Battle of Graus

date	Spring 1063
place	Horror
output	Aragonese defeat

Parties to the conflict
Aragon	Hudiden ( Saragossa ) Castile
Commander
King Ramiro I. †	Emir Ahmad I. al Muqtadir Infant Sancho II.
Troop strength
unknown	unknown
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Graus ( Spanish : Batalla de Graus ) was a battle of the early Spanish Reconquista .

It was triggered by the dispute between the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile over the dominance of the typhoon kingdom of Saragossa , which was ruled by the Hudids at that time . It may have taken place near Graus in the spring of 1063 . The exact time is, however, controversial - the years 1069 or 1070 are also possible.

prehistory

The intervention of the Infante Sancho of Castile on the side of the Hudids under Ahmad I al Muqtadir can only be understood if one considers the confused situation after the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba in 1031 and the disintegration of Islamic rule into countless Taifas : Da the Christian kingdoms in northern Spain were unable to conquer and hold these taifas, one of which Zaragoza was, they limited themselves to raids and tribute contracts. For example, at the time of the Battle of Graus, Saragossa was tributary to the Kingdom of Castile under Ferdinand .

The battle

The conquest of the city of Graus by Ramiro I of Aragon was viewed by his brother Ferdinand as an attack on the Castilian sphere of influence secured by tribute. In addition, Ferdinand, as Emperor of León, saw himself as overlord over all kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. The place Graus in the foothills of the Pyrenees was of no importance, but was on the way to the important city of Barbastro , which was certainly the actual destination of Ramiro I. Castile was very right in this fear, as the course of events should show: In fact, Barbastro was first conquered and plundered by Aragon in 1064 with the help of French and Burgundian knights . Pope Alexander II subsequently granted the participants an indulgence for their fight against the "infidels" , which is why the campaign is seen as a forerunner of the Crusades .

In order to slow down Aragon, Ferdinand sent his son Sancho II to assist Emir Ahmad I al Muqtadir from Saragossa in the reconquest of Graus. It will have been a small but powerful bunch of professional warriors, knights, including the young Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. This man, later known as El Cid, was brought up at the court of the Infante, received the accolade from him and was in the vicinity of the walls of Zamora until Sancho's death in 1072. Whether El Cid was already the Alférez Mayor Sanchos, however, appears to be questionable. After all, he was a member of a select and very powerful force that Sancho II commanded.

The Aragonese, under their king Ramiro I, had to realize this at the gates of Graus when they faced the united army of Emir Ahmad I al Muqtadir and Infante Sancho II. They were beaten, lost their king and had to evacuate horrors. In addition to the participation of El Cid, the death of King Ramiro I makes the battle of Graus a historical event. Sancho II contributed to the death of his own uncle, although that was not the goal of the campaign.

We know nothing about the exact course of the battle. An Arab chronicler explains the death of the King of Aragon with a ruse used by an Arab knight by mingling with the Aragonese troops in disguise and throwing the king down with a lance on the eye (unprotected with a nasal helmet ). The fact that the knights from Castile, including El Cid later in his life, usually captured high-ranking opponents in order to receive high ransom money speaks for death by troops of the Hudid.

Result

With the help of the dominant Castile, the mountain kingdom of Aragon was initially denied access to the cities of the Pre-Pyrenees and thus the advance on the Ebro Valley. The support of French knights only led to one more result, as with Graus: the city of Barbastro, conquered in 1064, was lost again to the Hudids in 1065. Only the fall of the Taifas by Castile and Almoravids was to put Aragon back in a position to continue expansion.

literature

Alexander Pierre Bronisch: Reconquista and Holy War. The interpretation of the war in Christian Spain from the Visigoths to the early 12th century (= Spanish research of the Görres Society. Series 2, Vol. 35). Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-402-05839-1 (also: Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 1998).
Richard Fletcher: El Cid. Life and legend of the Spanish national hero. Beltz, Weinheim et al. 1999, ISBN 3-88679-312-5 .
Ludwig Vones : History of the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages (711-1480). Empires, crowns, regions. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-7113-2 .