[LTC] The Papers of King Alfonso

[NorseThing]

The Papers of King Alfonso
A Medieval II After Action Report


by Norse Thing





Preamble

I have finally finished the early learning curve for Windows 10. I am now on Steam with Medieval II and with the “Lands to Conquer” modification. So let's get started on a new adventure since all of the old saved game files are now gone forever.


This After Action Report (AAR) is based on play with Medieval II using the “Lands to Conquer” modification. I like to use the hard levels for both settings rather than the extremes of “Easy” and “Very Hard”. The base of the modification is still in the many modifications that have followed long after “Lands to Conquer”. I thought it a good means to get my feet wet again with a Total War AAR. The game was begun in the early period with the Spanish Kingdom of Spain. For members not familiar with the modification, Lusted made Navarre a rebel faction held province rather than the Portuguese controlled province of Pamplona in the basic game. There is also the beginnings of the Angevin Empire with the English faction controlling all but French town of Rennes in Brittany west of Paris rather than most of the French areas beyond Paris in a state of rebellion.

Introduction

In the early 19th Century, Europe was in turmoil with Republican France continuing in war with the older established monarchical regimes of Europe. Napoleon wanted to close the seaborne continental trade to the opposing kingdoms, mainly the stubborn English. The Spanish peninsula posed a special problem with the Kingdom of Portugal in alliance with the English. This meant that once again the French army had to be thrown into the fray. An uprising of the local population against the new French oppressors was inevitable as was shown in the immortal painting by Goya, “The Firing Party”. But all was not about war in the 19th century. Along with the army, there were the teams of archaeologists scouring the countryside. Among their finds were the lost parchment papers of King Alfonso found in Valencia. The best of the French archaeologists theorized the 'papers' were written by a contemporary Moorish scholar on European made parchment, but the parchment could have been brought up north from Africa as well. There was simply little demand for writing materials other than for the customary religious texts.


Could Napoleon learn something from these papers written over seven centuries earlier about the struggles to unify the peninsula into a kingdom where King Alfonso and his descendants could claim to rule all of the Spanish?

Chapter Links

Ch. 1 - The Wedge
Ch. 2 - A Clash of Cultures
Ch. 3 - The reconquest begins at Cordoba
Ch. 4 - The waiting game at Cordoba
Ch. 5 - Marshal Murat is interested in the Alfonso Papers
Ch. 6 - Rebels are active
Ch. 7 - Revenge?
Ch. 8 - Crusade?
Ch. 9 - Taking another step to now unite Iberia as Spain
Ch. 10 – Naples is the key to trade

[Swaeft]

Welcome back, Norsething! Glad to see you return to writing.

I've never read a Lands to Conquer AAR before, so this will be great exposure if I can find the time to read it. A short but sweet introduction, I'll try my best to follow this but no promises

[Turkafinwë]

Welcome back and welcome to the wonderful world of Windows 10. Always a bummer when old save games disappear forever, it's like losing a good friend.

A interesting concept for an AAR, Napoleon reading through some dusty old papers to find a way to conquer the peninsula and I haven't even heard of the Lands to Conquer mod, though that might be because I mostly play Lord of the Rings mods and their submods. I'm sure to follow this and see where it goes!

[Skotos of Sinope]

Subbed and looking forward to this!

[Admiral Van Tromp]

This sounds interesting! I wonder if Alfonso's feats will have a noticeable impact on Napoleon's time.

[Derc]

Funny. I only recently thought about the Napoleon Peninsular DLC.

Never played Lands to Conquer. Good luck with this AAR.
¡Viva España!

[NorseThing]

Thanks everyone for your kind words of encouragement. I hope I will not disappoint you.

[NorseThing]

The Alfonso Papers
Chapter 1 – The Wedge


by Norse Thing

The king of all the Spanish (Alfonso, 40, married) was really a king of a small portion of the Spanish peninsula. He was the king of the provinces of Leon and Castille. Toledo within Castille was a strong stone castle that anchors the defense of his small kingdom. The large town of Leon was still is an important population center of the kingdom and the traditional administrative capital for these two provinces.


The Spanish peninsula is home to many independent provinces and a small handful of kings. It is the goal of King Alfonso to rule all of the peninsula. To that end he changed his capital from Leon to Toledo which is more central to all of Spain. He moved his family, the entire household, and all administrative officers to the castle town of Castille. His son, Prince Rodrigo (21, single), was left behind to finalize the closing of the affairs of the king when the transfer to Toledo was completed. When his tasks were complete, Prince Rodrigo took a small band of three companies of militia and peasants along with his own regiment of cavalry into the Castille provincial wilderness to await more orders from his father. More militia were recruited for the permanent town garrison of Leon. How to unite the Spanish behind one family? How to unite Spain with one king as their liege?


A common goal was central and a key to unification. King Alfonso saw that goal in religion. It was no issue that nearly half the peninsula's population followed the Roman Pope and some followed the Jewish traditions and nearly half the population followed the teaching of the prophet supported by the Arabs in Mecca. There were even pockets that followed more traditional deities to the local people. This was no matter of concern to the king. The key, King Alfonso believed, was to unite all behind the Roman Pope. Divide and conquer was the key to unification. To that end King Alfonso sent his own Roman Cardinal to spread the word and convert the local population the province of Cordoba to the Roman faith. This was an immense task since about a quarter of the province was currently Catholic. Soon Portugal would send their Cardinal. Yes, divide and conquer was the key to unification. Religion was the first wedge issue to that goal. What other wedge issues could be found?


The king believed good roads were also a key to unification. The Roman empire had such good roads to carry goods and march armies to the furthest edges of the empire. Just as all roads led to Rome a millennium ago, all roads would now lead to Toledo. Cordoba already had developed such a network of roads within the province ruled by the great Sultan. This would be the model to adopt throughout the entire peninsula. King Alfonso would extend that network of roads thru his kingdom as well. Another key to unification. Another wedge issue was found. The King proclaimed that all provinces once united with his kingdom would be greater and better off once they, as well, had these roads. Road construction was then and forever forward a priority of his administration and monarchical rule.


Along with roads, the king sent his young but able general Vaasco (28, single, not a family member) to seize the bridge that was on the new road. More troops from Toledo would join this initial force, so that trade between Cordoba and Toledo would be disrupted until the Sultan would concede Toledo to his kingdom. Roads could only be used for the benefit of the Kingdom of Spain. For the Sultan of the Moors to also benefit was not acceptable. Thus the second wedge issue was found to be exploitable by Alfonso. No trade with those who opposed unification. The rebellious provinces such as Aragon, Navarre, and Valencia as well as the Moorish held provinces were to be kept poorer by not trading with King Alfonso's great Kingdom of Spain. Spain was great when a part of Rome, it would be great again under King Alfonso.


The rebellious Portugal was not really any different from the other provinces on the peninsula, but the Portuguese king was of the Roman faith and a distant relative of King Alfonso. A different solution had to be found. The military power of Portugal could be used by King Alfonso to unite all of Spain. An alliance against the common Moorish enemy would be the answer. To that end, King Alfonso sent one of his daughters (Urraca, 20, single) to the court in Lisbon. His other daughter (Teresa, 19, single) was sent off eastward to gain favor among the European courts for Spain. Such an alliance with Portugal was meant to be only temporary until Portugal was back in the Spanish Kingdom. Such details might take some time.

[Skotos of Sinope]

Alfonso doesn't mess around. An interesting beginning, NT. Will the AAR be written in this kind of "history book" style, or are you going to go more narrative with it?

[Turkafinwë]

A great start! We get answers to all the questions we want to ask. Alfonso, who is he? What is his situation? What does he want? How is he going to achieve it?

Will he though? I guess we'll find out as the story progresses.

[NorseThing]

Thanks for the comments. This will be a bit of a past tense third person narrative. I suspect the 'Moorish scholar' will break down on occasion to suppose what happened and thus be in a first person present tense as most on my previous AAR submissions were written. Chapter 2 will be next week and the title is -- A Clash of Cultures. Still this is setting the scene, but perhaps there will be some dialog.

[Alwyn]

I'm sorry to hear about your old save game files - and happy to see your new AAR! I'm intrigued by the idea of a 19th century leader trying to learn from a much earlier monarch about how to unify Spain - and it sounds like the earlier monarch might have been inspired by the Romans, centuries before his time. It sounds like King Alfonso had good ideas, from better infrastucture to building alliances. I wonder how Vaasco will get on and whether the missions of Urraca and Teresa will succeed.

[NorseThing]

The Alfonso Papers
Chapter 2 – A Clash of Cultures


by Norse Thing

I write this within the confines of a very changed Valencia. Today, I am looking back upon King Alfonso's life. He had thought to unite the various independent Christian duchies, but for some reason stopped after the alliance with Portugal. More on that sad affair in a moment unless I get ahead of the story in my haste to make my points.


He then began plans to reconquer the Iberian peninsula from the Moors. The Arabs were sufficiently different from the Europeans. I believe there was a fundamental collision of cultures that contributed to this reconquest. There was a certainty that conflict would occur when King Alfonso tried to dominate the entire peninsula. It was not just religion that separated the Arabs and the Moors from the Europeans. But when the two religions (Islam and Christian) became the dominant religions followed on the peninsula this was a source of conflict to be exploited by the ambitious political leaders.


In the beginning, the leaders that followed the Islamic religion were gaining rule by military conquest. They were a clear minority of the general population. Armies of conquest by their nature are usually a small number compared to a much larger local population. The military defeat of the armies is not the same as a successful occupation of the land. Rebellions to the new authority are common. It was essential for the minority Moors to receive assistance from another local culture group. The people of the Jewish faith were that oppressed minority religion on the peninsula. Thus, the minority population that supported the conquest were people of the Jewish faith against those perceived to be their oppressors. The cooperation between those of the Jewish faith and the new rulers of the Islamic faith helped create the tolerance of faiths within the Moorish provinces. Tolerance can create such alliances, but only if the political as well as the religious leadership wishes such cooperation to occur.


When the conflict is between people of the two most dominant faiths, a clash of cultures is a great possibility. Minorities can be recruited to tip the balance towards one major group or the other. King Alfonso saw no such potential alliances. If anything, the Islamic tradition of tolerance and the historic alignment of support from the Jewish community meant that only by uniting the Christian culture groups could the king form a powerful enough block to challenge the Moors. Religious tolerance would thus not enter into his calculations. Political leadership is always quick to exploit division to gain advantages as I observed in the previous chapter. Such a conflict did spring up in the Spanish peninsula. King Alfonso was was not quick enough to exploit all of the divisions.


The divisions were not strictly based upon religion, but religion was the easiest difference for the political leadership led by King Alfonso to exploit. The Moors were a part of the Arab world due to religion as well as their roots of a semi nomadic desert culture. The semi nomadic roots were a potential for division. In this case it was the Moors who saw this as a division more than the leadership from Leon.


The first and easiest example would be how noble parents treat their children. In the noble Arab home, the children are protected from harm by keeping the household separated and thus protected from the outside world. The noble European home is more limited in protecting the children. Both cultures see the need to let children become adults and move out of the home when the time is right to wed. The difference comes with mainly how the young women are treated. Both cultures believe that an arranged marriage of all young children whether they be men or women is the best means to maintain the family group financially and morally. The Arab culture and the Moors, specifically, are more consistent between this goal and practice. The fault of the Europeans is they give too much independence to both the young noble women and the young noble men to go out on their own. This exposes them to unneeded risk before they are ready to deal with others with a good base of experience.


This was the fault that then befell King Alfonso with his daughters. The older daughter, Urraca (20, single), proceeded out as a diplomat to help further the noble family's position to the court in Lisbon. This was a delicate situation. I can understand why King Alfonso entrusted this mission with a family member. How this would have worked out with one of much greater experience and probably even with his own family well established we can only surmise. This very specific case would never have happened except with the European culture. From the information that I have accumulated, I gather the following must have occurred:


Princess Urraca arrived in the royal court of King of Portugal and was immediately escorted in for a royal audience. The meeting was cordial, but the Portuguese showed simple contempt for the welfare of the young Princess Urraca. Portugal insisted that even the trade rights required her marriage to Portugal heir. Several thousands florins were also given to King Alfonso. Much more than 30 pieces of silver, but essentially the same. Princess Urraca was for all practical purposes a hostage to Spanish good behavior. Again, this is a scandalous behavior typical of the Europeans. Inconsistent with their own religious beliefs and simply an erosion of morality of the noble family.


I enclose here a short passage, a letter actually sent by Princess Urraca to her mother, Queen Constance (age 40):




Mother,


I am being treated with great respect form my position. I truly am beginning to love Prince Alfonso (Portugal Heir, 23). I have inquired about a visit home to visit with you. I understand that these are tense times and that such a journey could be filled with peril. However, I feel like a prisoner in my own household in Lisbon. Alfonso has not said that I cannot make the journey, but.... I miss you and all the family.


Your daughter,


Urraca






Clearly Urraca is in some degree regretting the royal marriage or at least some aspects of it by the Portuguese royal court cutting off of her family support. This family support is important in the Islamic noble household. I can only assume such support is just as important when provided in a Christian noble household as well.


And then there is the sad circumstances that involved his other daughter, Princess Teresa. The men serving the interests of King Alfonso had found Roy de Castile as a suitable 20 year old prince for marriage. He was reported to be brave, very loyal, a promising commander, and religiously active. A good match for the 19 yer old princess in all aspects and also aligned with the king's own plans to create the wedge needed between the Roman believers and the followers of Islam. The king was inclined to accept this prospect but was not certain in how it would change his personal plans after sending Teresa off eastward on a diplomatic mission.


Unknown to the king, Teresa had already fallen for a secret love while on her journey. This would have never happened in an Islamic household where such daughters are protected against such distractions. In the end, Princess Teresa completed her first diplomatic mission to France by meeting with Prince Louis near the stone castle at Toulouse. King Alfonso gained a mere 350 florins in gold and trade rights while giving up map rights unilaterally. The Council of Nobles sweetened the deal with two companies of spear militia. The cost the family paid was too great. A young princess out in the world before marriage was now secretly in love but not to the man the family had agreed to marry Princess Teresa with. Scandalous! Typical European failure of morality for the price of a few gold coins. Even the Roman church has numerous lines in their holy books admonishing against this love of gold coin.

Author's Notes

Author's notes: I am taking what I see in game play and observing how well some of the aspects of the conflict between Islam and Christian are modeled. The dynamic of local religious support is limited in Lands to Conquer. The Rabbinical support for the Jewish community is a bit abstract. The rebellions are not at all units attached to a particular religious population base to support an invasion of conquest. All considered, this does a good job modeling some aspects despite some items I would want to see changed. If my readers are interested, within the Lands to Conquer Modification a player has the option of selecting the Reconquista Campaign which is a limited mini modification with play between the Moors or the Spanish or the Portuguese. Of note, the Iberian peninsula does include the Balearic Islands as well. Not as detailed as the Stainless Steel map, but an interesting aspect for those interested. You can see how this mini modification could be of interest to those designing the Stainless Steel Modifications.

[Swaeft]

Hello Norsething,

Chapter 1 is a really good overview. Concise and informative. I have nothing else to add to what the rest have said, but this: Perhaps some campaign screenshots?


Kilo11, Turkafinwe and Cookiegod's reaction to Swaeft asking for screenshots:

[NorseThing]

The screenshots will come. Setting the table takes time. For those who want to know, the next chapter title -- Chapter 3 – The reconquest begins atCordoba

[Turkafinwë]

I like how you describe these different cultures and what seperates them. It is clear they have a lot of differences but also alot of similarities. Religion is always a fickle thing, in my opinion. Also a big fan of the way you describe how both parties used their religion for political gain. It also seems that our friend Napoleon has more contempt for his fellow Europeans of old than for the Arabs.

To finish with a good authors note, definitely will check this mod out!

Kilo11, Turkafinwe and Cookiegod's reaction to Swaeft asking for screenshots:

[NorseThing]

The Alfonso Papers
Chapter 3 – The reconquest begins at Cordoba


by Norse Thing

King Alfonso was quick to use his forced alliance with Portugal for his own personal advantage. His daughter may have become a hostage to a rival, but now the king believed the rival was obligated to aid in the conquest of Cordoba. General Vaasco (36) had previously taken up a position of blocking trade at a key bridge that separated Toledo from Cordoba at the provincial border. It was now time to move aggressively to surround and besiege the great capital of the Moors. The Moors were caught disorganized with a weak force in Cordoba and two or perhaps more armies unknown to the general in the countryside.


Princess Teresa's new husband, Roy de Castile, was ordered to take two regiments of light cavalry plus his own regiment of heavy bodyguards to assist General Vaasco as circumstances could allow. General Vaasco had not succeeded in surrounding Cordoba as was intended. His army was superior to any single army but perhaps not to the combined force of the three Moorish armies. Uncertainty was to plague the general. The fog of war and the lack of more than a single regiment of light cavalry kept his options limited.


The general had decided to defend the bridge out of Cordoba on the road to Grenada with a modified version of siege. General Vaasco believed that there would certainly a force that would strike his rear at the bridge. The Grenada garrison had to be aware of the fate of their Sultan after the months Cordoba had been under siege. At the least, the garrison at the wooden castle could also reinforce the scattered forces around Cordoba. General Vaasco saw an endless string of options. All options would be bad for his lone force on the bridge to Grenada.


Meanwhile Prince Rodrigo was in Castille's wilderness north east of Toledo with a strong force of six companies of light infantry (militia and peasant archers) heading towards the independent stone castle at Pamplona. The province is on the shores of the bay and adjacent to French controlled Toulouse and English controlled Bordeaux. If King Alfonso could control this castle, this might secure the peninsula against of European interference. Perhaps the Prince and his force could have been put to better use against the Sultan's forces that were already mobilized and may have been ready to force the issue to save their Sultan. King Alfonso was still remaining with his broader objective of uniting the duchies of Iberia under one great king.


King Alfonso was now regretting not keeping his daughter single until relations were better with the English as well as improving the relations more with the French. Ina matter such as this, he had to trust his own son, Rodrigo. Prince Rodrigo was urged to use the generous forces at his disposal to force the issue of control of Pamplona, but to not escalate tensions with the other factions near the peninsula. The problem of French or English intervention would not have been a concern except for the actions ordered by King Alfonso. The independent duchies that separated the Spanish from both the English and the French kingdoms were just as anxious about continental activities as they were concerned about Spanish activities.


This all looks as a bit of a risk for the Spanish King, but we know differently through the archives. I will sum it up quickly and without extended thoughts.

1. The great Sultan had passed on to join Allah shortly before the siege began and was no longer present in Cordoba.
2. General Vaasco's fears of a great attack to save the elderly Sultan were not founded on good information. The information available to King Alfonso was no better.
3. Ayyub, a young 16 year family member of the ruling Moors family was defending Cordoba during the Spanish siege. He left the royal banners of the late Sultan up out of respect for the great man. This confused the Spanish who had heard the Great Sultan had died. Cordoba had already beaten off the Portuguese. The Moors needed to repair damage to their town from that assault. They were not in fighting status to fend off another assault let alone muster the resources to break out of the siege. Even if a more experienced general was available to lead, the men the men were is no shape to counter a siege.
4. The young spies employed by King Alfonso were not willing to risk death to gather more information than was readily available in the field. A good field commander would know as much or more than the spy network would provide. Thus both King Alfonso and General Vaasco lacked the information they needed to make good decisions.
5. King Henrique was safely residing in Lisbon during the siege of Cordoba according to the very late reports King Alfonso received. There was never any intention of coming to the aid of a Spanish army at Cordoba. King Henrique had intended to grab Cordoba in a quick stroke and wanted the alliance to protect his weakened kingdom from a Spanish 'unification' attack. King Henrique's heir, Alfonso married to the Spanish Princess, was already back on the Kingdom of Portugal's soil to reorganize after the failed attempt to take Cordoba. The Spanish princess was safely in Lisbon to assure good behavior by her father the Spanish king, Alfonso.

Despite the planning by King Alfonso,the real result was that Cordoba and the Moors immediate fate was sealed by a series of miscalculations and not a truly inspired master plan of the King of Leon and Toledo.






The above is the position of the Spanish situation as described by the scholar in Valencia

Author's notes

This chapter as the previous chapters are drawn from a fictional Islamic scholar writing from Valencia after these events took place as an historian. The reader will detect some bias on the part of this Islamic scholar / author. This bias is most evident when the reader has a differing set of biases to draw conclusions from. With or without a perceived bias does not change the value of the observations being recorded as a part of our history.

[Swaeft]

A lovely overview. Great update. Thank you also for the author's note, because it was not immediately clear to me that it was from the perspective of a scholar. As usual, you can't count on the AI to help reinforce you even if they are allies, and I liked the way that you describe the Portuguese King's inaction rather tan it simply being 'the Portuguese did not help with the siege'. Also, a nice touch with Ayyub hanging the banners of his father to confuse the Spanish.

[Alwyn]

Even though General Vaasco has a strong army, it sounds like he feels keenly his responsibility for the lives of his soldiers and the dangers of operating with limited information. I also enjoyed the confusion caused by Ayyub's gesture of respect for the late Sultan, that sounds just like the sort of misunderstanding which would have happened.

[NorseThing]

The Alfonso Papers
Chapter 4 – The Waiting Game at Cordoba

by NorseThing

General Vaasco waits. He actually waited too long in hopes of reinforcements coming to his aid from Toledo's Castle. His own men reported a new noble seems to be leading one of open columns outside of Cordoba. This noble general was unknown to the Spanish forces. General Tahfin al-Balansi (22)was an aspiring commander with proven sound battle tactics. More importantly, he has a proven ability to command men. He was truly a dutifully religious warrior who cared more about winning the battle than about winning the battle with honor. This was the man who would now be facing General Vaasco and his army at the bridge because General Vaasco was in no hurry to force a conclusion to the Cordoba issue.


Unlike General Vaasco, General Tahfinal-Balansi was not going to wait. The Moors were mobilizing and making preparations to break the siege by combining the open forces in the region. Among the forces being organized were two companies of mercenaries (one crossbow and one spear company), This combined force was then going to strike General Vaasco's army if General Vaasco continued the siege. The Moors, specifically General Tahfinal-Balansi, felt that whatever advantage they might have would disappear if the tactic was to wait. So despite the risk of failure with a frontal assault over the bridge to Grenada, they did attack. The Spanish force continued besieging Cordoba while holding a defensive position on the bridge to Grenada. General Vaasco had the florins to spend, but for the army of King Alfonso, no mercenaries seemed to be readily available for hire. General Vaasco thought that he must have waited too long.


General Vaasco's force was composed and organized for the anticipated siege of Cordoba and lacked the light cavalry regiments armed with javelins desired for open field operations on the Iberian peninsula. A bridge defense was better than the open field because of this deficiency in cavalry.


General Vaasco ordered his 11 full strength units (most of the units were levied peasants and levied town people from Leon) to defend against the anticipated bridge crossing attack. The 8 infantry companies and 3 cavalry regiments were favored in General Vaasco's calculations to hold the ground from such an attack. This is why he chose this ground to defend once he was unable to complete his surround besiege maneuver of the large town of Cordoba. This was a battle he was confident to win if the men would hold against the expected charge.


Why did the general set his force on the bridge when he was clearly under orders from King Alfonso to encircle the town? Call it discretion of the commander in the field. General Vaasco felt the encirclement would take more troops than he had available. Peasants and town people as levies were not as well trained as a professional soldier. He would not wish to risk the siege lines being so thin with levied soldiers. The risk of a breakthrough or a relief column attacking at a time and place of the Moors commander's choosing was a real risk. He knew his biggest current risk was a supporting cavalry attack against his rear while committed to the siege. This was still a concern. He knew nothing about the position of Moors units except for the men assembling in front of his army.


General Tahfin al-Balansi began to organize for the bridge assault in the late morning. His own bodyguard regiment would have the honor of leading the assault. Of course General Ayyub and his modest garrison would also charge through the gates of Cordoba to join in the assault. There was no need to hold any reserves back. This was going to be an all out gamble to secure the Capital from the Spanish invasion.


General Vaasco assembles his army for the bridge defense


General Tahfin al-Balansi gave the order just after midday for the attack to begin. The hottest part of the day was hoped to fatigue the Spanish with their hot leather armor standing in the midday sun. His men may not be full strength due to their combat skirmishes with the Portuguese, but the battles did give them the confidence that can only come with combat experience.


General Tahfin al-Balansi and his personal bodyguard have the honor of leading the attack


General Vaasco had not pushed his men to get into position quickly. As it was already after midday, he thought that perhaps this was simply a demonstration of force with no intention to actually attack. Perhaps this was a stalling tactic. Perhaps this was designed to pin all his force at the bridge. Perhaps, perhaps. Once again uncertainty was beginning to crowd out the instincts of his training. And then the charge began. His own infantry were not in position to fix their spears to take the cavalry charge.


General Vaasco called out, “All spears forward! Rush the cavalry! We shall break this attack before it begins!”


General Vaasco was improvising to makeup for not pushing his men to be in position. All 5 spear companies rushed the charging bodyguard. It was not a tight formation of cavalry. General Vaasco was lucky. There was still a chance to grab a victory at the bridge.



The Spanish peasant archers were more prepared. The companies were standing in a tight formations. They were peasants with perhaps faltering faith relying on the disorganized spear companies to hold the charge.


Each archer captain ordered his men to hold formation and to not scatter. “Hold your places! Do not skirmish! I repeat, hold your formation! For King and Kingdom, hold your formation!”


The captains of each company gave the orders to fire volleys in succession. Before the charging Moors bodyguard had reached the first disorganized spears, the cavalry began to fall from the rain of arrows. It did not break the charge,but it did blunt it.


After General Tahfin al-Balansi and his personal bodyguard failed to break the disorganized spears, the knights pulled their swords and broke into a general melee with the spear companies. Then the remainder of his army charged over the bridge. The Spanish arrow volleys continued to rain their arrows down on the Moors as they rushed forward to engage the Spanish spears. Then the point feared by any commander happened. The Moors were spent and broken. The companies ran in panic off the bridge.


General Vaasco ordered all cavalry into the melee to cut down as many of the fleeing Moors as possible before they could reform into formation and continue the attack.


General Ayyub and his modest garrison were only now approaching the bridge. They were charging at the Spanish with all the fury of men who know their fate rests with either victory or by death from a Spanish sword.


In the end, the great Moorish town fell to the Spanish. The reconquest of the peninsula had begun in earnest. This was total defeat. The Moors had not a single noble or common soldier to leave the bridge that day. There is nothing more devastating for a soldier than to be the last of an army left standing. Except perhaps, being the last ... and broken … and fleeing the enemy cavalry regiments from the field in defeat. Then in the end, the last man is cut down by a cavalry sword.


General Vaasco approved the sacking of the great capital of the Moors. This approval was more or less accepting that the victorious soldiers were already proceeding to sack the large town with or without the blessings of their commander.


The bridge was remembered as a site of this famous battle in 1088. General Vaasco is remembered as the victorious Spanish general and General Tahfin al-Balansi (may he rest in peace) is remembered as the losing general of the Moors. Young General Ayyub (may he rest in peace) is not remembered though he defended his family honor on that fateful field between the gates of Cordoba and the bridge to Grenada.



Once again this great victory (as is true of all victories) is remembered and written in history. The victories are recorded with a suitable narrative by only the victor. This paper is to remind the world that sometimes, these great victories happen with the lucky stroke of the winning general and perhaps a misjudged order or misjudged calculation by a losing general. If circumstances could be replayed the results could have a dramatic difference in results.


Word quickly reached the furthest corners of the small Spanish Kingdom of King Alfonso. The kingdom was now much larger with the gain of Cordoba. General Roy de Castile released his two fresh regiments of light cavalry to General Vaasco and took command of the badly depleted cavalry from the bridge battle to return to Toledo for rest and resupply. These two cavalry regiments deserved the rest only a victorious army can give.


General Vaasco appreciated the full strength cavalry regiment reinforcements, but was in no hurry to push on to build on the victory. Grenada's castle could wait for now. Now was the time to rebuild and restore order. Restoration of order meant new churches and more priests and perhaps a friendly gift to the Pope. King Alfonso never once gave a thought to the local people other than to remake the Mosques into Roman Churches that Rome would approve of. There was no thought of tolerance for any religion other than that promoted by the Pope in Rome. People would turn to the one true faith over time. The king's thoughts were more concerned with the next stage of removing opposition to his rule on the Iberian peninsula.


General Rodrigo proceeded on to besiege the castle at Pamplona with no concerns about foreign intervention into Iberia by either the French or the English kingdoms. There was no hurry. No preparations were even made to construct the battering rams, the ladders, or the towers needed to end this siege in a quick manner. General Rodrigo made camp as if this was to be a holiday outing in the countryside. The prince had adequate food and supplies, so he reasoned there was no hurry.

Author's Notes

The Moors attacked the bridge with a force that included mercenary crossbow and spear companies. Were these mercenaries simply hired or were they perhaps a residual of the tolerance given to religion that enabled a fuller attack against the Spanish due to the wedge issue of King Alfonso? That is something the reader may want to think about. Of course both the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal had been attempting to restore the Pope's faith for years. The effect of this was more a reduction on the Jewish population than any immediate effect on the Islamic population of the region. Wedge issues have this effect on the populations by forcing the undecided to pick a side or risk losing out to either side if there is a 'winner'. More about this in the next chapter. Napoleon's archaeologists will report their findings with some suggestions to the French military occupation force in Spain.