What happened at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa?
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
La batalla de las Navas de Tolosa
16 July 1212. On 16 July 1212, in the Sierra Morena near Santa Elena, in the province of Jaén, an alliance led by Alfonso VIII of Castile, with Peter II of Aragon and Sancho…
Where: Spain, Andalusia
What happened
On 16 July 1212, in the Sierra Morena near Santa Elena, in the province of Jaén, an alliance led by Alfonso VIII of Castile, with Peter II of Aragon and Sancho VII of Navarre, defeated the army of the Almohad caliph Muhammad al-Nasir. It was one of the decisive battles of the medieval peninsula and opened the way south: within forty years Castile had taken Córdoba (1236) and Seville (1248), and only the kingdom of Granada remained in Muslim hands. Legend says the chains on the coat of arms of Navarre come from this battle.
Say it
Después de las Navas de Tolosa, los reinos cristianos avanzaron hacia el sur.
After Las Navas de Tolosa, the Christian kingdoms advanced south.
Why it matters
Las Navas ended the North African empires' hold on al-Andalus and set the borders that put Andalusia inside Castile, which is why Andalusian Spanish, the base of most American Spanish, is a Castilian dialect.
Read about it
Connected
- The 'Reconquista': a contested idea (c. 718–1492)
- Alfonso VI takes Toledo (25 May 1085)
- Valencia and Seville fall to the Christian kings (between 1236 and 1248)
- Valencia and Seville fall to the Christian kings (between 1236 and 1248)
Sources
- 1212, la batalla de las Navas de Tolosa – Julia Pavón and María Calonge — Universidad de Navarra, Biblioteca – Fondo Antiguo
- Museum of the Batalla de las Navas de Tolosa — Jaén Paraíso Interior (Diputación de Jaén)
- Reconquista — World History Encyclopedia