Significación de la frontera castellano-nazarí en la estructuración urbano territorial de Andalucía

Abstract

The aim of the present PhD dissertation is the study of the territorial urban structure of Andalusia from a perspective, which has gone unnoticed up to the present day. It deals with the outreach and impact of a historical event in the late Middle Ages, which brought about the stabilization of the Castilian-Nasrid frontier. The former was considered to be the last frontier between the Universitas Christiana and the west Islam in the current urban territorial structure in Andalusia, which is understood as a process of constant mutation. The investigation focuses on the question from the joint consideration, that is, the border from its start at the eastern end [Murcia], to the closure at its western end [Cádiz]. Our research work starts in 1246 when Ferdinand III called «the Saint» was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 and, Muḥammad I, «Ibn al-Ahmar» signed the Jaén agreement/pact by which a vassalage relationship and the foundation of the Nasrid Dynasty were established. It was under this dynasty that the last al-Andalus heirs were found in the Grenada emirate. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs were presented with the keys of the city by Muḥammad XII, «Boabdil». This event led to more than 250 years of similarities and differences between both cultures, which established a territorial urban frontier altering the land-use planning, forms of ownership and infrastructure among others. This fact meant the emergence of refounding and ex novo. Consequently, the frontier has left its mark on the current territorial urban structure of Andalusia and it is therefore the main aim of the present dissertation that leads us to a better understanding of those territories.