The Battle of Alcoraz took place between 1094 and 1096 outside

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

, pitting the besieging forces of Peter I of Aragon and Navarre against the allied forces of

Al-Musta'in II Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Hud ( ar, أبو جعفر أحمد بن يوسف بن هود), known by the regnal name al-Musta'in Billah ( ar, المستعين بالله, , He who looks for help to God), was the fourth member of the Banu Hud fam ...

of the

Taifa of Zaragoza The taifa of Zaragoza () was an independent Arab Muslim state in the east of Al-Andalus (present day Spain), which was established in 1018 as one of the taifa kingdoms, with its capital in Saraqusta (Zaragoza) city. Zaragoza's taifa emerged in ...

and García Ordóñez de Nájera and Gonzalo Núñez de Lara representing Alfonso VI of León and Castille. The siege had begun some two years earlier, in 1094, with Peter's father,

Sancho Ramírez Sancho Ramírez ( 1042 – 4 June 1094) was King of Aragon from 1063 until 1094 and King of Pamplona from 1076 under the name of Sancho V ( eu, Antso V.a Ramirez). He was the eldest son of Ramiro I and Ermesinda of Bigorre. His father was the f ...

, who was encamped at the time in the Castle of Montearagon intent on retaking the City of Huesca from the Moors. While inspecting the siege efforts around the ramparts of Huesca, Sancho was struck and killed by an arrow. His son continued the siege, finally defeating the allied troops of Al-Musta'in that had come up from Zaragoza on the fields of Alcoraz, just outside of Huesca. Later legends hold that during the battle,

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

appeared above the crown of Aragon, to inspire the Christian army who were heavily outnumbered in this first ''

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

''. This parallels the legendary story of the

Battle of Clavijo The Battle of Clavijo is a mythical battle, which was believed for centuries to be historical, and it became a popular theme of Spanish traditions regarding the Christian expulsion of the Muslims. The stories about the battle are first found centu ...

, over two hundred years earlier, where Saint James was similarly alleged to have appeared before the Christian forces of the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...

in the battle against the Saracen armies. The heraldic war shield known as the

Cross of Alcoraz The Cross of Alcoraz is the name given to a heraldic coat of arms and flag made up of the Cross of Saint George, or cross of gules on Argent, with a Maure, or Moor's head, in each quarter. The earliest documented evidence of these arms is in a ra ...

which commemorated the battle was later adopted as the personal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of King Peter III of Aragon and subsequently incorporated into the flag of the Kingdom of Aragon where it remains to this day.

References

Antonio Ubieto Arteta Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

. 1951
''Una narración de la batalla de Alcoraz atribuida al abad pinatense Aimerico''.
''Argensola: Revista de Ciencias Sociales del Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses'', 7:245–56. {{coord, 42, 09, 13, N, 0, 20, 39, W, type:event_source:kolossus-euwiki, display=title Alcoraz Alcoraz Alcoraz Alcoraz 1096 in Europe 11th century in Al-Andalus Taifa of Zaragoza