Siege of Burriana

Part of the Reconquista (Aragonese conquest of Valencia)

Chronological map documenting the Conquest of Valencia.

Date	1233
Location	Burriana, Province of Castellón, Spain
Result	Conquest of the City of Burriana by James I of Aragon

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

James I of Aragon

Bernat Guillem de Montpellier

Bernat Guillem d'Entença

Zayyan ibn Mardanish

The Siege of Burriana was one of the battle actions that occurred during the Conquest of Valencia by James I of Aragon. Burriana was an important Muslim city, being the capital of La Plana, Valencia. It was known as the "Green City". The city was besieged for two months, finally falling to the forces of James I in July 1233.

In 1229, the city of Valencia, known to the Muslims as "Balansiya", had fallen to the forces under the command of Zayyan ibn Mardanish, a local leader who was opposed to the Almohades. In capturing that city, he dethroned Zayd Abu Zayd, who subsequently fled to the Kingdom of Aragon. James I of Aragon used this as a casus belli to intervene in the Muslim civil war on the side of the Almohades, but in reality with the pretext of expanding his own territory.

Two Aragonese knights, Hugo de Follalquer, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, and Blas de Aragón, who had just returned from a period of exile in Valencia, met with Jaime I at Alcañiz. They recounted stories of the prosperity of the Muslim kingdom and encouraged the king to conquer it in 1233.

After taking Burriana, the castles to the north continued to fall into Aragonese hands one by one including; Peniscola, Castelló de la Plana, Borriol, Cuevas de Vinromá and Villafamés. Three years later, the decisive Battle of the Puig sealed the conquest in 1236.

Zurita y Castro, Jerónimo (2003). "Book III" (PDF). Anales de Aragón (Edició d'Ángel Canellas López. Edició electrònica de José Javier Iso, María Isabel Yagüe i Pilar Rivero ed.). Institución Fernando el Católico. p. 238.

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