The Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr (2 June 1010) was a battle of the

Fitna of al-Andalus The Fitna of al-Andalus () (1009–1031) was a civil war in the Caliphate of Córdoba. It began in the year 1009 with a coup d'état which led to the assassination of Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo, the son of Almanzor, the deposition of the Caliph H ...

that took place in the area in and around Espiel,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The battle took place between the forces of the

Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of the enti ...

, whose forces were commanded by

Sulayman ibn al-Hakam Sulayman ibn al-Hakam or Sulayman al-Musta'in bi-llah (; died 1016) was the fifth Caliph of Córdoba, ruling from 1009 to 1010, and from 1013 to 1016 in Al-Andalus. In 1009, after Muhammad II ibn Hisham had led a revolt against caliph Hisham ...

, and the

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

rebel forces of the Catalan- Andalusian alliance of 30.000 Muslims with 9000 Catalan, trying to overthrow their Caliph overlords under the command of Muhammad ibn Hisham; Wadih al-Siqlabi, governor of al-Tagr al-Awsat; and several

West Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 10th centuries. Franks under king Chlodio settled in Roman Gaul in the 5th century. On ...

counts and bishops, including Ermengol I of Urgell who was killed during the fight , Hugh I of Empúries, and Ramon Borrell of Barcelona. The two armies met at Espiel on 2 June 1010 and the forces of the Caliphate of Cordoba were decisively routed, marking one of the first battles of the war and a significant gain for the rebel Catalan- Andalusian alliance. Although this battle took place in the general time frame of the Spanish

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

, it was not unusual for Christian and Muslim forces to join together to achieve common goals.

References

* The information in this article is translated from its Spanish equivalent. {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Aqbat al-Bakr Aqbat al-Bakr Aqbat al-Bakr Aqbat al-Bakr Aqbat al-Bakr 11th century in al-Andalus 1010 in Europe Aqbat al-Bakr History of the province of Córdoba, Spain