros y Cristianos festival, very popular in parts of Southeastern Spain, and which can also be found in

15660-510: The territories then ruled by the Moors. Although the new dynasty first ruled in the mountains of Asturias, with the capital of the kingdom established initially in Cangas de Onís , and was in its dawn mostly concerned with securing the territory and settling the monarchy, the latest kings (particularly Alfonso III of Asturias ) emphasised the nature of the new kingdom as heir of that in Toledo and

15795-423: The time of the Doric order. An anta capital can sometimes be qualified as a "sofa" capital or a "sofa anta capital" when the sides of the capital broaden upward, in a shape reminiscent of a couch or sofa . Anta capitals are sometimes hard to distinguish from pilaster capitals, which are rather decorative, and do not have the same structural role as anta capitals. The origins of the Tuscan order lie with

15930-418: The training of most of the masons producing them. In both periods small columns are often used close together in groups, often around a pier that is in effect a single larger column, or running along a wall surface. The structural importance of the individual column is thereby greatly reduced. In both periods, though there are common types, the sense of a strict order with rules was not maintained, and when

16065-543: The turn of the 10th century (Leon, Najera). The fall of the Caliphate of Cordova (1031) heralded a period of military expansion for the northern kingdoms, now divided into several mighty regional powers after the division of the Kingdom of Navarre (1035). Myriad autonomous Christian kingdoms emerged thereafter. The Kingdom of Asturias was located in the Cantabrian Mountains , a wet and mountainous region in

16200-494: The vassal regions of Pamplona , Aragon , and Catalonia respectively. Catalonia was itself formed from a number of small counties , including Pallars , Girona , and Urgell ; it was called the Marca Hispanica by the late 8th century. They protected the eastern Pyrenees passes and shores and were under the direct control of the Frankish kings. Pamplona's first king was Iñigo Arista , who allied with his Muslim kinsmen

16335-697: The volutes of ancient Greek and Roman Ionic capitals had lain in the same plane as the architrave above them. This had created an awkward transition at the corner – where, for example, the designer of the temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis in Athens had brought the outside volute of the end capitals forward at a 45-degree angle. This problem was more satisfactorily solved by the 16th-century architect Sebastiano Serlio , who angled outwards all volutes of his Ionic capitals. Since then use of antique Ionic capitals, instead of Serlio's version, has lent an archaic air to

16470-522: The whole concept of " Reconquista " as a concept created a posteriori in the service of later political goals. A few historians point out that Spain and Portugal did not previously exist as nations, and therefore the heirs of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom were not technically re conquering them, as the name suggests. One of the first Spanish intellectuals to question the idea of a "reconquest" that lasted for eight centuries

16605-507: The writings of both sides, there was a sense of divide based on ethnicity and culture between the inhabitants of the small Christian kingdoms in the north and the dominant elite in the Muslim-ruled south. The linear approach to the origins of a Reconquista taken in early twentieth-century historiography is complicated by a number of issues. For example, periods of peaceful coexistence, or at least of limited and localised skirmishes on

16740-456: Was José Ortega y Gasset , writing in the first half of the 20th century. However, the term Reconquista is still widely in use. In 711, North African Berber soldiers with some Arabs commanded by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar , engaging a Visigothic force led by King Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete (July 19–26) in a moment of severe in-fighting and division across

16875-458: Was adopted as the official Emblem of India in 1950. This powerfully carved lion capital from Sarnath stood a top a pillar bearing the edicts of the emperor Ashoka . Like most of Ashoka's capitals, it is brilliantly polished. Located at the site of Buddha's first sermon and the formation of the Buddhist order, it carried imperial and Buddhist symbols, reflecting the universal authority of both

17010-479: Was carving, but in the west variety goes further, because of the clustering of columns and piers . The earliest type of capital in Lombardy and Germany is known as the cushion-cap, in which the lower portion of the cube block has been cut away to meet the circular shaft. These types were generally painted at first with geometrical designs, afterwards carved. The finest carving comes from France, especially from

17145-615: Was developed in the lands occupied by the Dorians , one of the two principal divisions of the Greek race. It became the preferred style of the Greek mainland and the western colonies (southern Italy and Sicily ). In the Temple of Apollo , Syracuse (c. 700 BC), the echinus moulding has become a more definite form: this in the Parthenon reaches its culmination, where the convexity

17280-468: Was followed by a series of edicts (1499–1526) which forced the conversions of Muslims in Castile, Navarre, and Aragon , who were later expelled from the Iberian realms of the Spanish Crown by a series of decrees starting in 1609. Approximately three million Muslims emigrated or were driven out of Spain between 1492 and 1610. Beginning in the 19th century, traditional historiography has used

17415-506: Was killed in the siege of Zamora by the traitor Bellido Dolfos (also known as Vellido Adolfo) in 1072. His brother Alfonso VI took over Leon, Castile and Galicia. Alfonso VI the Brave gave more power to the fueros and repopulated Segovia , Ávila and Salamanca . Once he had secured the Borders, King Alfonso conquered the powerful Taifa kingdom of Toledo in 1085. Toledo , which was

17550-523: Was made up of native North African soldiers. Some contemporary authors consider the " Reconquista " proof that the process of Christian state-building in Iberia was frequently defined by the reclamation of lands that had been lost to the Moors in generations past. In this way, state-building might be characterised—at least in ideological, if not practical, terms—as a process by which Iberian states were being "rebuilt". In turn, other recent historians dispute

17685-482: Was otherwise quite similar in proportions to the Corinthian, itself an order that Romans employed much more often than Greeks. The increasing adoption of Composite capitals signalled a trend towards freer, more inventive (and often more coarsely carved) capitals in Late Antiquity . The anta capital is not a capital which is set on top of column, but rather on top of an anta , a structural post integrated to

17820-423: Was permanently re-buried; however, his tomb slab with a Gothic inscription is still located on the floor of the main chapel of Silves Cathedral. Many important personalities of Silves, from nobility to crusaders, explorers, bishops and judges as well as local inhabitants from different walks of life were buried in the cathedral during the 15th and 16th centuries, as attested by the many tomb slabs on its floor, some of

17955-402: Was suspected of being under the influence of his wife and was accused of wanting to convert to Christianity and of planning a secessionist rebellion. Apparently a concerned Al-Walid I ordered Abd al-Aziz's assassination. Caliph Al-Walid I died in 715 and was succeeded by his brother Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik . Sulayman seems to have punished the surviving Musa ibn-Nusayr, who very soon died during

18090-445: Was to continue to demand parias until the taifa was greatly weakened both militarily and financially. He also repopulated the Borders with numerous fueros . Following the Navarrese tradition, on his death in 1064 he divided his kingdom between his sons. His son Sancho II of Castile wanted to reunite the kingdom of his father and attacked his brothers, with a young noble at his side: Rodrigo Díaz, later known as El Cid Campeador . Sancho

18225-501: Was virtually a bracket capital. A century later, in the temple on the Ilissus , the abacus has become square (See the more complete discussion at Ionic order ). According to the Roman architect Vitruvius , the Ionic order's main characteristics were beauty, femininity, and slenderness, derived from its basis on the proportion of a woman. The volutes of an Ionic capital rest on an echinus, almost invariably carved with egg-and-dart. Above

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