On July 8, 1907 one of the most shocking and brazen crimes in history was discovered. The Manchester Evening news reported, incredulously: "On the eve of the departure of the King and Queen on a state visit to Ireland comes the startling news that the Jewels of the Order of St Patrick, valued at 50,000 pounds, have been stolen.”
The Reconquista, or Christian reconquest of Iberia, took nearly 800 years. The fighting did not come without great attempts by Muslim powers across the strait trying to reestablish their presence in mainland Europe. The last gasp of that effort came in the 1330s, when the powerful Marinid sultanate of what is modern Morocco invaded in an attempt to reverse Christian gains and secure the perilous position of the Sultanate of Granada.