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| Battle of Alarcos | |||||||
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| Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Castile |
 Almohads |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Alfonso VIII of Castile | Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Order of Évora Order of Santiago |
Bani Marin volunteers Zenata Archers Hintata Andalusian Forces |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| High | Medium | ||||||
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Battle of Alarcos (July 18, 1195)[2], was a battle between an alliance of Almohads led by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur and some Castilian cavalry led by Pedro Fernández de Castro versus King Alfonso VIII King of Castile,(1166–1214).[3]
Contents |
Background
In 1188 the Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur returned to his possessions from Africa to defend it against the Portuguese and Castilians.[4]
In 1190 Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur forced an armistice on the Christian kings of Castile and León, after repulsing their attacks on Muslim territories in the Iberian Peninsula. At the expiration of the truce, and having received news that there was revolt in North Africa, King Alfonso VIII of Castile decided to attack the region of Sevilla. A strong host under the archbishop of Toledo (Martín López de Pisuerga) which included the military Order of Calatrava, ransacked the province. The governors of al-Andalus asked for help with such intensity, that Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur decided to leave his North African capital, Marrakech, and led an expedition against the Christians.
On the first day of June, 1195, he landed at Tarifa, and crossing the Sevilla province the main Almohad army reached Córdoba on June 30, reinforced by the few troops raised by the local governors and by a Christian cavalry contingent under Pedro Fernández de Castro, who held a personal feud against his King. On July 4th Ya'qub moved out of Córdoba; his army crossed the pass of Muradal (Despeñaperros) and advanced through the plain of Salvatierra. A cavalry detachment of the Order of Calatrava, plus some knights from nearby castles, tried to gather news about the Almohad strength and its heading; they were surrounded by Muslim scouts and almost exterminated, but supplied enough information to seriously alarm the Castilian king.
Alfonso hurriedly gathered his forces at Toledo and marched down to Alarcos (al-Arak, in Arabic), near the Guadiana river, a place which marked the Southern limit of his kingdom and where a fortress was under construction. He was determined to bar the enemy access to the rich Tagus valley, and in his haste he did not wait for the reinforcements the Kings Alfonso IX of León and Sancho of Navarra were sending.[5] When on July 16 the great Almohad host came in view, Alfonso found himself clearly outnumbered, but even so he rashly formed his army next day, offering battle, instead of retreating towards Talavera, which the Leonese troops had already reached, and which was but a few marching days away. Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur did not accept battle on this day, preferring to give rest to his forces; but early next day, Wednesday, July 18, the Almohad army formed for battle around a small hill called La Cabeza, two bow-shots from Alarcos.
The Battle
Amir Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur gave to his vizier, Abu Yahya ibn Abi Hafs, command of a very strong vanguard: on the first line the Bani Marin volunteers under Abu Jalil Mahyu ibn Abi Bakr, with a big body of archers and the Zenata Tribe; behind them, in the hill itself, the vizier with the Amir's banner and his personal guard, from the Hintata tribe; to the left the Arab host under Yarmun ibn Riyah; and to the right, the al-Andalus forces under the popular Caid Ibn Sanadid.[citation needed] The Amir Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur himself held command of the rearguard, which comprised the best Almohad forces commanded by Yabir ibn Yusuf, Abd al-Qawi, Tayliyun, Muhammad ibn Munqafad and Abu Jazir Yajluf al-Awrabi and a strong guard of black slaves.[citation needed] It was a formidable army, whose strength Alfonso had badly underestimated. The Castilian king put most of his heavy cavalry in a compact body, about 8,000 strong, and gave its command to the fierce Diego López de Haro, Lord of Vizcaya.[citation needed] They were to shatter the enemy with an irresistible charge; the king himself would follow with the infantry and the Military Orders, and complete the enemy rout.
The Christian cavalry charge was somewhat disordered, but its impetus was still formidable.[citation needed] The knights crashed against the Zanatas and Bani Marin and dispersed them; lured by the Amir's standard, they charged uphill: vizier Abu Yahya was killed, and the Hintatas fell almost to a man trying to protect themselves.[citation needed] Most of the knights turned to their left and after a fierce struggle they routed the al-Andalus forces of Ibn Sanadid.[citation needed] Three hours had passed;[citation needed] just afternoon, in the intense heat, the fatigue and the missiles which kept falling on them took their toll of armoured knights.[citation needed] The Arab right under Yarmun had been enveloping the Castilian flank and rear; at this point the best of the Almohad forces attacked, with the sultan himself clearly visible in the front ranks; and finally the knights are almost completely surrounded.[citation needed]
Alfonso advanced with all his remaining forces into the melee, only to find himself assaulted from all sides and under a rain of arrows. For some time he fought hand-to-hand, until removed from the action, almost by force, by his bodyguard; they fled towards Toledo. The Castilian infantry was destroyed, together with most of the Orders which had supported them; the Lord of Vizcaya tried to force his way through the ring of enemy forces, but finally had to seek refuge in the unfinished fortress of Alarcos with just a fraction of his knights. The castle was surrounded with some 3,000 people trapped inside, half of them women and children.[citation needed] The king's enemy, Pedro Fernández de Castro, who had taken little part in the action, was sent by the Amir to negotiate the surrender; López de Haro and the survivors were allowed to go, leaving 12 knights as hostages for the payment of a great ransom.[citation needed]
The Castilian field army had been destroyed. Those killed include three bishops (from Avila, Segovia and Siguenza);[6] Count Ordoño García de Roda and his brothers; Counts Pedro Ruiz de Guzmán and Rodrigo Sánchez; the Masters of the Order of Santiago, Sancho Fernández de Lemus, and of the Portuguese Order of Évora, Gonçalo Viegas.[citation needed] Losses for the Muslims included the death of the vizier and Abi Bakr, commander of the Bani Marin volunteers, who died of his wounds in the following year.[citation needed]
Aftermath
The outcome of the battle shook the stability of the Kingdom of Castile for several years. All nearby castles surrendered or were abandoned: Malagón, Benavente, Calatrava, Caracuel and Torre de Guadalferza, and the way to Toledo was wide open. Fortunately for the Christians, however, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur moved back to Sevilla to make good his own considerable losses; there he took the title of al-Mansur Billah ('Made victorious by God').
For the next two years, al-Mansur's forces devastated Extremadura, the Tagus valley, La Mancha and even the area around Toledo; they moved in turn against Montánchez, Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Escalona and Maqueda. Some of these expeditions were led by the renegade Pedro Fernández de Castro. Most significantly, however, these raids did not lead to any territorial gains for the caliph, although Almohad diplomacy did obtain an alliance with King Alfonso IX of León (who had been enraged when the Castilian king had not waited for him before the battle of Alarcos) and the neutrality of Navarre. These alliances proved to be temporary only.
But the caliph was losing interest in the affairs of the Iberian Peninsula; he was in poor health, his objective of retaining a hold over al-Andalus appeared to be a complete success, and in 1198 he returned to Africa. He died in February 1199.
However, the success of the battle proved to be short-lived. When the Almohad caliph Muhammad an-Nasir attempted to build on it 16 years later with a new Iberian offensive, he was crushingly defeated in the more decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. This battle was to mark a turning-point that led to the end of Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula. The Almohad Empire itself collapsed a few years later.
Notes
- ^ Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli and Samuel G. Armistead, (Taylor & Francis, 2003), 42.
- ^ Britannica.com[page needed]
- ^ Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, 42.
- ^ Britannica.com Battle of Alarcos.[page needed]
- ^ Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, 42.
- ^ Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, 42.
References
- Britannica.com
- Medieval Iberia: an encyclopedia, Ed. E. Michael Gerli and Samuel G. Armistead, Taylor & Francis, 2003.
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