The Battle of Écija () was a battle of the Spanish

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 ...

that took place in September 1275. The battle pitted the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

troops of the Nasrid

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 ...

and its Moroccan allies against those of the

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th centu ...

and resulted in a victory for the Emirate of Granada.

The battle

The Nasrid

was engulfed in a civil war and was regularly devastated by Castilian forces who saw an opportunity for easy plunder due to the distraction of the Muslim forces. Muhammad II asked for help from his Moroccan allies to ease the difficulty of fighting two wars at once. The

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

, the

Marinid The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) a ...

Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq () (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq ...

, landed on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

in 1275 with an army and began a campaign with the strategic objective to occupy the city of

Tarifa Tarifa (, Arabic: طريفة) is a Spanish municipality in the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, it is primarily known as one of the world's most popular destinations for windsports. Tarifa ...

. The Castilian King,

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

was abroad at the time and the country was ruled by his son, infante Ferdinand acting as regent. He immediately raised some troops and moved south but unexpectedly died of natural causes in Villa Real in August 1275. On

September 8 Events Pre-1600 * 617 – Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty. * 1100 – Election of Antipope Theodor ...

, while marching north, the

forces encountered a Castilian army under the command of Nuño González de Lara "el Bueno", member of the

House of Lara The House of Lara (Spanish: ''Casa de Lara'') is a Nobility, noble family from the medieval Kingdom of Castile. Two of its branches, the Duques de Nájera and the Marquesado de Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain. The Lara family ...

and adelantado mayor de Andalucia, who attempted to cut off the Marinid route near the town of

Écija Écija () is a city and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is in the countryside, 85 km east of the city of Seville. According to the 2008 census, Écija had a total populat ...

. The Marinid forces routed the Castilian army and Nuño González de Lara was killed in the action or shortly thereafter. The Marinid Sultan ordered that Nuño González' head be cut off, sending it as a trophy to the Sultan of Granada, Muhammad II and cementing his alliance with them which would continue for the next few years against the Castilian forces.Joseph F. O'Callaghan (2011). ''The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the battle for the Strait'', p. 68. . In October, a second army led by Archbishop Sancho of Toledo met a similar defeat in the

battle of Martos The Battle of Martos was a minor battle of the Spanish Reconquista fought between Martos and Torredonjimeno in Andalusia in 1275. The battle was fought between the troops of the Kingdom of Granada and those of the Crown of Castile. The Castili ...

. The kingdom in the end was saved by the infante Sancho of Castile who rallied the Castilian forces. At the end of the year, King Alfonso X of Castile was forced to sign a peace treaty with the Muslims.

References

1275 in Europe Conflicts in 1275 Ecija Ecija Ecija 13th century in Castile Écija Ecija Ecija 13th century in al-Andalus 3. ^ Ibn Abi Zar’ ( 1320 ). ''Rawd Al Qirtaas'' ~ Pg 300. Darul Mansur 1972 Edition. {{Al-Andalus-stub

The battle

See also

References