Battle of Alarcos

Battle location.

Battle of Alarcos (July 19, 1195), was a battle between an alliance of Almohads led by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur and some Castilian cavalry led by Pedro Fernández de Castro versus King Alfonso VIII King of Castile,(1166-1214); also referred as the Disaster of Alarcos.

Background

In 1188 the Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur returned to his Spanish possessions from Africa to defend it against the Portuguese and Castilians.

In 1190 Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur forced an armistice on the Christian kings of Castile and León, after repulsing their attacks on Muslim possessions in the Iberian Peninsula. At the expiration of the truce, and having received news that there was revolt in North Africa, King Alfonso VIII of Castile decided to attack the region of Sevilla. A strong host under the arch-bishop of Toledo (Martín López de Pisuerga) and which included the military Order of Calatrava, ravaged the province and took much booty. The governors of al-Andalus asked for help with such insistence, that Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur decided to leave his North African capital, Marrakech, and led himself an expedition against the Christians.

On the first day of June, 1195, he landed at Tarifa, and crossing the Sevilla province the main Almohad army reached Córdoba on June 30, reinforced by the few troops raised by the local governors and by a Christian cavalry contingent under Pedro Fernández de Castro, who held a personal feud against his King. On July 4th Ya'qub moved out of Córdoba; his army crossed the pass of Muradal (Despeñaperros) and advanced through the plain of Salvatierra. A cavalry detachment of the Order of Calatrava, plus some knights from nearby castles, tried to gather news about the Almohad strength and its heading; they were surrounded by Muslim scouts and almost exterminated, but supplied enough information to seriously alarm the Castilian king.

Alfonso hurriedly gathered his forces at Toledo and marched down to Alarcos (al-Arak, in Arabic), near the Guadiana river, a place which marked the Southern limit of his kingdom and where a fortress was under construction. He was determined to bar the enemy access to the rich Tagus valley, and in his haste he did not wait for the reinforcements the Kings Alfonso IX of León and Sancho of Navarra were sending. When on July 16th the great Almohad host came in view, Alfonso found himself clearly outnumbered, but even so he rashly formed his army next day, offering battle, instead of retreating towards Talavera, which the Leonese troops had already reached, and which was but a few marching days away. Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur did not accept battle on this day, preferring to give rest to his forces; but early next day, Wednesday July 18th, the Almohad army formed for battle around a small hill called La Cabeza, two bow-shots from Alarcos.

The Battle

The caliph gave to his vizir, Abu Yahya ibn Abi Hafs, command of a very strong vanguard: on the first line the Benimerin volunteers under Abu Jalil Mahyu ibn Abi Bakr, with a big body of archers and the Zanata cabiles; behind them, in the hill itself, the vizir with the caliphal banner and his personal guard, from the Hintata cabile; to the left the Arab host under Yarmun ibn Riyah; and to the right, the al-Andalus forces under the popular Caid Ibn Sanadid. The caliph himself held command of the rearguard, which comprised the best Almohad forces (those commanded by Yabir ibn Yusuf, Abd al-Qawi, Tayliyun, Muhammad ibn Munqafad and Abu Jazir Yajluf al-Awrabi) and the strong guard of black slaves. It was a formidable army, whose strength Alfonso had badly underestimated. The Castilian king put most of his heavy cavalry in a compact body, about 8,000 strong, and gave its command to the fierce Diego López de Haro, Lord of Vizcaya. They were to shatter the enemy with an irresistible charge; the king himself would follow with the infantry and the Military Orders, and complete the enemy rout.

The Christian cavalry charge is somewhat disordered, but its impetus is formidable. The knights crash against the Zanatas and Benimerin and disperse them; lured by the caliphal standard, they charge uphill: vizir Abu Yahya is killed, and the Hintatas fall almost to a man trying to protect him. Most of the knights turn to their left and after a fierce struggle they rout the al-Andalus forces of ibn Sanadid. Three hours have passed; it's past noon, and the intense heat, the fatigue and the missiles which keep falling on them are taking their toll on the armoured knights. The Arab right under Yarmun has been enveloping the Castilian flank and rear; the best Almohad forces now attack, the sultan himself clearly visible on the front ranks; the knights are almost surrounded. Alfonso advances with all his remaining forces into the melee, only to find himself assaulted from all sides and under a rain of arrows. For some time he fights hand-to-hand, until taken out from the action, almost by force, by his bodyguard; they flee towards Toledo. The Castilian infantry is destroyed, together with most of the Orders which support them; the Lord of Vizcaya tries to force his way through the ring of enemy forces, but finally has to seek refuge in the unfinished fortress of Alarcos with just a fraction of his knights. The castle is surrounded; there are some 3,000 people inside, half of them women and children. The king's enemy, Pedro Fernández de Castro, who has taken little part in the action, is sent by the caliph to negotiate the surrender; López de Haro and the survivors are allowed to go, leaving 12 knights as hostages for the payment of a big ransom.

The Castilian field army has been destroyed. Those killed include three bishops (from Avila, Segovia and Siguenza); Count Ordoño García de Roda and his brothers; Counts Pedro Ruiz de Guzmán and Rodrigo Sánchez; the Masters of the Order of Santiago, Sancho Fernández de Lemus, and of the Portuguese Order of Évora, Gonçalo Viegas. Losses have been high also for the Muslims; not just the vizir is dead, but Abi Bakr, commander of the Benimerin volunteers, will die of his wounds the next year.

Aftermath

The outcome of the battle shook the stability of the Kingdom of Castile for several years. All nearby castles surrendered or were abandoned: Malagón, Benavente, Calatrava, Caracuel and Torre de Guadalferza, and the way to Toledo was wide open. Fortunately for the Christians, however, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur moved back to Sevilla to make good his own considerable losses; there he took the title of al-Mansur Billah ('Made victorious by God').

For the next two years, al-Mansur's forces devastated Extremadura, the Tagus valley, La Mancha and even the area around Toledo; they moved in turn against Montánchez, Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Escalona and Maqueda. Some of these expeditions were led by the renegade Pedro Fernández de Castro. Most significantly, however, these raids did not lead to any territorial gains for the caliph, although Almohad diplomacy did obtain an alliance with King Alfonso IX of León (who had been enraged when the Castilian king had not waited for him before the battle of Alarcos) and the neutrality of Navarre. These alliances proved to be temporary only.

But the caliph was losing interest in the affairs of the Iberian Peninsula; he was in poor health, his objective of retaining a hold over al-Andalus appeared to be a complete success, and in 1198 he returned to Africa. He died in February 1199.

However, the success of the battle proved to be short-lived. When the Almohad caliph Muhammad al-Nasir attempted to build on it 16 years later with a new Iberian offensive, he was crushingly defeated in the more decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa. This battle was to mark a turning-point that led to the end of Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula. The Almohad Empire itself collapsed a few years later.