Battle of Sagrajas | |||||||
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Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Leon and Castile Aragon |
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alfonso VI Álvar Fáñez Sancho Ramírez of Aragon |
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Strength | |||||||
2,500 according to western sources 60,000-80,000 according to Muslim Andalusian sources |
Reportedly 3 times larger than Castilian army according to western sources 48,000 according to Muslim sources |
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
Total destruction of the Christian force but 500 cavalrymen, who fled, survived |
3,000 Muslim sources state average casualties |
2,500 according to western sources
Reportedly 3 times larger than Castilian army according to western sources
3,000
The Battle of Sagrajas (23 October 1086), also called Zalaca or Zallaqa (Arabic: معركة الزلاقة, translit. Maʿrakat az-Zallāqa), was a battle between the Almoravid army led by the Almoravid king Yusuf ibn Tashfin and a Christian army led by the Castilian King Alfonso VI. The battleground was later called az-Zallaqah (in English "slippery ground") because the warriors were slipping all over the ground due to the tremendous amount of blood shed that day, which gave rise to its name in Arabic.
After Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile captured Toledo in 1085 and invaded the taifa of Zaragoza, the emirs of the smaller taifa kingdoms of Islamic Iberia found that they could not resist him without external assistance. In 1086 Yusuf ibn Tashfin was invited by them to fight against Alfonso VI. In that year, he replied to the call of three Andalusian leaders (Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad and others) and crossed the straits to Algeciras and moved to Seville. From there, accompanied by the emirs of Seville, Granada and Taifa of Málaga marched to Badajoz.