Talk:Battle of Alarcos

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Military history: European / Spanish / Medieval / Early Muslim Start‑class

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How in the hell did the "Turkish cavalry archers" end up in Spain in 1195??? There must be a mistake, Turkish chronicles dont give an account of Turks in Spain in 1195.

The Agzaz were Turkish mercenary archers from the Asian Steppes who worked for the various Middle East nations at that time. In the late 12th century the caliph of Egypt sent an Agzaz army to the Almohad held Tunis but they were defeated and captured. Then, the Almohads gave them the election to serve them as mercenaries, or be executed. Obviously, the Turks chose to serve the Almohads, and they were sent to the Iberian Peninsula in order to cut them from any possible contact with Egyptian agents in the eastern Maghreb. Many of this Agzaz were killed later at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). My source is Batallas decisivas de la Historia de España, Juan Carlos Losada, 2005.--Menah the Great 12:10, 22 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Much of this article strikes me as POV. Also the fine detail of the manoeuvres of the armies is not matched by any details elsewhere. Would the author please also improve the standard of English - the tense usage is confusing. I have edited the end to give it a more manageable conclusion but don't have any readily available sources to insert ATM.--AssegaiAli 12:28, 6 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This manages to be worse than the article covering Las navas de Tolosa. The inaility to critically evaluate primary surse, and, even worse, to distinguish fiction from fact (one of the citation is from Scott's Ivanhoe!) is ludicrous. To be blanked and redone 82.26.31.163 (talk) 22:39, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed the reference to "150,000" dead, as it is clearly exaggerated. Medieval sources only very rarely provide accurate numbers when describing dead, wounded, and imprisoned after a battle. Best historical practice is generally to steer clear of numbers in these cases, or if you want, refer to the proportion of an army or of the knights in one lord's service who are killed. That is nearly always as close as you are going to get.