Men At Arms Moors The Islamic West 7th-15th Centuries AD Osprey Books

This book focuses on the armies of two major regions of the medieval Islamic world, namely al-Andalus and the western provinces of North Africa. This region was one of the powerhouses of the medieval Islamic world culturally, economically and militarily. The armies of al-Andalus, though originally of Berber and Arab origin, almost immediately included a large indigenous Iberian (ex-Visigothic) element. Thereafter Andalusian military development had at least as much in common with its Christian neighbours as it did with the Islamic Middle East. In their heyday one of the great threats to Christian Europe, the Moors played a pivotal role in the development of medieval Spain. The last of the Islamic kingdoms did not fall until 1492 - the same years Columbus set foot in the Americas.