Battle of Martos | |||||||
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Part of the Spanish Reconquista | |||||||
The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Crown of Castile | Marinid sultanate Kingdom of Granada | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Sancho of Aragon, Archbishop of Toledo † | Abenjor Atalì Uzmén | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
(Unknown) | (Unknown) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
(Very large) | (Unknown) |
History of Spain |
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Timeline |
The Battle of Martos was a minor battle of the Spanish Reconquista fought between Martos and Torredonjimeno in Andalusia in 1275. The battle was fought between the troops of the Kingdom of Granada and those of the Crown of Castile. The Castilian force was completely destroyed as a result of the battle. [1] There is some confusion in the dates since different authors report different dates. Zurita, for example, reports that the events described here took place between May and August; [2] the more modern authors, however, put them between September and October. [3]
In the early 1270s the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada used to pay parias to the powerful Christian Crown of Castile. In 1273 King Alfonso X of Castile raised the tribute to the huge sum of 300,000 maravedis and this was deemed unacceptable by King Muhammad II of Granada, who resolved to ask for help to the Marinid, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq. [4] This one took immediately the opportunity and in summer 1275 crossed the Gibraltar strait with a large army which, together with the Granadine troops, attacked the Castilian territory. King Alfonso X at the time was away from Spain and his son and heir, infante Ferdinand, was regent of the kingdom. Ferdinand rushed to raise troops but unexpectedly died in Villa Real (August 1275). [5] The country was leaderless and the Moors had the upper hand in the south. In September the adelantado mayor de Andalucia, Nuño González de Lara, tried to stop them but was defeated and killed in the battle of Écija. [6] The young Archbishop of Toledo, infante Sancho of Aragon, put himself at the head of a force of knights from Toledo, Madrid, Guadalajara and Talavera and marched south to intercept the invaders. [7] Another relief force was marching towards Jaén under Lope Díaz de Haro. [8]
The Castilian were staying in Torre del Campo when Archbishop Sancho received news from Fra' Alfonso Garcia, Commendator of Martos of the Order of Calatrava, that a Moorish force was close full of booty and Christian prisoners. He was advised by his own men to wait to be reached by the forces of Lope Diaz de Haro before attacking but the headstrong young Sancho resolved to attack immediately nonetheless. [9] [10] The fight probably took place near Torredonjimeno. The outnumbered Castilians were cut to pieces and few knights succeeded to escape, most being killed or taken prisoners. The Archbishop Sancho met a very ugly death. He was taken prisoner but, being recognized as a hostage of great importance (he was the son of King James I of Aragon), Granadine and Marinids officials started to argue about whom he belonged to. In order to cut short the dispute the Granadine arraez (governor) of Málaga killed the infante, beheaded him and cut his hand with the episcopal rings. The head was given to the Marinids and the hand to the Granadines. [11]
Lope Diaz de Haro succeeded to recover the archbishop's body but did not chase the Moors. Later on Castile was relieved by the second son of King Alfonso X, infante Sancho, who came back from France and took the lead, organizing a swift defense of the southern territory. [12] Aragon attacked Granada in the south-east. [13] Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq at this point went back to Magreb and a truce between Castile and Granada went into place "de facto". These events were the beginnings of the so-called Battle of the Strait between Castile and the Moroccans which lasted into the 1350s. [14]
Alfonso XI, called the Avenger, was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes ensued over who would hold regency, which were resolved in 1313.
Ferdinand IV of Castile called the Summoned, was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death.
Sancho IV of Castile called the Brave, was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles who declared him king instead of Ferdinand's son Alfonso. Faced with revolts throughout his reign, before he died he made his wife regent for his son, who became Ferdinand IV.
Alfonso of León, Lord of Molina was an infante (prince) of León and Castile, the son of King Alfonso IX of León and his second wife Queen Berengaria of Castile. He was the brother of King Ferdinand III of Castile and León, and father of Queen Maria of Molina, wife of King Sancho IV. He became Lord of Molina and Mesa after his first marriage to Mafalda González de Lara, the heiress of those lands.
Muhammad II was the second Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula, succeeding his father, Muhammad I. Already experienced in matters of state when he ascended the throne, he continued his father's policy of maintaining independence in the face of Granada's larger neighbours, the Christian kingdom of Castile and the Muslim Marinid state of Morocco, as well as an internal rebellion by his family's former allies, the Banu Ashqilula.
Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq I and Oum el-Iman bint Ali el-Bethary, a Zenata woman. Some sources add her mother to be known as Oum el Youm and a daughter of a Zenata clan leader of the Tafersit region.
Blanche of Castile was by birth a member of the Castilian House of Burgundy. She was the only child of Infante Peter of Castile and Infanta Maria of Aragon.
John of Castile, called the "el de Tarifa" was an infante of Castile and León. He was engaged in a decades-long fight for control over the Lordship of Biscay with Diego López V de Haro, the uncle of his wife.
The Battle of Algeciras was a naval battle which occurred on July 25, 1278. The battle pitted the fleets of the Kingdom of Castile, commanded by the Admiral of Castile, Pedro Martínez de Fe, and the combined fleets of the Marinid dynasty and that of the Emirate of Granada, commanded by Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr. The battle was fought in the context of the Moorish naval expeditions to the Iberian Peninsula. The battle, which took place in the Strait of Gibraltar, resulted in a Muslim victory.
Alfonso Fernández el Niño was a Spanish nobleman, the illegitimate son of King Alfonso X of Castile and Elvira Rodríguez de Villada. He was the lord of Molina and Mesa through his marriage to Blanca Alfonso de Molina, daughter of the infante Alfonso of Molina and niece of King Alfonso IX of León.
The siege of Algeciras was the first of many sieges of the city by Christian forces in the lengthy period of the Spanish Reconquista. The siege, ordered by King Alfonso X of Castile also known as "el Sabio", was a fruitless military campaign initiated by the Kingdom of Castile with the objective of removing the Benimerins from Algeciras. The siege on Algeciras, then known to the Muslims as Al-Jazira Al-Khadra, was strategically important because Algeciras had been at the time the main fortress and landing place for African reinforcement troops in the Iberian Peninsula. Castile, which had a powerful armada of ships anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar to blockade such reinforcement, had a few days previously to the siege, seen that fleet obliterated by the Muslim admiral, Abu Yusuf Yaqub at the Naval Battle of Algeciras.
The Battle of Écija was a battle of the Spanish Reconquista that took place in September 1275. The battle pitted the Muslim troops of the Nasrid Emirate of Granada and its Moroccan allies against those of the Kingdom of Castile and resulted in a victory for the Emirate of Granada.
Diego López V de Haro, nicknamed el Intruso, was a Castilian noble of the House of Haro and held the title of the Lord of Biscay which he took from the pretender to the title, John of Castile.
Nuño González III de Lara was a Castilian noble of the House of Lara. He was the lord consort of Alegrete, Vide, and Sintra and served as Alférez del rey for King Ferdinand IV of Castile.
María Díaz I de Haro "the Good" (1270–1342) was a Spanish noblewoman of the House of Haro. She was the daughter of Lope Díaz III de Haro who was assassinated by order of the king at Alfaro, La Rioja. She is best known for being the Lady of Biscay and for her lifelong battle against her uncle, Diego López V de Haro, for the title of the lordship of Biscay.
Philip of Castile was an Infante of Castile and son of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and León, and his first queen, Beatrice of Swabia. He was Lord of Valdecorneja, and, according to some sources, Knight of the Order of the Temple, in one of those churches, the Church of Santa María la Blanca in Villalcázar de Sirga, he was buried in a coffin adorned with emblems of the Templars.
Juan Núñez I de Lara y León, also known as "el Gordo" or "the Fat", was a Spanish noble. He was the head of the House of Lara, Lord of Lerma, Amaya, Dueñas, Palenzuela, Tordehumos, Torrelobatón, and la Mota. He was further known as Señor de Albarracín through his first marriage with Teresa Álvarez de Azagra.
Álvaro Núñez de Lara was a Castilian nobleman, the son of Juan Núñez I de Lara, head of the House of Lara, and his first wife, Teresa Álvarez de Azagra.
Sancho of Aragon was an Infante of Aragon and Archbishop of Toledo, who was killed by the Moors.
The Battle of Sierra Elvira, also called the Disaster of the Vega de Granada, was a battle of the Spanish Reconquista fought near the city of Granada on 25 June 1319. The battle was fought between the troops of the Emirate of Granada and those of the Kingdom of Castile. The battle resulted in a catastrophic defeat for Castile.
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