Yaqub Al-Mansur - Dynastic and Iberian Wars

Dynastic and Iberian Wars

Al-Mansur came to the throne after his father was killed in Portugal in 1184. He vowed revenge for his father's death, but fighting with the Almoravids, who had been ousted from the throne, delayed him in Africa. After inflicting a new defeat on the Almoravids, he set off for the Iberian Peninsula to avenge his father's death.

His 13 July, 1190 siege of Tomar, center of the Portuguese Templars failed to capture the fortress. However, further south he in 1191 recaptured a major fortress, Paderne Castle and the surrounding territory near Albufeira, in the Algarve - which had been controlled by the Portuguese army of King Sancho I since 1182. Having inflicted other defeats on the Christians and captured major cities, he returned to Morocco with three thousand Christian captives.

Upon Al-Mansur's return to Africa, however, Christians in Iberian Peninsula resumed the offensive, capturing many of the Moorish cities, including Silves, Vera, and Beja.

When Al-Mansur heard this news, he returned to the Iberian Peninsula, and defeated the Christians again. This time, many were taken in chained groups of fifty each, and later sold in Africa as slaves.

While Al-Mansur was away in Africa, the Christians mounted the largest army of that period, of over 300,000 men, to defeat Al-Mansur. However, immediately upon hearing this, Al-Mansur returned again to Iberia and defeated Castilian King Alfonso VIII Alfonso's army in the Battle of Alarcos, on July 18, 1195. It was said that Al-Mansur's forces killed 150,000 and took money, valuables and other goods "beyond calculation". It was after this victory that he took the title al-Mansur Billah ("Made Victorious by God").