MIDDLE AGES

The Middle Ages began about 1500 years ago. During this period, two civilizations lived in the Iberian Peninsula: Christian civilization and the Islamic civilization.

The Christian civilization in the Iberian Peninsula began when the Romans arrived. Christian Spain was divided into areas called kingdoms. Each of these kingdoms had a king. The kingdoms attacked each other, so people built castles and walls to defend their towns and cities.

The Christian civilisation built religious buildings such as churches and cathedrals. 

During this period, there were four groups of Christians:

a)    The nobles owned the land given to them by the king. They lived in castles.

b)   The clergy were the religious people of the Middle Ages. They looked after their own land and helped the poor. They could often read and write in Latin.

c)    The craftmen were skilled workers and made products from materials such as glass ans wood.

d)   The peasants worked hard on the land of the nobles. The peasants didn´t receive a salary, but the nobles gave them protection. 

The Islamic civilization in the Iberian Peninsula began when the Muslims arrived from the North of Africa. The Islamic civilization built religious buildings such as mosques.