At the end of July 711, the troops of General Táriq ibn Ziyad defeated those of King Rodrigo in what is known as the battle of Guadalete or the lagoons of La Janda. Thus began the Islamic invasion of the peninsula. But in the southeast of Hispania, a focus of resistance remained, Tudmir, an area that covered part of the current provinces of Alicante and Murcia and was governed by a Visigoth noble named Teodomiro, who efficiently fought the invaders. As the territorial morsel was too large for the Arabs to assimilate, they reached an agreement with the Goth. In April 713, the pact of Teodomiro was signed, which allowed the existence of a creates or province of Tudmīr – a political, administrative and territorial entity with a Spanish-Roman population – under the protection of the emirate and later caliphate. Christians could continue professing their religion in exchange for a tax. The study The early Christian church of Cerro de la Virgen (Calasparra, Murcia). Coexistence and taxation in Tudmīr kūrapublished in the magazine balance, now reports the discovery of a Christian temple that maintained, in said territory, its usual religious activity until the 9th century.
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