The Reconquista.
On the Feast of Saint Bernard, in 1462, despite internal bickering, the Christians finally recaptured the Rock, and 751 years of Moorish occupation of Spain were effectively over, although Granada did not fall until January 1492.

The Spanish Period.
By about 1480, Franciscan Friars had followed the Spanish armies to Gibraltar, and as well as looking after the people, they began to build a Friary. The Church was finished in 1535. It was a very fine building, richly decorated in red and gold, as you can still see in two places today. It formed the North side of thee Friary, which was built round a shady courtyard, with a cloister where the Friars could walk and read.
In fact their Church was the first to be built on the rock. Although the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary the Crowned and the Shrine of our Lady of Europa are older buildings, they were both originally mosques converted by the Spanish.
Despite the achievements of the Franciscans, Gibraltar did not do well under Spanish rule. Her defences were hardly improved at all, and that only reluctantly. She became a Prisoner of War Camp for Moors captured at sea, and a Penal Colony for Christian Convicts. Gibraltar was not a popular posting for soldiers, partly because of these reasons, and partly because it was not a healthy place to live. Plagues of yellow fever, and cholera were frequent. Water was collected in tanks during the winter, and stored for use during the year. The water tanks were ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes which spread the infections like wildfire. In 1649, a plague (probably typhoid fever) killed a quarter of the population.

The Lost Nun.
The King's Chapel is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a Spanish Nun. She was Dame Alitea de Lucerna, the daughter of a noble Spanish family. Sadly, she fell in love with a totally unsuitable young man, and her family sent her to become a nun in the female Franciscan order, the Poor Clares, who had a Convent in Gibraltar, which was about as far as you could get from civilisation in those