The Mediterranean in the 14th century

Seville in the 14th century

Seville’s origins are as an important river port between the Atlantic Ocean and inland Andalusia, and a crossroads linking Andalusia with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula; hence its strategic importance and the different names that the city has been given over its history. 

Seville came into being as a political entity with the fall of the Cordoba Caliphate (1035). The Abbasids absorbed many of the “taifa” kingdoms such as Carmona and Cordoba into their territory. The end of the 11th century saw the end of the independent Muslim kingdom of Seville, and it became part of the Almoravid kingdom under Yusuf Ibn Tasufin (1091) and, later (1296), of the Almohad kingdom under Abu Ya’qub Yusuf. This Almohad rule, which would stimulate the city’s political/economic and urban growth, lasted until the city was conquered by Fernando III of Castile (1248).

This was a time of migrations and movements of population, innate in grand conquests of territory. Hence, in the words of Manuel González Jiménez, “the conquest of Andalusia by Castile was something more than an event of purely military significance. The most evident result was the gradual substitution of the autochthonous population for Christian settlers who came from all over. This mass exodus of the Muslim population allows one to talk, as did the Tunisian historian of Seville origins, Ibn Khaldun, of the great emigration or the mass expulsion of the population that followed the conquest of the major cities and towns of Andalusia.”

The population of Seville ended up being comprised of people from all over the kingdom. People arrived in the city from Galicia, Asturias, Extremadura, old and new Castile, in addition to the Mudejar and Jewish minorities in the city. The Muslims were expelled from the city by Fernando III, but some groups came back to Seville and they were settled in the Adarvejo neighbourhood, between the parishes of San Pedro and Santa Catalina. However, some of these families continued to live in other parts of the city until their mass conversion to Christianity.

In this way, half way through the 14th century, the Seville census shows that it had some 15,000 inhabitants in total, making it one of the largest cities in the kingdom, a very similar figure to the population it might have had at the time of the first repopulation. Hence the open, cosmopolitan character that the city has always had.

Its streets and buildings were hardly altered by the Christian conquest. The new settlers coexisted with the customs and culture of the Muslim population who stayed. It can be said that the capital of the kingdom had become one of Europe’s most relevant political centres, and a point of exchange for merchandise and knowledge – beautiful works of craftsmanship came out of its workshops.

At this time the city’s mosques were converted into Christian churches, and this was the case of the Great Mosque too. It would be 150 years later when, after a succession of extensions and transformations carried out on the 12th century Almohad Grand Mosque, the Cathedral was built that would become the emblem of Christian Seville. Today, the only remains visible of the mosque are the Patio de los Naranjos (Orange-tree courtyard) and La Giralda, the old minaret.

During the medieval period, king Pedro built a Mudejar-style palace (14th century) in the walled area of the old Muslim fortress. Seville’s Real Alcázar Palace, venue for the Ibn Khaldun Exhibition, and witness to the meeting held there between this Tunisian historian and king Pedro I “the cruel”, is not only a stunning monument in itself, but is also the oldest royal building conserved and used by Spanish and European monarchies today. 

The city of Seville served as a synthesis for different artistic influences that existed in parallel, but which also mixed, producing styles such as the popular Gothic-Mudejar. It also became a cultural focal point when it turned into one of the main European centres for book-printing.