Ferdinand III conquers Cordoba

1236

The Castilian king entered the old Umayyad capital and converted its great mosque, with its endless horseshoe arches, into a cathedral. The silver bells of Santiago de Compostela, carried south centuries earlier as war loot, were carried home on Muslim shoulders. The conquest of Cordoba, once the most splendid city in western Europe, sent shockwaves through the remaining Muslim taifa states of Iberia.