Almoravids Crush Castile at az-Zallaqah
Yusuf ibn Tashfin crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with an Almoravid army from North Africa to rescue the failing Muslim taifa kingdoms of Iberia. On October 23, 1086, his forces met Alfonso VI's Castilian army at az-Zallaqah, near Badajoz. The Almoravids used West African drums and massed cavalry charges to break the Christian lines. Alfonso's army was routed, and the king himself was wounded and barely escaped with 500 horsemen. The victory halted the Christian Reconquista's momentum for a generation and preserved Muslim control of southern Spain. Ibn Tashfin returned to Morocco, then came back two years later to annex the taifa kingdoms himself, replacing their squabbling emirs with Almoravid governors. The Reconquista wouldn't regain its momentum until the Almohad dynasty fractured in the 1200s.
October 23, 1086
940 years ago
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