Conquest of Cuenca
Conquest of Cuenca | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Spanish Christian–Muslim War of 1172–1212 | |||||||
Gorge de Huécar on its way through Cuenca | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of Castile Supported by: Crown of Aragon | Almohad Caliphate | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alfonso VIII of Castile Nuño Pérez de Lara † Alfonso II of Aragon Berenguer de Vilademuls | Abu Bekaa |
- v
- t
- e
- 8th century
- Covadonga
- 1st Roncevaux Pass
- Burbia River
- Orbieu River
- Lutos
- Las Babias
- Río Quirós
- Oviedo
- 1st Lisbon
- 9th century
- 1st Barcelona
- 1st Tortosa
- Pancorbo
- 2nd Roncevaux Pass
- Clavijo
- Albelda
- Guadalacete
- Monte Laturce
- Morcuera
- Polvoraria
- 1st Cellorigo
- 2nd Cellorigo
- 2nd Barcelona
- 10th century
- Day of Zamora
- 1st Majorca
- Pallars and Ribagorza
- 1st San Esteban de Gormaz
- 2nd San Esteban de Gormaz
- Valdejunquera
- 1st Toledo
- Alhandic
- Simancas
- Estercuel
- Torrevicente
- Rueda
- 3rd Barcelona
- 11th century
- Cervera
- Calatañazor
- Torà
- Albesa
- Aqbat al-Bakr
- Graus
- Coimbra
- Barbastro
- Paterna
- Llantada
- Golpejera
- Cabra
- Piedra Pisada
- Morella
- 2nd Toledo
- 1st Zaragoza
- Sagrajas
- Tudela
- Tévar
- 3rd Toledo
- Almodóvar del Río
- 1st Valencia
- 2nd Lisbon
- Alcoraz
- Bairén
- Consuegra
- 4th Toledo
- 5th Toledo
- 12th century
- 2nd Valencia
- Mollerussa
- Balaguer
- Uclés
- Norwegian raid
- 3rd Lisbon
- Talavera
- Formentera
- Ibiza
- 1st Balearic Islands
- 6th Toledo
- Candespina
- Vatalandi
- 1st Santarém
- 2nd Balearic Islands
- Martorell
- Coimbra
- 2nd Zaragoza
- Cutanda
- 1st Lleida
- 1st Granada
- Corbins
- Alcalá
- 3rd Valencia
- Aceca
- 1st Badajoz
- Fraga
- Leiria
- 1st Coria
- Ourique
- Oreja
- Trancoso
- 2nd Coria
- 4th Lisbon
- 1st Montiel
- Soure
- Albacete
- 1st Almería
- Al-Ludjdj
- 2nd Santarém
- Sacavém
- 5th Lisbon
- Sacavém
- 2nd Tortosa
- 2nd Lleida
- 2nd Almería
- 1st Alcácer do Sal
- Palmela
- 1st Évora
- 2nd Badajoz
- Juromenha
- 3rd Santarém
- Central Iberia
- Tarragona
- Cuenca
- Calatrava
- 2nd Seville
- Abrantes
- 2nd Évora
- 4th Santarém
- Alvor
- 1st Silves
- 2nd Silves
- Tomar
- 2nd Alcácer do Sal
- 2nd Silves
- Alarcos
- Talamanca
- 13th century
- Al-Dāmūs
- Las Navas de Tolosa
- 3rd Alcácer do Sal
- 1st Jaén
- Peníscola
- Aragonese raid
- 2nd Majorca
- 2nd Jaén
- 1st Jerez
- Ares
- Burriana
- Córdoba
- El Puig
- 4th Valencia
- Algarve
- 1st Xàtiva
- 2nd Xàtiva
- Biar
- 3rd Jaén
- 3rd Seville
- Faro
- 2nd Jerez
- Mudéjar revolt
- 3rd Jerez
- 1st Murcia
- Écija
- Martos
- Andalusia
- 1st Algeciras
- 2nd Algeciras
- Moclín
- Iznalloz
- 14th century
- 1st Gibraltar
- 3rd Algeciras
- 3rd Almería
- 2nd Gibraltar
- Vega de Granada
- Shepherds' Crusade
- Teba
- 3rd Gibraltar
- 4th Gibraltar
- Vega de Pagana
- Getares
- Río Salado
- Estepona
- Guadalmesí
- 4th Algeciras
- 5th Gibraltar
- Linuesa
- Guadix
- 2nd Montiel
- 5th Algeciras
- 2nd Murcia
- 15th century
- Collejares
- Antequera
- 6th Gibraltar
- La Higueruela
- 7th Gibraltar
- Los Alporchones
- 8th Gibraltar
- 9th Gibraltar
- 2nd Granada campaign
- Lucena
- Málaga
- Post-Reconquista Rebellions
- 1st Alpujarras
- 2nd Alpujarras
- North Africa
The conquest of Cuenca was a siege led by Alfonso VIII of Castile and Alfonso II of Aragon to the city of Cuenca in 1177.
Background
The border of the Tagus had been overwhelmed in the second half of the 12th century because Alfonso VIII of Castile was advancing towards the Xúquer. He besieged Cuenca in 1172, but after five months of siege the caliph Abu-Yaqub forced the Castilian to lift the siege by attacking Huete. The caliph Yaqub, the philosopher Averroes, the historian Sahib as-Sala (who gives a detailed description of Cuenca) and other notable Almohads entered the city and helped the besieged. Abu-Yaqub Yússuf and Alfonso VIII signed a truce for seven years.
The truce was broken in the summer of 1176 when the Muslims of Cuenca, together with those of Alarcón and Moya, attacked the Christian lands of Huete and Uclés, breaking the pact. Alfonso VIII summons the Castilian counts Nuño Pérez de Lara, Pedro Gutiérrez, Àlvar Fáñez, Tello Pérez, Nuño Sánchez, the lord of Albarrasí Pedro Ruiz de Azagra, the king of León Ferdinand I and the King of Aragon Alfonso II and the orders soldiers of Saint John, Calatrava and Alfama and laid siege to the city on January 6, 1177.
The siege
Faithful to the friendship with the kingdom of Castile, Alfonso II, went to the siege of Cuenca with a group of armed peons identified with the Almogavers[2] in aid of the Castilian monarch. After arriving to Cuenca, he went to Provence and other points. In July or later, he must have returned to Cuenca. The archbishop of Tarragona, Berenguer de Vilademuls, accompanied him with soldiers from the city and from Camp de Tarragona.
Cuenca, considered impregnable, suffered a long and very tough siege (for nine months) by the combined armies of Castile and Aragon, swelled by the large number of foreigners who came from the crusade that the Holy See had raised and that preached the cardinal legate Giacinto Bobone, who later became pope under the name of Celestine III.
The leader Abu Bekaa asks for help from the caliph Abu-Yaqub but he was in Africa attending to other matters and denied him help. On July 27, the besieged made an exit attacking the Christian camp with the aim of delivering a coup d'état against the king, but they only managed to kill Count Nuño Pérez de Lara. Hunger, disease and the dead from the continuous attacks of clubs and blunderbuss forced them to surrender and liberate the city on September 21, the day of Sant Mathew. The Christian army takes the citadel and the castle and, after the Muslim abandonment of the city, Alfonso VIII and his retinue triumphantly enter the city of Cuenca in October, becoming part of Castile.
Consequences
In that same year, according to Jerónimo Zurita, Alfonso II went on a military expedition to Llorca, so that the king of Murcia, who was his vassal, would ensure the tribute. On returning from this victorious expedition and being in Teruel, he gave the church of Saint Vincent to the Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña "pro servitio quod mihi fecisti in illa hoste de Valencia".
As a reward for Alfonso II participation in the capture of Cuenca, he and his successors were freed in perpetuity from the vassalage to Castile that had its origin in the Serón de Nágima Agreement (1158). However, this vassalage, purely nominal and circumstantial with regard to the kingdom of Aragon, never existed in truth with regard to the county of Barcelona.
References
Bibliography
- Rovira i Virgili, Antoni (1929). "Vol. IV: La Catalunya Nacional". Història Nacional de Catalunya (1a ed.). Edicions Pàtria. p. 416-7.
- J.A. Almonacid Claveria, De Huete a Cuenca con los Almohades en 1172[dead link]