A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp , old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, all paper in a paper mill was made by hand, one sheet at a time, by specialized laborers.
105-678: Historic RittenhouseTown, sometimes referred to as Rittenhouse Historic District, encompasses the remains of an early industrial community which was the site of the first paper mill in British North America . The mill was built in 1690 by William Rittenhouse and his son Nicholas on the north bank of Paper Mill Run (Monoshone Creek) near (and now within) Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . The district, off Lincoln Drive near Wissahickon Avenue in Fairmount Park , includes six of up to forty-five original buildings. RittenhouseTown
210-521: 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 the progress of
315-402: 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
420-764: 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
525-580: 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 the Reconquista . Two northern realms, Navarre and Asturias, despite their small size, demonstrated an ability to maintain their independence. Because
630-537: 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 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
735-628: 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 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
840-528: A necessity to drive out the Muslims and restore conquered territories. In fact, in 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
945-570: A number of issues. For example, periods of peaceful coexistence, or at least of limited and localised skirmishes on 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
1050-475: A reference in al-Biruni in the 11th century to stones "fixed to axles across running water, as in Samarkand with the pounding of flax for paper," a possible exception to the rule. Hill finds the notice "too brief to enable us to say with certainty" that this was a water-powered triphammer. Thomas Glick warily concludes that "it is assumed but not proved" that Islamic Xàtiva had hydraulic papermills, noting that
1155-780: A result of the Alhambra Decree , the Jewish communities in Castile and Aragon—some 200,000 people—were forcibly expelled . The conquest 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
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#17327940439071260-443: 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 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
1365-412: A sheet of paper that can be used in diverse ways. Modern paper machines can be 150 metres (500 ft) in length, produce a sheet 10 metres (400 in) wide, and operate at speeds of more than 97 kilometres per hour (60 mph). The two main suppliers of paper machines are Metso and Voith . It has also become universal to talk of paper "mills" (even of 400 such mills at Fez !), relating these to
1470-474: A water-powered paper mill. This is seen by Leor Halevi as evidence of Samarkand first harnessing waterpower in the production of paper, but notes that it is not known if waterpower was applied to papermaking elsewhere across the Islamic world at the time. Robert I. Burns remains sceptical, given the isolated occurrence of the reference and the prevalence of manual labour in Islamic papermaking elsewhere prior to
1575-570: Is also completely without substance. Clear evidence of a water-powered paper mill dates to 1282 in the Iberian Crown of Aragon . A decree by the Christian king Peter III addresses the establishment of a royal " molendinum ", a proper hydraulic mill, in the paper manufacturing center of Xàtiva . This early hydraulic paper mill was operated by Muslims in the Moorish quarter of Xàtiva, though it appears to have been resented by sections of
1680-607: Is no papermaking in these documents, much less hydraulic mills. Reconquista The Reconquista ( Spanish and Portuguese for ' reconquest ' ) or 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
1785-467: Is rememorated in the Moros y Cristianos festival, very popular in parts of Southeastern Spain, and which can also be found in 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
1890-539: Is suggested by the habit of Muslim authors at the time to call a production center not a "mill", but a "paper manufactory". Scholars have identified paper mills in Abbasid -era Baghdad in 794–795. The evidence that waterpower was applied to papermaking at this time is a matter of scholarly debate. In the Moroccan city of Fez , Ibn Battuta speaks of "400 mill stones for paper". Since Ibn Battuta does not mention
1995-590: Is used for cooking demonstrations. A 20th century barn originally built for the Fairmount Park Commission is now used for paper-making workshops and demonstrations. Most of RittenhouseTown's buildings are built of stone and finished in stucco, and generally exhibit colonial building methods. They are all that are left of a much larger industrial complex and worker village, of which more than thirty-five buildings have been demolished. The area also includes archaeological industrial remains of some of
2100-663: 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), 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
2205-546: 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 the Chanson de Roland , an 11th-century French chanson de geste that offers a fictionalised retelling of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass dealing with
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#17327940439072310-459: The Arista dynasty and Banu Qasi as early as the 9th century. Blurring distinctions even further were 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
2415-465: 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
2520-506: The Middle Ages , was not used by writers of the period. Since its development as a term in medieval historiography occurred centuries after 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
2625-525: 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
2730-599: 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 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
2835-505: 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 was suspected of being under the influence of his wife and was accused of wanting to convert to Christianity and of planning
2940-522: 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
3045-531: 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 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
3150-408: The 13th century. Hill notes that paper mills appear in early Christian Catalan documentation from the 1150s, which may imply Islamic origins, but that hard evidence is lacking. Burns, however, has dismissed the case for early Catalan water-powered paper mills, after re-examination of the evidence. The identification of early hydraulic stamping mills in medieval documents from Fabriano , Italy,
3255-971: The 1850s, by which time the family was leasing its facilities out to other types of manufacturing. Between the years 1890 and 1917, the site was acquired through donations and purchases by the City of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission . A nonprofit organization called Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc. was founded in 1984 to preserve, restore, and historically interpret RittenhouseTown. The organization maintains offices within RittenhouseTown and offers historic tours, paper making workshops and special events. RittenhouseTown includes six historic buildings maintained by Historic RittenhouseTown: Abraham Rittenhouse Home (c. 1720); Rittenhouse Homestead (1707); Rittenhouse Bake House (c. 1730); Enoch Rittenhouse Home (1845); Jacob Rittenhouse Home (1810); and another unnamed 18th century Rittenhouse Home. The Rittenhouse Bake House
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3360-421: The 19th century, traditional historiography has used 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
3465-481: 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 the Francoist dictatorship . It thus became one of the key tenets of the historiographical discourse of National Catholicism , the mythological and ideological identity of
3570-575: 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 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,
3675-523: 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 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
3780-614: 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 , 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
3885-647: 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 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
3990-561: The Chinese and Arabs used only human and animal force. Gimpel goes on to say: "This is convincing evidence of how technologically minded the Europeans of that era were. Paper had traveled nearly halfway around the world, but no culture or civilization on its route had tried to mechanize its manufacture."' Indeed, Muslim authors in general call any "paper manufactory" a wiraqah - not a "mill" ( tahun ) Al-Hassan and Hill also use as evidence
4095-662: 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, 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
4200-512: 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 the Pyrenees in 778. Near the city of Zaragoza Charlemagne received the homage of Sulayman al-Arabi . However
4305-529: 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 the vassal regions of Pamplona , Aragon , and Catalonia respectively. Catalonia
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4410-457: 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
4515-597: 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 the actual events. The consolidation of the modern idea of a " Reconquista " is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in
4620-521: 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 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
4725-468: 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 the following year across the eastern Pyrenees. Barcelona , a major city, became a potential target for
4830-719: The Museos Municipales de Historia in the Instituto Municipal de Historia at Barcelona, has popularized a version of that thesis, in which Christian paper mills multiplied marvelously along the Catalan rivers "from Tarragona to the Pyrenees" from 1113 to 1244. His many articles and two books, valuable for such topics as fiber analysis in medieval paper, continue to spread this untenable and indeed bizarre thesis. As Josep Madurell i Marimon shows in detail, these were all in fact cloth fulling mills; textiles were then
4935-539: 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 the Pyrenees by 719. The last Visigothic king Ardo resisted them in Septimania, where he fended off
5040-444: 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 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,
5145-482: 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 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
5250-647: 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
5355-448: 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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#17327940439075460-399: The basic mechanized industry of the Christian west. Fabriano's claim rests on two charters - a gift of August 1276, and a sale of November 1278, to the new Benedictine congregation of Silvestrine monks at Montefano. In each, a woman recluse-hermit gives to the monastery her enclosure or "prison" - Latin carcer ; misread by Fabriano partisans as a form of Italian cartiera or paper mill! There
5565-457: 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
5670-611: 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 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
5775-493: 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
5880-414: 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 , a highly romanticised account of this battle, would later become one of the most famous chansons de geste of
5985-450: The concept of "Reconquista", a Christian reconquest of the peninsula, appeared in writings by 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
6090-499: 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 , 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
6195-404: The difficulty of identifying the particularly efficient and historically important water-powered type. The use of human and animal powered mills was known to Muslim and Chinese papermakers . However, evidence for water-powered paper mills is elusive among both prior to the 11th century. The general absence of the use of water-powered paper mills in Muslim papermaking prior to the 11th century
6300-455: The distributors of paper products. It was said to be the only business of its kind in the world, and was started in 1931 by Tompkins. It prospered in spite of the business depression. " Log drives " were conducted on local rivers to send the logs to the mills. By the late 20th and early 21st-century, paper mills began to close, and the log drives became a dying craft. Due to the addition of new machinery, many millworkers were laid off and many of
6405-511: 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
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#17327940439076510-407: 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
6615-481: 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
6720-573: 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
6825-455: 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 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
6930-399: The historic paper mills closed. Paper mills can be fully integrated mills or nonintegrated mills. Integrated mills consist of a pulp mill and a paper mill on the same site. Such mills receive logs or wood chips and produce paper. The modern paper mill uses large amounts of energy , water , and wood pulp in an efficient and complex series of processes, and control technology to produce
7035-436: The hydraulic wonders of Islamic society in the east and west. All our evidence points to non-hydraulic hand production, however, at springs away from rivers which it could pollute. European papermaking differed from its precursors in the mechanization of the process and in the application of water power. Jean Gimpel , in The Medieval Machine (the English translation of La Revolution Industrielle du Moyen Age ), points out that
7140-399: 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
7245-440: 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
7350-415: The local Muslim papermakering community; the document guarantees them the right to continue the way of traditional papermaking by beating the pulp manually and grants them the right to be exempted from work in the new mill. The first permanent paper mill north of the Alps was established in Nuremberg by Ulman Stromer in 1390; it is later depicted in the lavishly illustrated Nuremberg Chronicle . From
7455-422: The mid-14th century onwards, European paper milling underwent a rapid improvement of many work processes. The size of a paper mill prior to the use of industrial machines was described by counting the number of vats it had. Thus, a "one vat" paper mill had only one vatman, one coucher, and other laborers. The first reference to a paper mill in England was in a book printed by Wynken de Worde c. 1495 ;
7560-557: 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
7665-472: The mill buildings. Paper mill Historical investigations into the origin of the paper mill are complicated by differing definitions and loose terminology from modern authors: Many modern scholars use the term to refer indiscriminately to all kinds of mills , whether powered by humans, by animals or by water . Their propensity to refer to any ancient paper manufacturing center as a "mill", without further specifying its exact power source, has increased
7770-503: The mill, near Hertford, belonged to John Tate. An early attempt at a machine to mechanise the process was patented in 1799 by the Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert; it was not deemed a success. In 1801, however, the drawings were brought to England by John Gamble and passed on to brothers Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, who financed the engineer Bryan Donkin to construct the machine. Their first successful machine
7875-610: The most thorough account of Muslim papermaking at the time, the one by the Zirid Sultan Al-Muizz ibn Badis , describes the art purely in terms of a handcraft. Donald Hill has identified a possible reference to a water-powered paper mill in Samarkand , in the 11th-century work of the Persian scholar Abu Rayhan Biruni , but concludes that the passage is "too brief to enable us to say with certainty" that it refers to
7980-468: The mould rotates, the water is sucked through the wire, leaving a thin layer of fibres deposited on the cylinder. These cylinder-mould machines, as they are named, were strong competition for Fourdrinier machine makers. They were the type of machine first used by the North American paper industry. It is estimated that by 1850 UK paper production had reached 100,000 tons. Later developments increased
8085-501: 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
8190-820: 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
8295-560: 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 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
8400-563: 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 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
8505-469: 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 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
8610-428: The paper markets. By the end of the century there were less than 300 UK paper mills, employing 35,000 people and producing 650,000 tons of paper per year. By the early 20th century, paper mills sprang up around New England and the rest of the world, due to the high demand for paper. The United States, with its infrastructure and mill towns , was the largest producer in the world. Chief among these in paper production
8715-483: The pertinent Arabic description was "a press." Since the "oldest" Catalan paper is physically the same as Islamic Xàtiva's, he notes, their techniques "can be presumed to have been identical" - reasonable enough for Catalan paper before 1280. My recent conversations with Glick indicate that he now inclines to non-hydraulic Andalusi papermaking. Currently Oriol Valls i Subin't, director of the History of Paper department of
8820-441: 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
8925-675: The production of paper; one such was the Brown Company in Berlin, New Hampshire run by William Wentworth Brown. During the year 1907, the Brown Company cut between 30 and 40 million acres of woodlands on their property, which extended from La Tuque , Quebec , Canada to West Palm , Florida . In the 1920s, Nancy Baker Tompkins represented large paper manufacturing companies, like Hammermill Paper Company, Honolulu Paper Company and Appleton Coated Paper Company to promote sales to
9030-547: 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 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
9135-479: 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 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,
9240-589: 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 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
9345-558: 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
9450-547: 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
9555-401: The size and capacity of machines as well as seeking high volume alternative pulp sources from which paper could be reliably produced. Many of the earlier mills were small and had been located in rural areas. The movement was to larger mills in, or near, urban areas closer to their suppliers of the raw materials. They were often situated near a port where the raw material was brought in by ship and
9660-756: The statement by Robert Forbes in his multivolume Studies in Ancient Technology that "in the tenth century [AD] floating mills were found on the Tigris near Baghdad." Though such captive mills were known to the Romans and were used in 12th-century France, Forbes offers no citation or evidence for this unlikely application to very early papermaking. The most erudite authority on the topography of medieval Baghdad, George Makdisi, writes me that he has no recollection of such floating papermills or any papermills, which "I think I would have remembered." Donald Hill has found
9765-642: 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,
9870-562: 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
9975-543: 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
10080-493: The use of water-power and such a number of water-mills would be grotesquely high, the passage is generally taken to refer to human or animal force . An exhaustive survey of milling in Al-Andalus did not uncover water-powered paper mills, nor do the Spanish books of property distribution ( Repartimientos ) after the Christian reconquest refer to any. Arabic texts never use the term mill in connection with papermaking, and
10185-420: 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 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
10290-564: Was Holyoke, Massachusetts , which was the largest producer of paper in the world by 1885, and home to engineers D. H. & A. B. Tower who oversaw the largest firm of paper millwrights in the US during that decade, designing mills on five continents. However, as 20th century progressed this diaspora moved further north and west in the United States, with access to greater pulp supplies and labor. At this time, there were many world leaders of
10395-518: 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 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
10500-449: 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, 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
10605-399: Was installed at Frogmore Mill , Hertfordshire , in 1803. In 1809 at Apsley Mill , John Dickinson patented and installed another kind of paper machine. Rather than pouring a dilute pulp suspension onto an endlessly revolving flat wire, this machine used a cylinder covered in wire as the mould. A cylindrical mould is partially submerged in the vat, containing a pulp suspension, and then, as
10710-538: 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 the Banu Qasi and rebelled against Frankish overlordship and overcame
10815-506: 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
10920-631: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark District on April 27, 1992. Flax was woven into linen in nearby Germantown . When the linen fabrics wore out, the rags were brought to RittenhouseTown to be made into paper. Paper produced at the Rittenhouse mill was sold to printers in Germantown, Philadelphia, and New York City . The Rittenhouse paper mill operated until about
11025-502: 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
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