Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

(Redirected from Battle of the Navas de Tolosa) Part of the Reconquista in Spain (1212)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of the Reconquista and Spanish Christian–Muslim War of 1172–1212

Portrayal of the battle by
Francisco de Paula Van Halen (1864)

Date	16 July 1212
Location	Near Santa Elena, Jaén, Andalusia, 38°17′04″N 3°34′58″W / 38.28443°N 3.58286°W / 38.28443; -3.58286
Result	Spanish-Christian Coalition victory

Belligerents

Almohad Caliphate

Commanders and leaders

Centre:

Alfonso VIII of Castile

Vanguard:

Diego López II de Haro
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada (Archbishop of Toledo)

Right wing:

Sancho VII of Navarre

Left wing:

Peter II of Aragon

Muhammad al-Nasir

Strength

12,000–14,000

22,000–30,000

Casualties and losses

~2,000

Very high

~20,000

v t e Battles in the Reconquista
8th century Covadonga 1st Roncevaux Pass Burbia River Orbieu River Lutos Las Babias Río Quirós Oviedo 1st Lisbon 9th century 1st Barcelona 1st Tortosa Pancorbo 2nd Roncevaux Pass Clavijo Albelda Guadalacete Monte Laturce Morcuera Polvoraria 1st Cellorigo 2nd Cellorigo 2nd Barcelona 10th century Day of Zamora 1st Majorca Pallars and Ribagorza 1st San Esteban de Gormaz 2nd San Esteban de Gormaz Valdejunquera 1st Toledo Alhandic Simancas Estercuel Torrevicente Rueda Rovirans 3rd Barcelona 11th century Cervera Calatañazor Torà Albesa Aqbat al-Bakr Graus Coimbra Barbastro Paterna Llantada Golpejera Cabra Piedra Pisada Morella 2nd Toledo 1st Zaragoza Sagrajas Tudela Tévar Aledo 3rd Toledo Almodóvar del Río 1st Valencia Quart de Poblet 2nd Lisbon Alcoraz Bairén Consuegra 4th Toledo 5th Toledo 12th century 2nd Valencia Mollerussa Balaguer Uclés Norwegian raid 3rd Lisbon Talavera Formentera Ibiza 1st Balearic Islands 6th Toledo Candespina Vatalandi 1st Santarém 2nd Balearic Islands Martorell Coimbra 2nd Zaragoza Cutanda 1st Lleida 1st Granada Corbins Alcalá 3rd Valencia Aceca Alamin 1st Andalusia 1st Badajoz Fraga Leiria Guadalquivir 1st Coria Ourique Oreja Trancoso 2nd Coria 4th Lisbon 1st Montiel Soure Albacete 1st Córdoba 1st Almería Al-Ludjdj 2nd Santarém Sacavém 5th Lisbon Sacavém 2nd Tortosa 2nd Lleida 2nd Almería 1st Alcácer do Sal Palmela 1st Évora 2nd Badajoz Juromenha 3rd Santarém Central Iberia Tarragona Cuenca Calatrava 2nd Seville Abrantes 2nd Évora 4th Santarém Alvor 1st Silves 2nd Silves Tomar 2nd Alcácer do Sal 2nd Silves Alarcos Talamanca 13th century Al-Dāmūs Las Navas de Tolosa Úbeda 3rd Alcácer do Sal 1st Jaén Peníscola Aragonese raid 2nd Majorca Portopí Artà 2nd Jaén 1st Jerez Ares Burriana 2nd Córdoba El Puig 4th Valencia Algarve 1st Xàtiva 2nd Xàtiva Biar 3rd Jaén 3rd Seville Faro 2nd Jerez Mudéjar revolt 3rd Jerez 1st Murcia Écija 1st Martos 2nd Andalusia 1st Algeciras 2nd Algeciras Moclín Iznalloz 14th century 1st Gibraltar 3rd Algeciras 3rd Almería 2nd Gibraltar Vega de Granada Shepherds' Crusade 2nd Martos Teba 3rd Gibraltar 4th Gibraltar Vega de Pagana Getares Río Salado Estepona Guadalmesí 4th Algeciras 5th Gibraltar Linuesa Guadix 2nd Montiel 5th Algeciras 2nd Murcia Puerto Lope 15th century Collejares Antequera 6th Gibraltar La Higueruela 7th Gibraltar Los Alporchones 8th Gibraltar 9th Gibraltar 2nd Granada campaign Lucena Málaga Post-Reconquista Rebellions 1st Alpujarras 2nd Alpujarras North Africa Salé Strait 1st Ceuta 2nd Ceuta 3nd Ceuta Tétouan 4nd Ceuta 1st Tangier Asilah Melilla 2nd Tangier

Battles in the Reconquista

8th century

9th century

10th century

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

Post-Reconquista Rebellions

North Africa

The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (Arabic: معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the medieval history of Spain. The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, were joined by the armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon, in battle against the Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. The caliph al-Nasir (Miramamolín in the Spanish chronicles) led the Almohad army, made up of people from all over the Almohad Caliphate.

Background

In 1195, the Almohads defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile in the Battle of Alarcos. After this victory, they attacked several important cities: Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Cuenca, Guadalajara, Madrid, and Uclés. Then, in 1211, Muhammad al-Nasir crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with a powerful army, invaded Christian territory, and captured Salvatierra Castle, the stronghold of the knights of the Order of Calatrava. The threat to the Hispanic Christian kingdoms was so great that Pope Innocent III called Christian knights to a crusade.

Previous movements

There were some disagreements among the members of the Christian coalition; notably, French and other European knights did not agree with Alfonso's merciful treatment of Jews and Muslims who had been defeated in the conquest of Malagón and Calatrava la Vieja. Previously, they had caused problems in Toledo (where the different armies of the Crusade gathered), with assaults and murders in the Jewish Quarter.

Battle

Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp, sneaking through the Despeñaperros Pass, led by Martín Alhaja, a local shepherd who knew the area. On 16 July 1212, the Christian coalition caught the encamped Moorish army by surprise, and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title Cabeza de Vaca for his assistance to Alfonso VIII.

The battle was fought at relatively close range, so that neither the Almohads nor the Spaniards could use archers in the melee-dominated fight. Spanish knights became locked in close-quarter combat, in which they were superior to the Almohads.

"They attacked, fighting against one another, hand-to-hand, with lances, swords, and battle-axes; there was no room for archers. The Christians pressed on." – (The Latin Chronicle of The Kings of Castile)

Some of the Spanish knights, namely the Order of Santiago, eventually broke the Almohad line of defense decisively as they inflicted heavy casualties on the Almohads and established a breakthrough with gaps appearing in the enemy lines. This led to a possible spearhead. King Sancho VII then led his mounted knights through the gaps, exploiting them, and charged at the Caliph's tent.

The Caliph had surrounded his tent with a bodyguard of black slave-warriors. Though it was once claimed that these men were chained together to prevent flight, it is considered more likely that this results from a mistranslation of the word "serried", meaning a densely packed formation. The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard. The Caliph escaped, but the Moors were routed, leaving heavy casualties on the battlefield. The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war; Muhammad al-Nasir's tent and standard were delivered to Pope Innocent III.

Christian losses were far fewer, only about 2,000 men (though not so few as legend had it). The losses were particularly notable among the Orders: those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo (bannerman of the Order of Calatrava), Alvaro Fernández de Valladares (comendator of the Order of Santiago), Pedro Arias (master of the Order of Santiago, died of wounds on 3 August), and Gomes Ramires (Portuguese master of the Knights Templar and simultaneously master of Leon, Castile, and Portugal); Ruy Díaz (master of the Order of Calatrava) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command.

Muhammad al-Nasir died in Marrakech shortly afterwards.

Aftermath

The crushing defeat of the Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Maghreb a decade later. That gave further impulse to the Christian Reconquest and sharply reduced the already declining power of the Moors in Iberia. Shortly after the battle, the Castilians took Baeza and then conquered Úbeda, major fortified cities near the battlefield and gateways to invade Andalusia. According to a letter from Alfonso VIII of Castile to Pope Innocent III, Baeza was evacuated and its people moved to Úbeda; Alfonso laid siege, killing 60,000 Muslims and enslaving many more. According to the Latin Chronicle of Kings of Castile the number given is almost 100,000 Saracens, including children and women, who were captured.

Thereafter, Alfonso VIII's grandson Ferdinand III of Castile took Córdoba in 1236, Jaén in 1246, and Seville in 1248; then he took Arcos, Medina-Sidonia, Jerez, and Cádiz. In 1252, Ferdinand was preparing his fleet and army for invasion of the Almohad lands in Africa, but he died in Seville on 30 May 1252, during an outbreak of plague in southern Hispania; only his death prevented the Castilians from taking the war to the Almohad on the Mediterranean coast. James I of Aragon conquered the Balearic Islands (from 1228 over the following four years) and Valencia (the city capitulated on 28 September 1238).

By 1252 the Almohad empire was almost finished, at the mercy of another emerging Berber power. In 1269 a new association of Berber tribes, the Marinids, took control of Morocco. Later, the Marinids tried to recover the former Almohad territories in Iberia, but they were definitively defeated by Alfonso XI of Castile and Afonso IV of Portugal in the Battle of Río Salado, the last major military encounter between large Christian and Muslim armies in Hispania. So, the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa seems to have been a true turning point in the history of the region, including the western Mediterranean sea.

Moorish Granada

In 1292 Sancho IV took Tarifa, key to the control of the Strait of Gibraltar. Granada, Almería, and Málaga were the only major Muslim cities remaining in the Iberian peninsula. These three cities were the core of the Emirate of Granada, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. Granada was a vassal state of Castile, until finally taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492.

In fiction

Harry Harrison's 1972 alternate history/science fiction novel Tunnel Through the Deeps depicts a history where the Moors won at Las Navas de Tolosa and retained part of Spain into the 20th century.

S.J.A Turney describes the battle in his historic novel The Crescent and the Cross.

References

Smith, Colin (1989). Christians and Moors in Spain. Vol 2 Latin documents and vernacular documents AD 1195–1614. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1800857742 – via Google Books.
Gitlitz, David Martin and Linda Kay Davidson, The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, (St.Martin's Press, 2000), 60.
Setton, Kenneth Meyer, A History of the Crusades, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1975), 423.
^ Martín Alvira Cabrer: Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212: idea, liturgia y memoria de la batalla. Madrid 2012, p. 332
Martín Alvira Cabrer: Guerra e ideología en la España medieval: cultura y actitudes históricas ante el giro de principios del siglo XIII: batallas de las Navas de Tolosa (1212) y Muret (1213). Universidad Complutense, Madrid 2000/2003. p. 196
^ Gomez, Miguel Dolan (1 August 2011). "The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: The Culture and Practice of Crusading in Medieval Iberia". Doctoral Dissertations.
Nafziger, 87.
Prof. Nick, National Museum of Las Navas de Tolosa, Spain. (2015). Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa Museum, Andalusia. https://www.visit-andalucia.com/battle-of-navas-tolosa-museum-jaen
Lynn Hunt describes the battle as a "major turning point in the reconquista..." See Lynn Hunt, R. Po-chia Hsia, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie Smith, The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures: A Concise History: Volume I: To 1740, Second Edition (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's 2007), 391.
Guggenberger, Anthony, A General History of the Christian Era: The Papacy and the Empire, Vol.1, (B. Herder, 1913), 372.
Setton, Kenneth M., ed. (1975). A History of the Crusades. Vol. III: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. The Wisconsin University Press. p. 669.
deremilitari.org. (2014, November 20). Three sources on the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. De re Militari. Retrieved from https://deremilitari.org/2014/11/three-sources-on-the-battle-of-las-novas-de-tolosa-in-1212/
According to the king of Castile, "On their side 100,000 armed men fell in battle..." See Lynn Hunt, R. Po-chia Hsia, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein, and Bonnie Smith, The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures: A Concise History: Volume I: To 1740, 2nd ed., (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's 2007), 391.
Riga and Rome: Henry of Livonia and the Papal Curia, Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt, Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier, ed. Marek Tamm, Linda Kaljundi, Carsten Selch Jensen, (Ashgate Publishing, 2011), 224.
"Three sources on the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 » De Re Militari". deremilitari.org. Retrieved 9 December 2017.

Sources

Alvira Cabrer, Martín, Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212: idea, liturgia y memoria de la batalla, Sílex Ediciones, Madrid 2012 (Spanish).
García Fitz, Francisco, Las Navas de Tolosa, Ariel, Barcelona 2005 (Spanish).
García Fitz, Francisco, Was Las Navas a decisive battle?, in: Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies (JMIS), vol. 4, no. 1, 5–9.
Nafziger, George F. and Mark W. Walton, Islam at War: a history, Greenwood Publishing Company, 2003.
O’Callaghan, Joseph F., Reconquest and crusade in medieval Spain, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA 2004.
Setton, Kenneth Meyer, A History of the Crusades, University of Wisconsin Press, 1975.
Vara Thorbeck, Carlos, El lunes de las Navas, Universidad de Jaén, 1999. Re-edited with another title: Las Navas de Tolosa: 1212, la batalla que decidió la Reconquista, Edhasa, Barcelona 2012 (Spanish).
Xenealoxía.org – Genealogía de Galicia – Valladares, Marquesado de.
Gomez, Miguel Dolan, "The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: The Culture and Practice of Crusading in Medieval Iberia." PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2011.
La Casa de Valladares, del siglo XVII, está en riesgo de desaparición.

Misplaced Pages