Battle of Cervera

The Battle of Cervera took place near Event locality:Espinosa de Cervera on Event date::29 July 1000 between the Christian troops of counts Sancho García of Castile and García Gómez of Saldaña and the Muslim Caliphate of Córdoba under the hajib Almanzor. The battle, "tremendous and difficult to describe", was a victory for Almanzor.

A truce between Castile and Córdoba had existed since the succession of Sancho García, but in 999 it was broken when the count refused to pay the annual tribute and came to the aid of his Christian neighbour, García Sánchez II of Pamplona, when Almanzor attacked him. On 21 June 1000 an army left Córdoba under Almanzor for a punitary expedition against Castile. The subsequent campaign is the most well-recorded of Almanzor's many wars after his Compostela campaign of 997. The primary historian is Ibn al-Khatib, who derived his Arabic account partially from Ibn Hayyan, himself relying on the eye-witness testimony of his father, Jalaf ibn Husayn ibn Hayyan, one of the combatants on the Muslim side and a secretary to Almanzor. Ibn al-Khatib records that the campaign was the most intense and difficult Almanzor ever waged, that preparations took an especially long time, and that all the rulers of Christian Spain were allied against him, with troops from all the Christian realms assembled together.

Almanzor crossed the Duero and invaded Castile near Madinat Selim, where he sighted an army under Sancho García and the "Galician kings", consisting of troops from as far as Pamplona and Astorga. Almanzor passed by the fortresses of Osma, San Esteban de Gormaz, and Clunia, which had been in Muslim hands for several years at that point. Just north of Clunia he was surprised to find a large Christian army. Sancho, who had been elected leader of the entire army by the assembled troops, was encamped at the rock of Yarbayra (Peña de Cervera), a central location, well situated for supplies, and inaccessible due to its geography. The implication of these events is that Sancho's planning and communications had been superior to those of Almanzor. The roads from Clunia, the northernmost Muslims garrison, led to Tordómar, Lara, and Salas de los Infantes through the narrow pass of the Yecla, which passed through the Peña de Cervera before widening into the basin of the river Arlanza.

According to Ibn al-Khatib the Christians solemnly swore an oath not to retreat from battle. Almanzor was aware of his disadvantaged position—the Christians had a stronger camp and better sightlines, with a large open field before them—but his viziers could not agree on how to proceed. Then, without planning and without strategy, the Christian host descended on the unsuspecting Muslims and the battle soon evolved into a general mêlée. Almanzor's right and left columns were attacked simultaneously and soon fell back, which inspired the Christians to press their advantage even more boldly.[5] The majority of the Muslim rear, disoriented by the unorganised attack and disheartened by the result, fled.

According to the eyewitness Jalaf ibn Husayn, Almanzor, with his escort, observed the action from atop a short hill near the field. While he was debating whether to throw his retinue into the fight the right wing broke, which furthered the confusion. One of Almanzor's secretaries, Abd al-Malik ibn Idris al-Yaziri, said to Said Ibn Yusuf, as reported by Ibn al-Qalina, "Come to say goodbye, oh martyr, because surely today you must die." By the end of the day Said Ibn Yusuf was dead.

Jalaf also related how, when Almanzor asked him how many of his own retinue remained, Jalaf counted them off for him one by one and arrived at twenty. Almanzor eventually dismounted and returned to his couch in order to strengthen the confidence of those around him. It was there that Jalaf says he hit upon the idea of transferring the camp from the shallow depression in which he had first pitched it to the hill from which he had been observing the battle. The sight of the large tent of Almanzor now propped on the hill demoralised the Christians and inspired the Muslims. In their ten-mile flight many Christians were captured and many more killed, while more than 700 Muslims died that day. The Christian camp was captured and pillaged.

Ibn al-Khatib notes that the most outstanding fighter on the Muslim side was Abd al-Malik, Almanzor's son, stressing that this was "by unanimous opinion" without any favoritism and that he excelled even the famous Berber cavalry. Among these, Kayaddayr al-Dammari al-Abra (the Leper), a prince of the north African tribe of the Banu Dammari, was most famous. At Cervera he reputedly decapitated one of the counts of the Banu Gumis and carried his head about with him. Ibn al-Khatib also praises Almanzor's second son by another woman, Abd al-Rahman, who followed his half-brother into battle. Both brothers watched the battle with their father until he finally permitted them, tearfully, to join it.

Though the battle was a Muslim victory, the Christians did succeed in preventing further inroads by Almanzor in Castile. Gonzalo Martínez Díez speculates that if the Christians had not met Almanzor at Cervera, the hajib would have gone on to devastate Burgos as he had already Barcelona, Pamplona, León, and Santiago de Compostela.[13]  In fact Almanzor attention was drawn away from Castile and towards Pamplona. On 4 September he took a certain place, Kashtila, best identified with Carcastillo, on the road from Zaragoza to Pamplona, just inside the Pamplonese kingdom. He returned to Córdoba on 7 October after an absence of 109 days, probably the longest of his fity-six razzias he waged during his life. Dissatisfied with the conduct of his troops at Cervera, at Córdoba the great general harangued them for cowardice.