Taifa appeal In the year 1091, the last sovereign king of al-Andalus,
al-Mu'tamid, saw his
Abbadid-inherited
taifa of Seville, controlled since 1069, in jeopardy of being taken by the increasingly stronger king of León,
Alfonso VI. The
Taifa period followed the demise of the
Umayyad Caliphate. Previously, the
emir had launched a series of aggressive attacks on neighboring kingdoms, so as to amass more territory for himself, but his military aspirations and capabilities paled in comparison to those of the
Leonese king, who in the name of
Christendom, in 1085, captured
Toledo and exacted
parias, or tribute, from
Muslim princes in places such as
Granada, al-Mu'tamid of
Seville being no exception. The tribute of the emirs bolstered the economy of the
Christian kingdom and harmed the Muslim economy. These are the circumstances that led to the Almoravid conquest and the famous quote, rebuffing his son, Rashid, who advised him not to call on Yusuf ibn Tashfin, where al-Mu'tamid said:
Battle of az-Zallaqah By the time Abu Bakr died in 1087, after a skirmish in the Sahara as the result of a poison arrow, Yusuf had crossed over into
al-Andalus and also achieved victory at the
Battle of az-Zallaqah, also known as the
Battle of Sagrajas in the west. He came to al-Andalus with a force of 15,000 men, armed with
javelins and
daggers, most of his soldiers carrying two swords, shields,
cuirass of the finest leather and animal hide, and accompanied by
drummers for psychological effect. Yusuf's
cavalry was said to have included 6,000
shock troops from
Senegal mounted on white
Arabian horses.
Camels were also put to use. On October 23, 1086, the Almoravid forces, accompanied by 10,000 Andalusian fighters from local Muslim provinces, decisively checked the
Reconquista, significantly outnumbering and defeating the largest Christian army ever assembled up to that point. The death of Yusuf's heir, however, prompted his speedy return to
Africa.
Integration of Taifas When Yusuf returned to al-Andalus in 1090, he tried to
take Toledo without success. He saw the lax behavior of the
taifa kings, both spiritually and militarily, as a breach of
Islamic law and principles, and left Africa with the express purpose of usurping the power of all the Muslim principalities, under the auspices of the
Abbasid caliph of
Baghdad, with whom he had shared correspondence, and under the slogan: The emirs in such cities as
Seville,
Badajoz,
Almeria and
Granada had grown accustomed to the extravagant ways of the west. On top of paying tribute to the
Christians and giving Andalusian
Jews unprecedented freedoms and authority, they had levied burdensome taxes on the populace to maintain this lifestyle. After a series of
fatwas and careful deliberation, Yusuf saw the implementation of orthodoxy as long overdue. That year, he exiled the emirs 'Abdallah and his brother Tamim from Granada and
Málaga, respectively, to
Aghmāt, and a year later
al-Mutamid of Seville suffered the same fate. When all was said and done, Yusuf united all of the Muslim dominions of the
Iberian Peninsula, with the exception of
Zaragoza, to the
Kingdom of Morocco, and situated his royal court at
Marrakech. He took the title of
Amir al-muslimin (
Prince of the Muslims), seeing himself as humbly serving the Caliph of Baghdad, but to all intents and purposes he was considered the caliph of the western
Islamic empire. The military might of the Almoravids was at its peak.
Military structure The
Sanhaja confederation, which consisted of a hierarchy of
Lamtuna, Musaffa and Djudalla
Berbers, represented the military's top brass. Amongst them were
Andalusian
Christians and heretic Africans, taking up duties as
diwan al-gund, Yusuf's own personal bodyguard, including 2,000 black
horsemen, whose tasks also included registering soldiers and making sure they were compensated financially. The occupying forces of the Almoravids were made up largely of horsemen, totaling no less than 20,000. Into the major cities of al-Andalus,
Seville (7,000),
Granada (1,000),
Cordoba (1,000), 5,000 bordering
Castile and 4,000 in western al-Andalus, succeeding waves of horsemen, in conjunction with the garrisons that had been left there after the
Battle of Sagrajas, made responding, for the
Taifa emirs, difficult. Soldiers on foot used
bows &
arrows,
sabres,
pikes,
javelins, each protected by a
cuirass of
Moroccan leather and iron-spiked shields. During the siege of the fort-town Aledo, in
Murcia, previously captured by the
Spaniard Garcia Giménez, Almoravid and
Andalusian hosts are said to have used
catapults, in addition to their customary drumbeat. Yusuf also established naval bases in
Cadiz,
Almeria and neighboring ports along the
Mediterranean Sea. Ibn Maymun, the governor of Almeria, had a fleet at his disposal. Another such example is the
Banu Ghaniya fleet stationed off the
Balearic Islands that dominated the affairs of the western Mediterranean for much of the 12th century. ==Siege of Valencia==