Battle of Sagrajas

The Battle of Sagrajas (23 October 1086), also called Zalaca or Zallaqa (معركة الزلاقة), was a battle between the Almoravid army led by their King Yusuf ibn Tashfin and an army led by the Castilian King Alfonso VI. The Almoravids responded to the call of Jihad by the taifas which commonly fought amongst themselves however they had united to battle the powerful Christian states to the north. The Taifas aided the Almoravids during the battle with troops, favoring the battle for the Muslim side. The battleground was later called az-Zallaqah (in English "slippery ground") because of the poor footing caused by the tremendous amount of bloodshed 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, they invited Yusuf ibn Tashfin 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, he marched to Badajoz. Alfonso VI abandoned the siege of Zaragoza, recalled his troops from Valencia, and appealed to Sancho I of Aragon for help. Finally, he set out to meet the enemy northeast of Badajoz. The two armies met each other on 23 October 1086. Alfonso VI of León and Castile reached the battleground with some 2,500 men, including 1,500 cavalries, of which 750 were knights, some of whom were Jewish, but found himself outnumbered. The two leaders exchanged messages before the battle. Yusuf ibn Tashfin is reputed to have offered three choices to the Castilians: convert to Islam, to pay tribute (jizyah), or battle. The battle started on Friday at dawn with an attack from Castile. Yusuf ibn Tashfin divided his army into three divisions.