a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (778) dealing with the Iberian Saracens (Moors), and centuries later introduced in the French school system with a view to instilling moral and national values in the population following the 1870 defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War, regardless of the actual events. The consolidation of the modern idea of a Reconquista is inextricably linked to the foundational myths of Spanish nationalism in the 19th century, associated with the development of a Centralist, Castilian and staunchly Catholic brand of nationalism, evoking nationalistic, romantic and sometimes colonialist themes. The concept gained further track in the 20th century during the Francoist dictatorship. It thus became one of the key tenets of the historiographical discourse of National Catholicism, the mythological and ideological identity of the regime. The discourse was underpinned in its most traditional version by an avowed historical illegitimacy of Al-Andalus and the subsequent glorification of the Christian conquest. The idea of a "liberation war" of reconquest against the Muslims, who were depicted as foreigners, suited the anti-Republican rebels during the Spanish Civil War, the rebels agitated for the banner of a Spanish fatherland, a fatherland which was being threatened by regional nationalisms and communism. Their rebellious pursuit was thus a crusade for the restoration of the Church's unity, where Franco stood for both Pelagius of Asturias and El Cid. The Reconquista has become a rallying call for right and far-right parties in Spain to expel from office incumbent progressive or peripheral nationalist options, as well as their values, in different political contexts as of 2018. The same kind of propaganda was circulated by the Republicans, who wanted to portray their enemies as foreign invaders, especially given the prominence of the Army of Africa among Franco's troops, an army which was made up of native North African soldiers. Some contemporary authors consider the Reconquista proof that the process of Christian state-building in Iberia was frequently defined by the reclamation of lands that had been lost to the Moors in generations past. In this way, state-building might be characterised—at least in ideological, if not practical, terms—as a process by which Iberian states were being "rebuilt". In turn, other recent historians dispute the whole concept of Reconquista as a concept created a posteriori in the service of later political goals. A few historians point out that Spain and Portugal did not previously exist as