Alfonso VI takes Toledo, 1085

Alfonso VI takes Toledo

After years of pressure on the weakened taifa kingdom, King Alfonso VI of León and Castile received the surrender of Toledo, the old Visigothic capital, on 6 May 1085 and entered it on 25 May. The fall of the principal city of central al-Andalus shifted the balance of power in Iberia — and drove the taifa kings to call in the Almoravids from Africa.

Date

6–25 May 1085exact date · duration: 19 daysDate in the Julian calendar

Place

Toledotoday: Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain · Western and Central Europe

Participants

Alfonso VI of León and Castile, Kingdom of Castile, Taifa of Toledo

Threads

Western and Central Europe (11th–12th c.)

Also known as

Siege of Toledo (1085); Conquest of Toledo; Conquista de Toledo; Осада Толедо; Взятие Толедо; al-Qadir; аль-Кадир

After the caliphate of Córdoba broke up in the early 11th century, Toledo became the capital of an independent taifa which, like its neighbours, came to pay tribute (parias) to the Christian kings. Alfonso VI knew it well: in 1072, defeated by his brother Sancho II, he had found refuge at the court of al-Ma'mun of Toledo. Al-Ma'mun's grandson al-Qadir, who succeeded him in 1075, lost the support of his subjects; in 1080 the city was occupied by al-Mutawakkil of Badajoz, and al-Qadir regained it in 1081 only with Alfonso's backing, on terms that promised Toledo to the king and Valencia to al-Qadir. Castilian raids wore down the countryside, a permanent camp was set up south of the city in the autumn of 1084, and in March 1085 Alfonso arrived with his main army. Unable to obtain help from the other taifas, al-Qadir capitulated on 6 May.

The terms guaranteed the Muslims their lives, property, freedom and religion, and separate agreements were made with the Jews; the main mosque was to stay in Muslim hands, a promise broken when the new archbishop, Bernard of Sédirac, seized it with the support of Queen Constance while the king was away. Al-Qadir was installed in Valencia under Castilian protection, and by August Madrid and the other towns of the Tagus valley had passed to Alfonso, who now called himself "most victorious king in Toledo". Alarmed, the kings of Seville, Badajoz and Granada turned to the Almoravid emir Yusuf ibn Tashfin, whose army defeated Alfonso at Sagrajas in October 1086. Toledo, however, remained Christian, and in the 12th century its scholars translated Arabic works of science and philosophy into Latin.

Connections

Consequences

Battle of Sagrajas (az-Zallaqa)23 October 1086 · Western and Central Europethe fall of Toledo led the taifa kings to call in the Almoravids, who defeated Alfonso VI at Sagrajas the next year

Related events

Umayyad conquest of Hispania711–718 · Western and Central EuropeTariq ibn Ziyad had taken Toledo, the Visigothic capital, in 711

Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba16 January 929 · Western and Central Europethe taifa of Toledo was one of the kingdoms into which the caliphate of Córdoba broke up in the early 11th century

Gerbert of Aurillac at Reims: the abacus and the Hindu–Arabic numeralsbetween 972 and 973 – 989 · Western and Central Europetwo milestones in the passage of Arabic learning to Latin Europe: Gerbert's abacus in the 10th century, the translators of Christian Toledo in the 12th

Adjacent events in the thread

Walk to Canossa25–28 January 1077 · Western and Central Europe

Domesday Book: William I's survey of EnglandDecember 1085 – 1086 · Western and Central Europe

Alfonso VI takes Toledo

Connections

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Meanwhile in the world

Balkans and Anatolia

Middle East and Egypt

Africa

East Asia

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North America

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The same period

Sources