Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
| Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Reconquista and Almohad wars in the Iberian Peninsula | |||||||
Portrayal of the battle by Francisco de Paula Van Halen (1864) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Almohad Caliphate | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Centre: Alfonso VIII of Castile Vanguard: Diego López II de Haro Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada Right wing: Sancho VII of Navarre Left wing: Peter II of Aragon | Muhammad al-Nasir | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 12,000–14,000 |
22,000–30,000 "Many hundreds of thousands" | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| ~2,000 |
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The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab (Arabic: معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the medieval history of Spain. The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, were joined by the armies of his rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon, in battle against the Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. The caliph al-Nasir (Miramamolín in the Spanish chronicles) led the Almohad army, made up of people from all over the Almohad Caliphate.
Navas de Tolosa (also called Las Navas) is a town and hamlet in southern Spain, in the municipality of La Carolina, in the province of Jaén, in the eastern part of the Sierra Morena region, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the border with the province of Ciudad Real.