58
1000–1500
1
CHARGING TOWARD VICTORY
Alfonso VIII is shown throwing himself into
the fray in this fresco of Las Navas de Tolosa from around the 13th century.
Although the Castilian vanguard had swept away a screen of Almohad skirmishers,
Alfonso’s forces were in danger of losing the battle before Alfonso personally led
the charge, which reached Muhammad’s tent and nearly captured the caliph himself.
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59
LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA
◼
1212
By the late 12th century, the Reconquista—the
reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Christian
kingdoms of Spain (see box, below)—had been
underway for centuries. However, it met resistance
with the rise of the Almohads, an Islamic movement
that ruled the south from 1147. They roundly defeated
Alfonso VIII of Castile at Alarcos in 1195, leading to an
uneasy peace, but in 1211 raiding by the Castilians provoked the Almohad caliph
Muhammad al-Nasir to seize the castle of Salvatierra, headquarters of the
powerful military Order of Calatrava. The loss of this strategic position galvanized
Christian opinion and inspired Pope Innocent III to summon a crusade.
The kingdoms of Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal, previously antagonistic to
Alfonso, set aside their dierences, and on June 21 a 13,000-strong Christian
army set o south from Toledo, only to nd itself blocked in mountainous terrain
by a detachment of Muhammad’s force. On July 16 a local shepherd guided
Alfonso’s troops over a hidden pass to catch the Almohads by surprise. After
two days of failed negotiations, the main body of Christian forces gave battle,
but were held o by the Almohad rearguard protecting the caliph’s tent. In a last
desperate gamble, Alfonso charged with his own rearguard; Muhammad’s local
Andalusian levies ed, followed by the rest of the Almohad army, which suered
heavy casualties. Muhammad died soon after the battle. The Almohad caliphate
was fatally weakened both by the succession of his young son, Yusuf, and by a
civil war that broke out in 1224. This gave renewed impetus to the Reconquista.
Las Navas de Tolosa
1212
◼
SOUTHERN SPAIN
◼
CHRISTIAN FORCES VS. ALMOHAD EMPIRE
SPANISH RECONQUISTA
After the Muslim conquest of
Visigothic Spain in 711
CE, a few
Christian strongholds in northern
Spain held out. From these, new
Christian kingdoms emerged in the
9th and 10th centuries to begin
the Reconquista—the reconquest
of the Iberian peninsula. The
movement gained momentum until
the capture of Toledo in 1085, and
then paused until, in the aftermath
of Las Navas de Tolosa, most of the
cities of Muslim Spain fell: Cordoba in
1236, Valencia in 1238, and Seville
in 1248. Only the emirate of Granada
was left and, after the union the
Crowns of Castile and Aragon gave
new strength to the Christian Spanish,
it, too was captured in 1492.
THE RECONQUISTA 722 CE1492
1This altar relief shows Abu abd-Allah Muhammad XII
(Boabdil), the last Muslim ruler of al-Andalus, leaving his
castle at Granada for exile in Africa.
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