The Battle of Lucena, also called Battle of Martín González, was a war event in which Christian forces of the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accessi ...

were faced against the Muslim forces of the Nasrid Emirate of Granada. It took place in the month of April of the year 1483, in the course of the

Granada War The Granada War ( es, Guerra de Granada) was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1491 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It e ...

, and in the course of it the Christian forces took

Muhammad XII of Granada Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الثاني عشر, Abū ʿAbdi-llāh Muḥammad ath-thānī ʿashar) (c. 1460–1533), known in Europe as Boabdil (a Spanish rendering of the name ''Abu Abdallah''), was the ...

as prisoner.

Description

It was fought very close to the city of

Lucena Lucena, officially the City of Lucena ( fil, Lungsod ng Lucena), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines. It is the capital city of the province of Quezon where it is geographically situated but, in t ...

, in the province of Córdoba,

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, south of the Sierra de Aras. The origin of the battle was the pretense of

(Boabdil) to take Lucena and perform a punishment raid against the Christians, to emulate the victory that his competitor, Muhammad XIII had won, that defeated the Christian forces at the Al-Sarquiyya (Córdoba). The

Emirate of Granada The Emirate of Granada ( ar, إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ, Imārat Ġarnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada ( es, Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an Emirate, Islamic realm in southern Iberia during the Late Middle Ages. It was the ...

was at that time experiencing a serious internal conflict between the supporters of the sultan Abu l-Hasan Ali and those who supported his son

(Boabdil). Muhammad XII (Boabdil) besieged Lucena on April 20, 1483, with the help of his father-in-law Ibrahim Aliatar, mayor of Loja, an expert of the lands of southern Córdoba and a great winner of the Nasrids in terms of raids against Christians. The city of Lucena was defended by the " alcaide de los Donceles" Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Arellano and the

alcaide Alcaide is a Spanish name, meaning 'castle commander'. It is borrowed from the Arabic term , which literally means 'commander'. Etymology The Spanish form is alcayde whereas Portuguese form is alcaide. Notable people * Anselmo Pardo Alcaide ...

of Lucena Hernando de Argote. The alcaide de los Donceles lit the merlons of the watchtowers to ask help to his uncle Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Carrillo de Albornoz, 2nd

count of Cabra Count of Cabra is a Spanish noble title created by King Henry IV of Castile on 2 November 1455 for Diego Fernandez de Cordova and Montemayor, 1st Viscount of Iznájar. The titleholder is a Grandee of Spain, the third oldest such title in Spain. T ...

, who came with his army from the nearby Cabra. Muhammad XII (Boabdil) arranged his army in the northwest direction to avoid being caught by surprise by the count's army; However, seeing that they were outnumbered, they withdrew to the outskirts of the city, where the battle began as such.

Capture of Muhammad XII (Boabdil)

In the course of the battle, the Muslim forces fled in disarray. Ibrahim Aliatar, Muhammad XII's father-in-law, died in battle and Muhammad XII tried to escape, but his horse got stuck in the mud and he had to hide in the vegetation. An infantry squad had him detained and the soldiers deduced that he was some important man because of his clothing, which it made possible for the Christians to capture Muhammad XII (Boabdil), who was taken prisoner to the Castle of Moral (in Lucena). After such success, the nephew ( the alcaide de los Donceles) and the uncle (the count of Cabra) began a dispute to see who would deliver the prisoner to the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

. Such was the dispute that

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...

ordered both of them to take the sultan at

Porcuna Porcuna is a village and municipality in the province of Jaén in Andalusia, Spain, 42 km from Jaén and 50 km from Córdoba. The primary occupation of the 6,990 inhabitants is olive growing. The main tourist attractions are the tower ...

, where he was imprisoned again in the castle's tower, currently known as Torre de Boabdil (Tower of Muhammad XII). The clothing, shoes and

swords A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon. Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to: Places * Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital * Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States * Sword Beach, code name for ...

of Muhammad XII (Boabdil) were given by the Catholic Monarchs as a gift to the alcaide de los Donceles and the count of Cabra. The whole set is, currently, displayed at the

Army Museum of Toledo The Museum of the Army (Spanish: ''Museo del Ejército'') is a national museum located in Toledo, Spain, attached to the Ministry of Defence. The collection was previously housed in Madrid, and the museum opened on its present site in 2010. It ...

References

{{coord missing, Spain 1480s in Spain 1483 in Europe

History of the province of Córdoba, Spain