X. The Iberian Crusade (second phase, 1189-93)
Eleanor, Regent Queen of Castile-Leon
William II of Sicily is among the few Christian leaders to abstain from the Western Crusade, but the later commitment of the Northern Italian maritime cities (whose fleets join the fight from late 1189) brings new reports about the confused Iberian situation, where the Christian kingdoms have continued their harsh fighting against the Moors after the initial conquest of Badajoz and Cordoba. Orio Mastropiero, the valiant Doge of Venice, leads a combined Venetian-Pisan navy reaching Spain to support the siege of Valencia. Few months later, also Lombard and Tuscan crusaders join Emperor Heinrich departing for Iberia, giving finally a military character to the Italian contribution.Eleanor, Regent Queen of Castile-Leon
At their arrival in Spain, the Italo-German soldiers would find a surprising and chaotic situation: Alfonso VIII of Castile has died in June 1190, leaving his childish heir William under the regency of Queen Eleanor and royal chancellor Etienne, whose ambitious plans against the neighbouring Kingdom of Leon are excited by the unexpected gain of power. Therefore, while the capture of Valencia (fallen on 4th July to Orio Mastropiero’s troops) should in theory have unified the victorious Christians in a common enjoyment, the immediately consequent Castilian attack against Leon will pave the way to a conflict among Iberian countries – and ultimately to the extinction of Leon, exhausted by the strenuous defence against the Muslim Emirates and then deceitfully harassed by Castile!
So far, the enthusiasm seems to support the crusaders: after the fall of Valencia, the Venetians renew their downward march encountering little resistance at Denia and Murcia, while the Aragonese continue to overcome Muslim citadels in Andalusia. But soon personal ambitions and disputes among the various leaders would slow down the progresses despite the Pope’s incitation to move on Cadiz. Two events mark the turning point: the Battle of Leon ends in one of the cruellest carnages ever recorded, with 9.000 casualties among the troops of Castile and Leon and the defeat of the latter, which would open their capital to capitulation. Few weeks later, profiting of the disunion within the Christian field, Emir Hamza of Almeria calls for a jihad to get back Valencia (October 1191). Backed by his Almohad ally, Hamza marches his army along the coast crushing the Venetian strongholds. The Moorish siege of Valencia begins in March 1192 and lasts two months, when the last Christian defenders – mainly Venetians – leave the town before surrendering the keys.
One month before, also the parabola of Alfonso IX of Leon has come to a conclusion, with the young king forced to acknowledge the Castilian triumph and retire to Oviedo. Regent Queen Eleanor has managed to take the combined title of Castile-Leon for her son William I.
Pere II d’Aragon (succeeding his epic father Alfons II in 1192) and William I of Castile-Leon will reap the best fruits. By the end of 1193, with the Aragonese conquest of Cadiz and the rout of the Emir of Almeria in Valencia – taken back by the German crusaders of Heinrich Welf of Brunswick – the fate of the Moors seems really doomed. We will come back in future…
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