Las Navas De Tolosa
Fast-riding bands of mounted Christian knights raided Muslim villages, towns, and castles along the Castilian-Andalusian frontier in 1194. The raids were part of offensive operations by King Alfonso VIII of Castile aimed against the Berber Almohad Dynasty. It was a challenge that could not go unanswered by Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf.
The following spring the caliph assembled a multi-ethnic caliphal army in North Africa, ferried it across the Strait of Gibraltar and marched north seeking battle with his Christian nemesis.
When word reached Alfonso of the formidable army headed his way, he hastily gathered a large army in Toledo consisting of Castillian and Navarrese knights, warrior-monks of the military orders, and municipal militiamen with which to engage the caliph.
The two hosts clashed on 19 June outside the partially completed Christian hilltop fortress at Alarcos. The Muslim horse archers rained hissing death upon the densely-packed ranks of the Crusader army.
After softening up the enemy with storms of arrows that blackened the sky, the Muslim horsemen systematically began carving up Alfonso’s army. To save the remainder of his army, Alfonso negotiated an agreement with Caliph Yusuf.
He agreed to pay
