Editing Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (section)

==Battle==
Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp, sneaking through the [[Despeñaperros]] Pass, led by [[Martín Alhaja]], a local shepherd who knew the area. On 16 July 1212,{{Sfn|Setton|1975|p=669}} the Christian coalition caught the encamped Moorish army by surprise, and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title ''Cabeza de Vaca'' for his assistance to Alfonso VIII.{{sfn|Cabeza de Vaca|1983|p=8}}
[[File:NavasDeTolosaMonument.jpg|left|thumbnail|upright|Monument at Navas De Tolosa (1881)]]

The battle was fought at relatively close range, so that neither the Almohads nor the Spaniards could use archers in the melee-dominated fight. Spanish knights became locked in close-quarter combat, in which they were superior to the Almohads.{{sfn|Ibrahim|2018|p=224}}

{{blockquote|"They attacked, fighting against one another, hand-to-hand, with lances, swords, and battle-axes; there was no room for archers. The Christians pressed on." –  ''(The Latin Chronicle of The Kings of Castile)''{{sfn|Ibrahim|2018|p=224}}}}

Some of the Spanish knights, namely the [[Order of Santiago]], eventually broke the Almohad line of defense decisively as they inflicted heavy casualties on the Almohads and established a breakthrough with gaps appearing in the enemy lines. This led to a possible spearhead. King Sancho VII then led his mounted knights through the gaps, exploiting them, and charged at the Caliph's tent.{{sfn|Peter|2014}}

The Caliph had surrounded his tent with a bodyguard of black slave-warriors. Though it was once claimed that these men were chained together to prevent flight, it is considered more likely that this results from a mistranslation of the word "serried", meaning a densely packed formation. The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard. The Caliph escaped, but the Moors were routed, leaving heavy casualties on the battlefield.<ref>{{harvnb|Hunt|Hsia|Martin|Rosenwein|2007|p=391}} According to the king of Castile, "On their side 100,000 armed men fell in battle..."</ref> The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war; Muhammad al-Nasir's tent and standard were delivered to [[Pope Innocent III]].{{Sfn|Tamm|Kaljundi|Jensen|2011|p=224}}

Christian losses were far fewer, only about 2,000 men (though not so few as legend had it).{{Sfn|Gomez|2011|p=}}{{pn|date=December 2024}} The losses were particularly notable among the Orders: those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo (bannerman of the [[Order of Calatrava]]), [[Alvaro Fernández de Valladares]] (''comendator'' of the [[Order of Santiago]]), [[Pedro Arias]] (master of the Order of Santiago, died of wounds on 3 August), and Gomes Ramires (Portuguese master of the [[Knights Templar]] and simultaneously master of Leon, Castile, and Portugal); Ruy Díaz (master of the Order of Calatrava) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command.{{sfn|Browne Ayes|2010|p=531}}

[[Muhammad al-Nasir]] did not overcome the defeat of this battle: he went to [[Marrakesh]] and locked himself in his palace until his death a year later.{{sfn|Pennell|2013|p=52}}{{sfn|Gebhardt|1864|p=360}}