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The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''
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 N ...
'' and the medieval history of Spain. The
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
forces of King
Alfonso VIII of Castile Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (''El Noble'') or the one of Las Navas (''el de las Navas''), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army a ...
were joined by the armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and
Peter II of Aragon Peter II the Catholic (; ) (July 1178 – 12 September 1213) was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213. Background Peter was born in Huesca, the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile. In 1205 he acknowle ...
, in battle against the Almohad
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 ...
rulers of the southern half of 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, def ...
. The caliph
al-Nasir Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Hassan al-Mustadi' ( ar, أبو العباس أحمد بن الحسن المستضيء) better known by his laqab Al-Nasir li-Din Allah ( ar, الناصر لدين الله; 6 August 1158 – 5 October 1225) or simply as ...
('' Miramamolín'' in the Spanish chronicles) led the Almohad army, made up of people from all over the
Almohad Caliphate The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire ...
.


Background

In 1195, the Almohads defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos. After this victory, they took several important cities: Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Cuenca, and Uclés. Then, in 1211, Muhammad al-Nasir crossed the
Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
with a powerful army, invaded Christian territory, and captured Salvatierra Castle, the stronghold of the knights of the Order of Calatrava. The threat to the Hispanic Christian kingdoms was so great that
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
called Christian
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
s to a
crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...
.


Previous movements

There were some disagreements among the members of the Christian coalition; notably,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and other European knights did not agree with Alfonso's merciful treatment of Jews and Muslims who had been defeated in the conquest of Malagón and Calatrava la Vieja. Previously, they had caused problems in Toledo (where the different armies of the Crusade gathered), with assaults and murders in the Jewish Quarter.


Battle

Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp, sneaking through the Despeñaperros Pass, led by Martín Alhaja, a local shepherd who knew the area. The Christian coalition caught the encamped Moorish army by surprise, and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title Cabeza de Vaca for his assistance to Alfonso VIII. The battle was fought at relatively close range, so that neither the Almohads nor the Spaniards could use archers in the melee-dominated fight. Spanish knights became locked in close-quarter combat, in which they were superior to the Almohads. Some of the Spanish knights, namely the Order of Santiago, eventually broke the Almohad line of defense decisively as they inflicted heavy casualties on the Almohads and established a breakthrough with gaps appearing in the enemy lines. This led to a possible spearhead. King Sancho VII then led his mounted knights through the gaps, exploiting them, and charged at the Caliph's tent. According to legend, the Caliph had surrounded his tent with a bodyguard of slave-warriors. Though it was once claimed that these men were chained together to prevent flight, it is considered more likely that this results from a mistranslation of the word "serried", meaning a densely packed formation. The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard. The Caliph escaped, but the Moors were routed, leaving heavy casualties on the battlefield. The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war; Muhammad al-Nasir's tent and standard were delivered to
Pope Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
. Christian losses were far fewer, only about 2,000 men (though not so few as legend had it). The losses were particularly notable among the Orders: those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo (bannerman of the Order of Calatrava), Alvaro Fernández de Valladares (''comendator'' of the Order of Santiago), Pedro Arias (master of the Order of Santiago, died of wounds on 3 August), and Gomes Ramires (Portuguese master of the
Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
and simultaneously master of Leon, Castile, and Portugal); Ruy Díaz (master of the Order of Calatrava) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command. Muhammad al-Nasir died in
Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
shortly afterwards.


Aftermath

The crushing defeat of the Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
a decade later. That gave further impulse to the
Christian Reconquest 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 ...
and sharply reduced the already declining power of the Moors in Iberia. Shortly after the battle, the Castilians took
Baeza Baeza may refer to: * Baeza, Ecuador * Baeza, Spain ** University of Baeza ** Baeza Cathedral * '' Brusqeulia baeza'', a species of moth People * Baeza (rapper) (born 1993), American rapper, singer, actor, hip hop producer, and songwriter * Ac ...
and then
Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...
, major fortified cities near the battlefield and gateways to invade
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The ...
. According to a letter from Alfonso VIII of Castile to Pope Innocent III, Baeza was evacuated and its people moved to
Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...
; Alfonso laid siege, killing 60,000 Muslims and enslaving many more. According to the ''Latin Chronicle of Kings of Castile'' the number given is almost 100,000 Saracens, including children and women, who were captured. Thereafter, Alfonso VIII's grandson
Ferdinand III of Castile Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguel ...
took Córdoba in 1236, Jaén in 1246, and
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
in 1248; then he took
Arcos Arcos or ARCOS can refer to: Places Brazil * Arcos, Minas Gerais, in Brazil Portugal * Arcos de Valdevez, a municipality in the Viana do Castelo District * Arcos (Anadia), a civil parish in the municipality of Anadia * Arcos (Braga), a civil pa ...
, Medina-Sidonia, Jerez, and
Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
. In 1252, Ferdinand was preparing his fleet and army for invasion of the Almohad lands in Africa. But he died in Seville on 30 May 1252, during an outbreak of plague in southern Hispania. Only Ferdinand's death prevented the Castilians from taking the war to the Almohad on the Mediterranean coast, James I of Aragon conquered the
Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...
(from 1228 over the following four years) and
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
(the city capitulated on 28 September 1238). By 1252 the Almohad empire was almost finished, at the mercy of another emerging Berber power. In 1269 a new association of Berber tribes, the Marinids, took control of Morocco. Later, the Marinids tried to recover the former Almohad territories in Iberia, but they were definitively defeated by
Alfonso XI of Castile Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...
and
Afonso IV of Portugal Afonso IVEnglish: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 8 February 129128 May 1357), called the Brave ( pt, o Bravo, links=no), was King ...
in the Battle of Río Salado, the last major military encounter between large Christian and Muslim armies in Hispania. So, the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa seems to have been a true turning point in the history of the region, including the western Mediterranean sea.


Moorish Granada

In 1292 Sancho IV took Tarifa, key to the control of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
,
Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
, and
Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most po ...
were the only major Muslim cities remaining in the Iberian peninsula. These three cities were the core of the
Emirate of Granada ) , common_languages = Official language: Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino , capital = Granada , religion = Majority religion: Sunni IslamMinority religions:R ...
, ruled by the
Nasrid dynasty The Nasrid dynasty ( ar, بنو نصر ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; Spanish: ''Nazarí'') was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, ruling the Emirate of Granada from 1230 until 1492. Its members claimed to be of Arab ...
. Granada was a
vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back t ...
of Castile, until finally taken by 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 ...
in 1492.


In fiction

Harry Harrison's 1972
alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...
/
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
novel '' Tunnel Through the Deeps'' depicts a history where the Moors won at Las Navas de Tolosa and retained part of Spain into the 20th century.


Notes


References

* Alvira Cabrer, Martín, ''Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212: idea, liturgia y memoria de la batalla'', Sílex Ediciones, Madrid 2012 (Spanish). * García Fitz, Francisco, ''Las Navas de Tolosa'', Ariel, Barcelona 2005 (Spanish). * García Fitz, Francisco,
Was Las Navas a decisive battle?
', in: ''Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies'' (JMIS), vol. 4, no. 1, 5–9. * Nafziger, George F. and Mark W. Walton, ''Islam at War: a history'', Greenwood Publishing Company, 2003. * O’Callaghan, Joseph F., ''Reconquest and crusade in medieval Spain'', University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA 2004. * Setton, Kenneth Meyer, ''A History of the Crusades'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1975. * Vara Thorbeck, Carlos, ''El lunes de las Navas'', Universidad de Jaén, 1999. Re-edited with another title: ''Las Navas de Tolosa: 1212, la batalla que decidió la Reconquista'', Edhasa, Barcelona 2012 (Spanish).
Xenealoxía.org - Genealogía de Galicia - Valladares, Marquesado de

Gomez, Miguel Dolan, "The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: The Culture and Practice of Crusading in Medieval Iberia. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2011.


* rof. Nick, National Museum of Las Navas de Tolosa, Spain. (2015). Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa Museum, Andalusia. https://www.visit-andalucia.com/battle-of-navas-tolosa-museum-jaen


Further reading

* * Martín Alvira-Cabrer, ''Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212. Idea, liturgia y memoria de la batalla'', Sílex, Madrid, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Las Navas De Tolosa 1212 in Europe
Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Chris ...
Las Navas de Tolosa 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa 1212 Las Navas de Tolosa 1212
Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Chris ...
Military history of Spain 13th-century crusades Conflicts in 1212 Navas de Tolosa 13th century in Al-Andalus 13th century in Aragon 13th century in Castile 13th century in Portugal