Battle of Teba

15th century depiction of Battle of Teba

Date	August, 1330
Location	Teba, Andalusia
Result	Castilian victory

Belligerents

Castile

Granada

Commanders and leaders

Alfonso XI of Castile

James Douglas, Lord of Douglas †

Muhammed IV, Sultan of Granada

Strength

Unknown

The Battle of Teba took place in August 1330, in the valley below the fortress of Teba, now a town in the province of Málaga in Andalusia, southern Spain. The encounter occurred during the frontier campaign waged between 1327-1333 by Alfonso XI of Castile, against Muhammed IV, Sultan of Granada.

In 1325, King Alfonso declared war on the Moorish Emirate of Granada and invited other Christian kings to join him in a new crusade. This project came to nothing but Alfonso nevertheless proceeded with a campaign against the western frontier of Granada. In 1327, he captured the castles of Olvera, Pruna and Torre Alhaquime. In 1330, a second expedition was mounted to attack the castle of Teba, twenty five miles east of Olvera and a key fortification in the defences of Malaga. Alfonso established his headquarters at Cordoba and sent word to his nobles and knights to concentrate there. A contingent of five hundred knights was also sent by the King of Portugal. By the end of July Alfonso was preparing to march down the Roman road to Ecija where an advance base was to be set up.

In 1329, as Robert Bruce, King of Scots, lay dying he made one last request of his friend and lieutenant, Sir James Douglas. The King charged that, after his death, Sir James should take his embalmed heart and bear it with him on crusade, thus fulfilling the pledge that Bruce had been unable to honour in his lifetime. The chronicler Jean le Bel tells that Bruce wanted his heart taken to the Holy Land and presented at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The poet John Barbour says merely that Bruce wished his heart to be carried in battle against 'God's foes.' The projected campaign in Spain offered Sir James the ideal opportunity for the latter. In the spring of 1330, armed with a safe conduct from Edward III of England and a letter of recommendation to King Alfonso XI of Castile, Douglas set off from Berwick and sailed first to Sluys in Flanders.

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