THE BATTLE OF LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA (1212 A.D.)

[1Sidenote: [1212-1270 A.D.]]

2Muhammed opened the campaign by the siege of Salvatierra, a strong but not important fortress of Estremadura, defended by the knights of Calatrava. That he should waste his forces on objects so incommensurate with their extent, proves how little he was qualified to wield them. The place stood out for several months, and did not surrender until the emperor had sustained a heavy loss, nor until the season was too far advanced to permit any advantage to be derived from this partial success. By suspending the execution of his great design until the following season, he allowed Alfonso time to prepare for the contest. The following June, the kings of Leon and Castile having assembled at Toledo, and been joined by a considerable number of foreign volunteers, the Christian army advanced towards the south.

3On July 12th, the crusaders reached the mountainous chain which divides New Castile from Andalusia. They found not only the passes, but the summits of the mountains occupied by the Almohads. To force a passage was impossible; and they even deliberated on retreating, so as to draw out, if possible, the enemy from positions so formidable, when a shepherd entered the camp of Alfonso, and proposed to conduct the Christian army, by a path unknown to both armies, to the summit of this elevated chain--by a path, too, which would be invisible to the enemy’s outposts. A few companies having accompanied the man, and found him equally faithful and well informed, the whole army silently ascended, and entrenched themselves on the summit, the level of which was extensive enough to contain them all.

4Below appeared the widespread tents of the Moslems, whose surprise was great on perceiving the heights thus occupied by the crusaders. For two days the latter, whose fatigues had been harassing, kept their position; but on the third day they descended into the plains of Tolosa, which were about to be immortalised by their valour. Their right wing was led by the king of Navarre, their left by the king of Aragon, while Alfonso took his station in the centre. The attack was made by the Christian centre against that of the Mohammedans; and immediately the two wings moved against those of the enemy.

5The struggle was terrific, but short; myriads of the barbarians fell, the boundary was first broken down by the king of Navarre, the Castilians and Aragonese followed, all opponents were massacred or fled, and the victors began to ascend the eminence on which Muhammed still remained. Muhammed mounted a mule and soon outstripped not only the pursuers but the fugitives. The carnage of the latter was dreadful, until darkness put an end to it. The victors now occupied the tents of the Mohammedans, while the two martial prelates sounded the _Te Deum_ for the most splendid success which had shone on the banners of the Christians since the time of Charles Martel. The loss of the Africans, even according to the Arabian writers, who admit that the centre was wholly destroyed, could not fall short of 160,000 men.

6The reduction of several towns, from Tolosa to Baeza, immediately followed this glorious victory--a victory in which Don Alfonso nobly redeemed his failure in the field of Zallaka, and which, in its immediate consequences, involved the ruin of the Mohammedan empire in Spain. After an unsuccessful attempt on Ubeda, as the hot season was raging, the allies returned to Toledo, satisfied that the power of Muhammed was forever broken. That emperor, indeed, did not long survive his disaster. Having precipitately fled to Morocco, he abandoned himself to licentious pleasures, left the cares of government to his son, or rather his ministers, and died in 1213, not without suspicion of poison.[c]