Reconquest Episode 30: Saint Ferdinand III, with Dr. Alexandra Wilhelmsen

For this show, I am joined by Dr. Alexandra Wilhelmsen (with whom I previously discussed the Spanish Carlists). Our subject is Saint Ferdinand III, the Crusader and liberator of Catholic Spain, who united the two Iberian Kingdoms of Leon and Castile, ruling — after his successful Reconquista — a territory roughly two-thirds the size of present-day Spain.

Included in our discussion are the Saint’s Marian piety, his chivalrous rule, his amazing conquests of Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, and other cities, and his practice of heroic Christian virtue in the midst of conflict, including terrible family conflict.