James M. Anderson Fire over Calpe

Annotation

The Christianized Germanic Visigoths reigned on the Iberian Peninsula in the late sixth and seventh centuries until the year 711, when they were overthrown by Arabic and Moorish forces from Africa. The clash of wills between the Catholic Church and the King of the Goths for power and wealth, paved the way for an Islamic invasion, but specific details of this event have been little recorded. In this fictional account, the Hispanic Jews, heavily persecuted under the Gothic kings and the church, serve as go-betweens for the Catholic Church and the North African Muslims. The fierce Basques in the northeast of the peninsula, the Germanic Suevi installed in the northwest, and the Franks beyond the Pyrenees, all present a constant irritation to the Goths and become unwitting scapegoats in the churchs plans to dislodge the king and replace him on the throne with a prince more sympathetic to its desires and ambitions. This is a tale of war, lust, deceit and treachery culminating in a change of masters in Hispania. The Arabs came, conquered, and contrary to the expectations of the conspirators, they stayed.