Editing Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona (section)

===''Reconquista'' and war with the Almoravids===
[[File:Creu-Alcoraz-1524-Jeronimo-Martinez-Retablo-San-Jorge.Salvador-Merce-Teruel.jpg|thumb|left|Peter receiving a shield emblazoned with [[St George's Cross]]. According to legend, George appeared on the field of battle at Alcoraz. The heads of four decapitated Moors found on the battlefield were added to George's familiar emblem, creating the [[:es:Cruz_de_Alcoraz|Cross of Alcoraz]] (the basis for the [[Sardinia]]n coat-of-arms).]]

The next year (1096) Peter travelled south to inspect his fortress at [[Castellón de la Plana|Castellón]], though the ''[[Historia Roderici]]'' claims that he came to help Rodrigo.<ref name=Fletcher175>Fletcher, 175.</ref> He met Rodrigo in Valencia and with a large force already assembled they decided to reinforce the southern frontier fort of Benicadell, rebuilt by Rodrigo in 1091. As they were passing by [[Xàtiva]] they were met by an Almoravid force under the command of Mohammed, the nephew of Almoravid leader [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], and the commander whom Rodrigo had defeated at the [[Battle of Cuarte]] in 1095. They decided to hastily restock Benicadell and retreat to Valencia via the coast, but were met at the [[Battle of Bairén]] by Muhammad's forces encamped on the high ground that reached almost to the sea. A small Almoravid fleet had been assembled from the southern ports, including [[Almería]], and the Christians were trapped between arrow fire from the ships and the cavalry perched atop the hill. Rodrigo roused the troops with a speech and the next day at midday the Christians charged. The [[Battle of Xàtiva]] ended in a rout, with many Almoravids killed or forced into the river or the sea, where many drowned. Peter and Rodrigo returned to Valencia in triumph and thanking God for the victory, as the ''Historia'' records.<ref name=Fletcher175/>

In 1099, in preparation for the fall of [[Barbastro]], Peter sent [[Ebontius|Ponce]], then [[Bishop of Roda]], to Rome to ask Pope Urban II to transfer the see of Roda to [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Barbastro-Monzón|Barbastro]]. The pope complied with Peter's request, and endowed the transferred diocese with all the re-conquered lands of the [[Diocese of Lleida]]. Peter's motive in this action was probably to curtail any expansion of the [[Diocese of Urgell]] in the direction of Lleida. In any case, Barbastro fell in 1100.

According to what is probably a legend, at the urging of the monks of [[San Juan de la Peña]] Peter planned to join on the [[Crusade of 1101]] and make a pilgrimage to [[Jerusalem]], but [[Pope Paschal II]] refused to allow it and ordered him to make war on Zaragoza instead. Peter, probably aided by knights from [[Kingdom of France|France]] and [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]],<ref>Reilly, 304, deduces this from the presence of [[Berengar (Bishop of Barcelona)|Berengar]], [[Bishop of Barcelona]], in Barbastro on 5 May 1101 to attend the reconsecration of the mosque as a Christian church.</ref> certainly did make war on Zaragoza in 1101, in a campaign that lasted the whole year. He may have been inspired by the [[First Crusade]]rs, since contemporary accounts of the 1101 campaign call him a "cross-bearer" (''crucifer'').<ref>[[Christopher Tyerman]] (2006), ''God's War: A New History of the Crusades'' (London: Penguin Books), 659.</ref> The size of his forces so impressed a contemporary scribe in [[Kingdom of León|León]] that he remarked in the dating formula of a document of 12 February that "Peter, Aragonese king, with his infinite multitude of armed men, the city of Zaragoza, with Christ's banner, fought".<ref>Reilly, 304: ''Petrus quoque rex aragonensis eum infinita armorum multitudine Cesaraugustam civitatem cum Christi vexillo preliante''.</ref> By June Peter had begun the siege of [[Zaragoza]] itself. For the siege he had a fortress built named [[Juslibol]] (a corruption of the Latin slogan ''[[Deus lo volt]]'' [God wills it] used by the First Crusaders) and ringed the city with banners bearing the cross.<ref>Tyerman, 662. Today [[:es:Juslibol|Juslibol]] is a town three kilometres from Zaragoza.</ref> In August he was conducting a ''[[Razzia (military)|razzia]]'' (raid) as far south as [[Alpenes]] and the [[river Ebro]], but the campaign was eventually aborted due to insufficient cavalry.<ref name=Powers/> By the end of the year he had expanded Aragon and Navarre in the west almost as far as the walls of Zaragoza and [[Tudela, Navarre|Tudela]], though the cities both remained in Muslim hands.