In 711, the weak Visigoth Empire under King Roderic was defeated near Medina Sidonia by the Berber governor of Tangier, Tariq ibn Ziyad. This defeat marked the end of the Visigoth Empire in Spain. The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began in the summer of 711 with Tariq's expedition through present day Spain of roughly 7,000 men. This conquest of the Peninsula was completed by the year 713. The importance of the Muslim conquest cannot be overstated. In …showed first 75 words of 954 total…

…showed last 75 words of 954 total…beginning of the dissolution of Alfonso VI's kingdom (“Medieval History”). It is in 1092 when Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid, set himself up as absolute ruler of the Muslim city of Valencia. It was during his second exile from Castile that the Cid, with a combined army of Moors and Christians, toke Valencia. In 1099 Valencia was retaken by the Moors. The reason for the Moors retaking Valencia was the death of Cid (“El Cid”).