The battle of Valtierra was fought between forces from

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

–

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

and

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

on 24 January 1110 (1 Rajab 503 AH). The Navarrese defenders were victorious and the king of Zaragaoza, al-Musta'in II, was killed. Late in 1109, al-Musta'in had the citizens of Zaragoza swear an oath of fidelity to him and recognize his son,

Imad al-Dawla Ali ibn Buya (, ), commonly known by his ''laqab'' (honorific epithet) Imad al-Dawla (; c. 891/2 – December 949), was the founder of the Buyid amirate of Fars, ruling as its ''amir'' (ruler) from 934 to 949. Together with his two younger bro ...

, as his successor. Early in January 1110, he personally led a raid into Navarre. Passing through Tudela, he attacked a nearby town, seizing its outskirts and forcing its inhabitants to take refuge in a fortified church. The name of the town as recorded in the Arabic sources is uncertain and possibly corrupted. The most likely places are

Oñati Oñati (, ) is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. It has a population of approximately 10,500 and lies in a valley in the center of the Basque country. It lies abo ...

Olite Erriberri (''Olite'' in spanish) is a town and municipality located in the Tafalla comarca, Erriberri merindad, in Navarre, Basque Country. History According to Isidore of Seville's ''Historia de regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum'', th ...

Arnedo Arnedo is the third largest town in La Rioja, Spain. It is located near Calahorra, and has a population of about 15,000 people. Its economy is based on the shoe industry. History The area of Arnedo has been inhabited as early as the Neolithic A ...

is another possible reading, but does not match the description of the town as a square with no defences besides the church. After a brief siege, the townspeople agreed to pay tribute and give hostages. During his subsequent march homeward, al-Musta'in sent raiding parties into the countryside. Near

Valtierra Valtierra is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Afric ...

, he was attacked by a force of Navarrese and Aragonese knights. Valtierra was at that time in Zaragozan hands. It would not be captured by Navarre until after the conquest of Zaragoza in 1118. The victorious army did not pursue its foe or attempt to strike further into Zaragoza, probably because it was not equipped for such action. The main source from the Islamic perspective is

Ibn Idhari Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī () was a Maghrebi historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous '' Al-Bayan al-Mughrib'', an important medieval history of the Maghreb (Morocco, No ...

's '' Bayan al-Mughrib''. An account also appears in

Ibn al-Khatib Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib (; 16 November 1313 – 1374) was an Arab Andalusi polymath, poet, writer, historian, philosopher, physician and politician from Emirate of Granada. Being one of the most notable poets from Granada, his poems decorate ...

's ''A'mal al-A'lam''. Al-Musta'in was considered a martyr for Islam. The '' Chronicle of the Peninsular States'' credits the victory to

Alfonso the Battler Alfonso I (7 September 1134), called the Battler or the Warrior (), was King of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I of Arago ...

, king of Aragon and Navarre, which some modern historians have accepted. He is not mentioned by Ibn Idhari. He is mentioned by Ibn al-Khatib. The earliest Christian record does not name him. This is a contemporary reference to the battle is found in the

eschatocol An eschatocol, or closing protocol, is the final section of a legal or public document, which may include a formulaic sentence of appreciation; the attestation of those responsible for the document, which may be the author, writer, countersigner, ...

of a charter issued by Queen Urraca for the monastery of Montearagón, which was drawn up by an Aragonese scribe on 24 March "in the year in which al-Musta'in died above Valtierra, and the knights of Aragon and Pamplona killed him.": ''Anno quo mortus est Almostaen super Valterra, et occiderunt eum milites de Aragone et de Pampilone''. Alfonso was probably still in

Sahagún Sahagún () is a town and municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León and the province of León. It is the main centre of population in the Leonese part of the Tierra de Campos natural region. Sahagún contains ...

, hundreds of miles away, at the time of the battle. The battle of Valtierra ultimately resulted in the downfall of the kingdom of Zaragoza. Ibn Fatima, the

Almoravid The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almo ...

governor of

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, marched against the city. The accession of Imad al-Dawla was recognized at first, but the Almoravid party was emboldened by his continued payment of ''

parias In medieval Spain, ''parias'' (from medieval Latin ''pariāre'', "to make equal n account, i.e. pay) were a form of tribute paid by the ''taifas'' of al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms of the north. ''Parias'' dominated relations between the ...

'' to Alfonso. An uprising forced him from Zaragoza and Ibn Fatima's successor in Valencia, , was invited in. Four months after the battle of Valtierra, Zaragoza was controlled by the Almoravids.

References

Works cited

* * * * * {{coord missing Conflicts in 1110 1110 in Europe Battles of the Reconquista