How often do you think about medieval Spain? For many, the answer is often—though as it turns out, it is not only scholars but also gamers, readers, and streamers who have turned this historical period into their “Roman Empire.” Why wouldn’t they, when the Iberian Peninsula coincidentally not only formed part of that ancient empire but, after its fall, remained the base for centuries of innovation, collaboration, and conflict?
Are you fascinated by intellectual collaboration and knowledge seeking? What about an interest in warfare or religious history? Or perhaps romance and interpersonal partnerships are more your speed? If so, then there’s something for you in the rich history of the premodern past of what is today Spain and Portugal. As I explore below, many contemporary artists and entertainers know this to be true as they draw inspiration from this period for their products.
Consider, for example, the once Great Library of Cordoba that, prior to its destruction, held at least 400,000 books, employing over 500 men and women, with the renowned scholar Lubna appointed its director by the Muslim caliph al-Hakim II in the 10th century. The intellectual spaces of medieval Spain, like this one and later ones in Toledo sponsored by the Christian King Alfonso X, facilitated collaborations and translations among Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike on topics ranging from cosmology, philosophy, and science. Of course, this did not negate any conflict these religious groups experienced among each other, as seen in the years of the “Reconquista,” civil wars, and general fights for inherited land and rulership.
If you are interested in learning more about these battles, explosions, or esoteric musings stemming from surviving texts, consider joining the online course through Medievalists.net starting March 29, entitled “The Three Religions of Medieval Spain.” In anticipation of that course, let’s take a look at some of the neomedieval retellings of this time period in video and board games, television series, and historical fiction. While never flawless representations—as any reinterpretation alters some details—the mirrored historical events in these productions transport the player, viewer, or reader into an enchanting past, sparking perhaps a curiosity for more.
Medieval Spain in Gaming: Strategy, Survival, and Storytelling
Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms
Back in 2015, Forgotten Empires and Skybox Labs developed a PC expansion game, Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. The very first scenario follows Umayyad commander Tariq ibn Ziyad, who led the expansion into the Iberian Peninsula, battling against the Visigoths between 711-718. It is this very historical figure that kicks off the course in Module One. Set in the same time period, in 2022, DNC Games released a role-playing adventure PC game, Al Andalus 711: Epic History Battle Game. This time, instead of navigating Tariq’s campaign in hopes of gaining more land, the player takes on the role of a Visigothic villager attempting to survive this expansion. Each of these two games offers differing perspectives, much like Module One provides descriptions of the birth of al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, from both Christian and Muslim sources.
Jumping forward to the 11th century, we have the 2022 board game produced by GMT Games, Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain, 1085-1086. Now, using dice on a physical map game-space illustrating various Muslim Taifas (city-states) and Christian Kingdoms, the player or players must strategically control campaigns across 11th-century Iberia. As the game advances, it includes historical events like the “Fall of Toledo” in 1085, when it shifted from Muslim to Christian control. Another solitaire area-movement game is the 2014 White Dog production, Reconquista: The Struggle of Moorish Spain. Here, the sole player simulates the Christian kingdoms’ expansion throughout Iberia from the 8th to the 15th centuries, with the goal of “recapturing” the territory for Christendom.
Among many other examples, consider the board game released by Ludonova in 2022, Sabika. Here, the players embody a Muslim Nasrid noble charged with constructing the famed Alhambra, which began in 1238. In addition to building the site’s towers and gardens or engraving poetry into its walls, the players also establish trade routes, negotiating with both neighboring Christian and Muslim territories across the Mediterranean. The player with the best structures and trading allies wins. Like the course itself, all these games weave in socioreligious contact through collaboration and conflict from differing perspectives and time periods of Iberia’s fascinating past.
Medieval Spain on Screen: Dramas and Historical Epics
Courtesy Amazon / MGM Studios
Interactive games are not the only way Iberia’s premodern history reaches the minds and hearts of the general public. Let us turn our attention to television series. A recent example is the Kuwait-Syrian Ramadan show released in April 2022, Fath al-Andalus. It is a dramatization of Tariq’s expansion and establishment of al-Andalus. That said, this 30-episode show, now available on YouTube with English subtitles, sparked some controversy in Morocco as the, sometimes debated, Amazigh or Berber identity of Tariq was not addressed. Despite the tensions, it remains a contemporary portrayal of what was the start of centuries of direct Islamic influence on the Peninsula.
Another example, perhaps more known even among American viewers, is the 2020-2021 Spanish show, El Cid, streaming on Amazon Prime. This 10-episode, two-season show is another historical drama following the figure Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, “El Cid,” the 11th-century Castilian knight. The show does a great job of depicting the tensions and cross-religious relations among historical figures, showcasing both Castilian and Andalusi courts with both Spanish and Arabic as the dominating languages. While perhaps at times romanticized, it provides a compelling visual of how conflict was not reserved only for religious difference but also occurred within families and allegiances or collaborations formed despite theological beliefs—something that the online course demonstrates throughout its six modules.
While we could go into detail about many Spanish shows that explore the centuries covered in the course—such as RTVE’s 2011–2014 Isabel, RTVE’s 2015–2016 Carlos, Rey Emperador, or Antena 3’s 2012 Toledo, cruce de destinos—all of which have yet to appear on major streaming platforms accessible in the U.S., let us conclude with RTVE’s 2015–2020 El Ministerio del Tiempo, which was available on Netflix for a time. While not all of its 42 episodes across four seasons address the premodern past, the premise centers around a series of magical doors entrusted to Queen Isabel La Católica in the 15th century by a Jewish rabbi in 1492. From that moment on, a fictional Spanish government created a secret Ministry of Time to protect and preserve the nation’s history. In sum, agents from various periods travel back in time to ensure, for example, that Cervantes writes Don Quijote. These agents also frequently interact with the early modern painter Diego Velázquez and, among other figures, encounter Morisco (mostly crypto-Muslim converts) refugees from the 17th-century expulsions. This last group of historical minorities is explored in more detail in Module 6 of the course.
Historical Fiction: Reimagining Medieval Spain Through Storytelling
Creative representations of Spain’s past are not limited to the streaming screen, as last year alone saw two new historical fiction novels. National bestseller Leigh Bardugo released a stand-alone novel in April 2024 entitled The Familiar, set in late 16th-century Madrid, following the adventures of a scullion woman descended from Portuguese Conversos who has an innate gift for magic, or “milagritos” (little miracles) as they are called. This novel, with elements of romance, explores hybridity, minority crypto-religious communities, the power of language, and, of course, the notion of magic.
A few months later, near the end of 2024, historical novelist KM Butler released The Thief and the Nightingale: A Novel of Medieval Spain. Like the previous example, this one also takes a romance angle, but this time between a Muslim woman and a Mozarab Christian man who was disowned by his family after not converting to Islam as they journey through various Christian and Muslim territories of the Peninsula. This story is set some centuries back in 11th-century Toledo. Once again, books like these transport their readers into a nuanced past, especially with their added strategic code-switching terms, underscoring once again Iberia’s multicultural and multilingual characteristics.
Bringing Medieval Spain to Life: A Legacy in Popular Media
In sum, the religious complexity of premodern Iberia manifests in popular entertainment from interactive games, streamable shows, and historical fiction. These platforms showcase the tapestry of innovation, collaboration, and conflict of this area of the medieval world to more than just scholars. If you are familiar with any of these recent creations or are curious about what else the Peninsula’s multifaceted legacy has to offer, consider joining the upcoming online course! The examples explored above connect to the course either directly through discussions of historical figures and events or indirectly through the broader context of the time period.
Veronica Menaldi is an independent scholar and vice president of the Societas Magica. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures from the University of Minnesota and is teaching the online course The Three Religions of Medieval Spain.
By Veronica Menaldi
How often do you think about medieval Spain? For many, the answer is often—though as it turns out, it is not only scholars but also gamers, readers, and streamers who have turned this historical period into their “Roman Empire.” Why wouldn’t they, when the Iberian Peninsula coincidentally not only formed part of that ancient empire but, after its fall, remained the base for centuries of innovation, collaboration, and conflict?
Are you fascinated by intellectual collaboration and knowledge seeking? What about an interest in warfare or religious history? Or perhaps romance and interpersonal partnerships are more your speed? If so, then there’s something for you in the rich history of the premodern past of what is today Spain and Portugal. As I explore below, many contemporary artists and entertainers know this to be true as they draw inspiration from this period for their products.
Consider, for example, the once Great Library of Cordoba that, prior to its destruction, held at least 400,000 books, employing over 500 men and women, with the renowned scholar Lubna appointed its director by the Muslim caliph al-Hakim II in the 10th century. The intellectual spaces of medieval Spain, like this one and later ones in Toledo sponsored by the Christian King Alfonso X, facilitated collaborations and translations among Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike on topics ranging from cosmology, philosophy, and science. Of course, this did not negate any conflict these religious groups experienced among each other, as seen in the years of the “Reconquista,” civil wars, and general fights for inherited land and rulership.
If you are interested in learning more about these battles, explosions, or esoteric musings stemming from surviving texts, consider joining the online course through Medievalists.net starting March 29, entitled “The Three Religions of Medieval Spain.” In anticipation of that course, let’s take a look at some of the neomedieval retellings of this time period in video and board games, television series, and historical fiction. While never flawless representations—as any reinterpretation alters some details—the mirrored historical events in these productions transport the player, viewer, or reader into an enchanting past, sparking perhaps a curiosity for more.
Medieval Spain in Gaming: Strategy, Survival, and Storytelling
Back in 2015, Forgotten Empires and Skybox Labs developed a PC expansion game, Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms. The very first scenario follows Umayyad commander Tariq ibn Ziyad, who led the expansion into the Iberian Peninsula, battling against the Visigoths between 711-718. It is this very historical figure that kicks off the course in Module One. Set in the same time period, in 2022, DNC Games released a role-playing adventure PC game, Al Andalus 711: Epic History Battle Game. This time, instead of navigating Tariq’s campaign in hopes of gaining more land, the player takes on the role of a Visigothic villager attempting to survive this expansion. Each of these two games offers differing perspectives, much like Module One provides descriptions of the birth of al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, from both Christian and Muslim sources.
Jumping forward to the 11th century, we have the 2022 board game produced by GMT Games, Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain, 1085-1086. Now, using dice on a physical map game-space illustrating various Muslim Taifas (city-states) and Christian Kingdoms, the player or players must strategically control campaigns across 11th-century Iberia. As the game advances, it includes historical events like the “Fall of Toledo” in 1085, when it shifted from Muslim to Christian control. Another solitaire area-movement game is the 2014 White Dog production, Reconquista: The Struggle of Moorish Spain. Here, the sole player simulates the Christian kingdoms’ expansion throughout Iberia from the 8th to the 15th centuries, with the goal of “recapturing” the territory for Christendom.
Among many other examples, consider the board game released by Ludonova in 2022, Sabika. Here, the players embody a Muslim Nasrid noble charged with constructing the famed Alhambra, which began in 1238. In addition to building the site’s towers and gardens or engraving poetry into its walls, the players also establish trade routes, negotiating with both neighboring Christian and Muslim territories across the Mediterranean. The player with the best structures and trading allies wins. Like the course itself, all these games weave in socioreligious contact through collaboration and conflict from differing perspectives and time periods of Iberia’s fascinating past.
Medieval Spain on Screen: Dramas and Historical Epics
Interactive games are not the only way Iberia’s premodern history reaches the minds and hearts of the general public. Let us turn our attention to television series. A recent example is the Kuwait-Syrian Ramadan show released in April 2022, Fath al-Andalus. It is a dramatization of Tariq’s expansion and establishment of al-Andalus. That said, this 30-episode show, now available on YouTube with English subtitles, sparked some controversy in Morocco as the, sometimes debated, Amazigh or Berber identity of Tariq was not addressed. Despite the tensions, it remains a contemporary portrayal of what was the start of centuries of direct Islamic influence on the Peninsula.
Another example, perhaps more known even among American viewers, is the 2020-2021 Spanish show, El Cid, streaming on Amazon Prime. This 10-episode, two-season show is another historical drama following the figure Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, “El Cid,” the 11th-century Castilian knight. The show does a great job of depicting the tensions and cross-religious relations among historical figures, showcasing both Castilian and Andalusi courts with both Spanish and Arabic as the dominating languages. While perhaps at times romanticized, it provides a compelling visual of how conflict was not reserved only for religious difference but also occurred within families and allegiances or collaborations formed despite theological beliefs—something that the online course demonstrates throughout its six modules.
While we could go into detail about many Spanish shows that explore the centuries covered in the course—such as RTVE’s 2011–2014 Isabel, RTVE’s 2015–2016 Carlos, Rey Emperador, or Antena 3’s 2012 Toledo, cruce de destinos—all of which have yet to appear on major streaming platforms accessible in the U.S., let us conclude with RTVE’s 2015–2020 El Ministerio del Tiempo, which was available on Netflix for a time. While not all of its 42 episodes across four seasons address the premodern past, the premise centers around a series of magical doors entrusted to Queen Isabel La Católica in the 15th century by a Jewish rabbi in 1492. From that moment on, a fictional Spanish government created a secret Ministry of Time to protect and preserve the nation’s history. In sum, agents from various periods travel back in time to ensure, for example, that Cervantes writes Don Quijote. These agents also frequently interact with the early modern painter Diego Velázquez and, among other figures, encounter Morisco (mostly crypto-Muslim converts) refugees from the 17th-century expulsions. This last group of historical minorities is explored in more detail in Module 6 of the course.
Historical Fiction: Reimagining Medieval Spain Through Storytelling
Creative representations of Spain’s past are not limited to the streaming screen, as last year alone saw two new historical fiction novels. National bestseller Leigh Bardugo released a stand-alone novel in April 2024 entitled The Familiar, set in late 16th-century Madrid, following the adventures of a scullion woman descended from Portuguese Conversos who has an innate gift for magic, or “milagritos” (little miracles) as they are called. This novel, with elements of romance, explores hybridity, minority crypto-religious communities, the power of language, and, of course, the notion of magic.
A few months later, near the end of 2024, historical novelist KM Butler released The Thief and the Nightingale: A Novel of Medieval Spain. Like the previous example, this one also takes a romance angle, but this time between a Muslim woman and a Mozarab Christian man who was disowned by his family after not converting to Islam as they journey through various Christian and Muslim territories of the Peninsula. This story is set some centuries back in 11th-century Toledo. Once again, books like these transport their readers into a nuanced past, especially with their added strategic code-switching terms, underscoring once again Iberia’s multicultural and multilingual characteristics.
Bringing Medieval Spain to Life: A Legacy in Popular Media
In sum, the religious complexity of premodern Iberia manifests in popular entertainment from interactive games, streamable shows, and historical fiction. These platforms showcase the tapestry of innovation, collaboration, and conflict of this area of the medieval world to more than just scholars. If you are familiar with any of these recent creations or are curious about what else the Peninsula’s multifaceted legacy has to offer, consider joining the upcoming online course! The examples explored above connect to the course either directly through discussions of historical figures and events or indirectly through the broader context of the time period.
Veronica Menaldi is an independent scholar and vice president of the Societas Magica. She holds a PhD in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures from the University of Minnesota and is teaching the online course The Three Religions of Medieval Spain.
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