Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa

Missing image Navastolosa.jpg
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Conflict	Spanish Reconquista
Date	July 16, 1212
Place	Near Las Navas de Tolosa
Result	Christian victory
Combatants Christian coalition Almohads Commanders Alfonso VIII of Castile Sancho VII of Navarre Peter II of Aragon Muhammad al-Nasir Strength about 100,000 about 460,000 Casualties Unknown about 100,000

The July 16 1212 battle of Las Navas de Tolosa is considered a major turning point in the history of Medieval Iberia. The forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his Christian rivals, Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon in battle against the Muslim Almohad rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. Caliph al-Nasir led the Almohad army. The Pope called European knights to a crusade.

The defeat of the Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Maghreb: a decade later, this would give further momentum to the Christian Reconquest begun by the kingdoms of northern Iberia centuries before, resulting in a sharp reduction in the already declining power of the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula.

Thirty-six years later, Granada was the sole city in the Iberian peninsula still in Muslim hands, and the kingdom of Granada was a vassal state of Castile.

See also: Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212, Alfonso VIII of Castile, Almohad, Castile, Christian, Christian Reconquest