‘For he bestirred himself to protect the land from the Moors’: Depicting the Medieval Reconquista in Modern Spanish Graphic Novels

This article considers two graphic novels that depict and deal with two separate periods during the Spanish Reconquista [Reconquest] that was fought during the Middle Ages by the Christian kingdoms to roll back the Muslim domination of the Iberian peninsula. Though written more than thirty years apart, El Cid (1971–1984), by Antonio Hernández Palacios, and 1212: Las Navas de Tolosa (2016), by Jesús Cano de la Iglesia, present interesting and at times quite similar views of the medieval Spanish past, even though the periods they depict were arguably very different from each other. This article analyses the ways in which both authors depict the themes of Spain, the crusading movement, and ‘otherness’ in their texts, and it considers the potential influences behind their depictions of such themes.

However, some works do focus on the Reconquista. This paper will consider two such examples: the ‘classic’ Spanish work on the Middle Ages, based on the classic medieval source of the Reconquista period, El Cid, by Antonio Hernández Palacios; and a modern comparison, 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa, by Jesús Cano de la Iglesia. By focusing in particular on the depiction of military events and military behaviour in these two works, this paper will consider how the war between Christians and Muslims in medieval Spain is presented in works of modern popular culture.