Battle of Alcalá (1129)
| Battle of Alcalá (1129) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
 The Castle of els Alcalans in Montserrat, Valencia | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Aragon |
 Almoravid Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Alfonso I of Aragon |
Ali ibn Majjuz | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 12,000 killed or captured[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Alcalá or Battle of Cullera[1] was fought in the castle of the Alcalans (Alcalá) between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Almoravid Caliphate in 1129.[2]
Background
[edit]The Almoravid Caliphate fell into decline as quickly as it had been established. Alfonso the Battler took advantage of this and took Zaragoza (1118), Calatayud (1120) and Daroca (1122).
Alfonso I of Aragon attacked the land of Valencia in 1128. The Almoravids responded by sending a powerful army newly arrived from deep Morocco, which joined the African horsemen of the governor of Seville with the aim of hunting down Alfonso of Aragon. They fought at the Castle of els Alcalans and resulted in an Aragonese victory.[3]
Consequences
[edit]According to the Valencian-Muslim poet Ibn al-Abbar, the disastrous defeat of the Almoravids caused Xarq al-Andalus to lose popularity and, after a while, would lead to the proclamation of a few second taifa kingdoms in Xarq al- Andalusia (from 1144 in Valencia)[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Jayyusi 2021, p. 66.
- ^ "El castell dels Alcalans, a Montserrat". Diari La Veu. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
- ^ Gerli 2016, p. 51.
- ^ "Castillo de los Alcalans, Montserrat, Valencia" (in Spanish). 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Bibliography
[edit]- Jayyusi, Salma Khadra (2021). The Legacy of Muslim Spain. BRILL. ISBN 9789004502598.
- Gerli, E. Michael (2016). Medieval Iberia: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-66578-0.
External links
[edit]- Castell of the Alcalans Archived 2007-07-05 at the Wayback Machine