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Battle of Zallaqa

Battle of Sagrajas
Part of the Reconquista
Date 23 October 1086
Location North of Badajoz
Result Decisive Almoravid victory
Belligerents
Leon and Castile
Aragon

Almoravids

Commanders and leaders
Alfonso VI
Álvar Fáñez
Sancho Ramírez of Aragon

Yusuf ibn Tashfin

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
Casualties and losses
Total destruction of the Christian force but 500 cavalrymen, who fled, survived

3,000

Muslim sources state average casualties

Almoravids

Yusuf ibn Tashfin

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.


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