Battle of Morella
 | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2014) ) |
| Battle of Morella | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
 El Cid, slaying an enemy in battle, from a miniature of 1344. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Aragon–Navarre | Zaragoza | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Sancho Ramírez |
Yusuf al-Mu'tamin Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2,000 prisoners | Unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Morella (14 August 1084×88), southwest of
Crónica de San Juan de la Peña (c.1370), Sancho later sought out El Cid, who had also defeated his father in the Battle of Graus (1063), and defeated him in the year 1088. However, the Crónica is the only source mentioning such an encounter and, as it was written three hundred years later, most leading scholars give no credence to this claim, which was probably intended to justify the prerogatives of Peter IV of the Crown of Aragon
.
In 1084 Sancho attacked the kingdom of Zaragoza. On 5 April he took
Lleida, and Tortosa, and camped by the Ebro. El Cid reportedly replied to the king's demand that he retire with an uncompromising message, and when the two armies joined in battle the former scored "an overwhelming victory" in mid-August, probably 14 August. The Crónica dates it to the Saturday after the capture of Secastilla, that is, 25 May in its calculation. The year 1084 was accepted by Ramón Menéndez Pidal, but Antonio Ubieto Arteta suggested 1088, the year under which the Crónica refers to Sancho seeking out El Cid and defeating him. Bernard Reilly argued for a date of 1084 on the grounds that it would best explain the events of 1085. Ubieto Arteta elsewhere places the Battle of Piedra Pisada
in 1084, the unsuccessful culmination of Sancho's campaign into Zaragozan territory.
Prisoners
The aforementioned Historia adds that El Cid chased his fleeing Christian enemies and took 2,000 Aragonese and Navarrese prisoner. Sixteen of whom were important enough for the anonymous author to name:
- Bishop of Roda(1077–94)
- Sancho IV of Navarre
- Blasco Garcés, royal majordomo
- Seven Aragonese and Navarrese tenentes:
- Pepino Aznar (fl. 1075–93), held Alquézar (1084) and helped repopulate Barbastro (1100)
- García Aznar (Centule I of Bigorreand went into exile among the Moors (1088)
- , which he repopulated after its conquest (1087)
- Jimeno Garcés of Buil
- Laín Pérez of Pamplona
- Fortún Garcés of Aragon
- Sancho Garcés of Alquézar
- Five Leonese-Castilians, probably exiles of Alfonso VI:
- Count of Portugal(until 1070)
- Anaya Suárez (Galicia)
- Nuño Suárez (León)
- García Díaz (Castile)
- Gudesteo González
- A certain Calvet
El Cid also sacked Sancho's camp and carried an enormous booty back to Zaragoza. He was even greeted by celebrant Zaragozans at Fuentes some distance away.
References
- Fletcher, Richard A. (1989). The Quest for El Cid. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, pp. 138–39.
- Reilly, Bernard F. (1989). The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 168–69.
- Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1973). "Sobre la nunca reñida batalla de Morella (1084)," Boletín de la Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura, 49:97–115.
- Trow, M. J. (2007). El Cid. Gloucestershire: Sutton Press.