Crusade of Barbastro

1064 siege

Crusade of Barbastro

Part of the Reconquista
| Date| August 1064

|

Location|

Al-Barbitanya, Emirate of Lārida; today's Barbastro, Spain

42°2′10″N 0°7′35″E﻿ / ﻿42.03611°N 0.12639°E﻿ / 42.03611; 0.12639
Result|  Frankish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Aragon
County of Urgell
Duchy of Aquitaine
Papal states|  Emirate of Lārida
Commanders and leaders
Arnau Mir de Tost
William VIII of Aquitaine
Williame fitz Williame|  Amir Yusuf al-Muzzaffar

class=notpageimage|

Location within Spain

* v
* t
* e

Battles in the Reconquista

8th century

* Covadonga
* 1st Roncevaux Pass
* Burbia River
* Orbieu River
* Lutos
* Las Babias
* Río Quirós
* Oviedo
* 1st Lisbon
* 1st Barcelona

9th century

* 1st Tortosa
* Pancorbo
* 2nd Roncevaux Pass
* Clavijo
* Albelda
* Guadalacete
* Monte Laturce
* Morcuera
* Polvoraria
* 1st Cellorigo
* 2nd Cellorigo
* 2nd Barcelona

10th century

* Day of Zamora
* 1st Majorca
* Pallars and Ribagorza
* 1st San Esteban de Gormaz
* 2nd San Esteban de Gormaz
* Valdejunquera
* 1st Toledo
* Alhandic
* Simancas
* Estercuel
* Torrevicente
* Rueda
* Rovirans
* 3rd Barcelona
* Cervera

11th century

* Calatañazor
* Torà
* Albesa
* Aqbat al-Bakr
* Cesar
* Graus
* Coimbra
* Barbastro
* Paterna
* Cabra
* Piedra Pisada
* Morella
* 2nd Toledo
* 1st Zaragoza
* Sagrajas
* Tudela
* Tévar
* Aledo
* 3rd Toledo
* Almodóvar del Río
* 1st Valencia
* Quart de Poblet
* 2nd Lisbon
* Alcoraz
* Bairén
* Consuegra
* 4th Toledo
* 5th Toledo

12th century

* 2nd Valencia
* Mollerussa
* Balaguer
* Uclés
* Norwegian raid
* 3rd Lisbon
* Talavera
* Formentera
* Ibiza
* 1st Balearic Islands
* Valtierra
* 6th Toledo
* Vatalandi
* 1st Santarém
* 1st Catalonia
* 2nd Balearic Islands
* 2nd Catalonia
* Martorell
* 4th Barcelona
* Coimbra
* 2nd Zaragoza
* Calatayud
* Cutanda
* 1st Lleida
* 1st Granada
* Arnisol
* Corbins
* Alcalá
* 3rd Valencia
* Aceca
* Alamín
* 1st Andalusia
* 1st Badajoz
* Fraga
* Leiria
* Guadalquivir
* 1st Coria
* Ourique
* Oreja
* Trancoso
* 2nd Coria
* 4th Lisbon
* 1st Montiel
* Soure
* Albacete
* 1st Córdoba
* 1st Almería
* Al-Ludjdj
* 2nd Santarém
* Sacavém
* 5th Lisbon
* 2nd Tortosa
* 2nd Lleida
* 2nd Almería
* 1st Alcácer do Sal
* Palmela
* 1st Évora
* 2nd Badajoz
* Juromenha
* 3rd Santarém
* Tarragona
* Cuenca
* Calatrava
* 2nd Seville
* Abrantes
* 2nd Évora
* 1st Silves
* 4th Santarém
* Alvor
* 2nd Silves
* 3rd Silves
* Tomar
* 2nd Alcácer do Sal
* 4th Silves
* Alarcos
* Talamanca

13th century

* Al-Dāmūs
* Las Navas de Tolosa
* Úbeda
* 3rd Alcácer do Sal
* 1st Jaén
* Peníscola
* Aragonese raid
* 2nd Majorca
* Portopí
* Artà
* 2nd Jaén
* 1st Jerez
* Ares
* Burriana
* 2nd Córdoba
* El Puig
* 4th Valencia
* Algarve
* 1st Xàtiva
* 2nd Xàtiva
* Biar
* 3rd Jaén
* 3rd Seville
* Faro
* 2nd Jerez
* Mudéjar revolt
* 3rd Jerez
* 1st Murcia
* Écija
* 1st Martos
* 2nd Andalusia
* 1st Algeciras
* 2nd Algeciras
* 1st Moclín
* Tarifa
* Iznalloz
* Arjona

14th century

* 1st Gibraltar
* 3rd Algeciras
* 3rd Almería
* 2nd Gibraltar
* Vega de Granada
* Shepherds' Crusade
* 2nd Martos
* Teba
* Guardamar
* 3rd Gibraltar
* 4th Gibraltar
* Vega de Pagana
* Getares
* Río Salado
* Estepona
* Guadalmesí
* 4th Algeciras
* 5th Gibraltar
* Linuesa
* Guadix
* 2nd Montiel
* 5th Algeciras
* 2nd Murcia
* Puerto Lope

15th century

* Collejares
* Setenil
* Antequera
* 6th Gibraltar
* La Higueruela
* Archidona
* 7th Gibraltar
* Castril
* Río Verde
* Hellín
* Los Alporchones
* 8th Gibraltar
* 2nd Granada campaign
* Loja
* Axarquía
* Lucena
* 2nd Moclín
* Málaga

Post-Reconquista Rebellions

* 1st Alpujarras
* 2nd Alpujarras

* * *

North Africa

* 1st Ceuta
* Salé
* Strait
* 2nd Ceuta
* 3rd Ceuta
* Tétouan
* 4th Ceuta
* 5th Ceuta
* 1st Tangier
* 2nd Tangier
* Asilah
* 3rd Tangier

* v
* t
* e

Crusades

Ideology and institutions

* Crusading movement
* Military order (religious society)
* Crusade indulgence
* Papal income tax

In the Holy Land (1095–1291)

* First
* 1101
* Norwegian
* Venetian
* 1129
* Second
* Second Norwegian
* Third
* 1197
* Fourth
* Fifth
* Sixth
* Barons'
* Seventh
* 1267
* Catalan
* Eighth
* Lord Edward's
* Fall of Outremer

Later Crusades (1291–1717)

* Crusades after Acre, 1291–1399
* Smyrniote
* Alexandrian
* Savoyard
* Barbary
* 1390
* 1398
* 1399
* Ottoman Crusades
* Nicopolis
* Varna
* Belgrade
* Ottoman–Venetian wars
* Holy Leagues
* 1332
* 1495
* 1511
* 1526
* 1535
* 1538
* 1571
* 1594
* 1684
* 1717

Reconquista (722–1492)

Northern (1147–1410)

* Kalmar
* Wendish
* Swedish
* 1150
* 1249
* 1293
* Livonian
* Prussian
* Lithuanian
* Votian
* Ice
* Tatar

Against Christians (1107–1588)

* 1107
* Constantinople
* Aragon
* Albigensian
* Colonna family
* Drenther
* Holy Roman Empire
* Hohenstaufen
* Guelphs and Ghibellines
* Stedinger
* Bosnian
* Bohemian
* Despenser's
* Hussite
* Spanish Armada

Popular (1096–1320)

* People's (1096)
* Children's
* Shepherds' (1251)
* Crusade of the Poor
* Shepherds' (1320)

Crusader states (Site)

The crusade of Barbastro (also known as the siege of Barbastro or battle of Barbastro) was an international expedition, sanctioned by Pope Alexander II, to take the Spanish city of Barbastro, then part of the Hudid Emirate of Lārida.[1] A large army composed of elements from all over Western Europe took part in the siege and conquest of the city (1064). The nature of the expedition, famously described by Ramón Menéndez Pidal as "a crusade before the crusades",[2] is discussed in historiography, and the crusading element of the campaign is still a moot point.[3]

## Expedition

[edit]

Pope Alexander II first preached the Reconquista in 1063 as a "Christian emergency."[4] It was also preached in Burgundy, probably with the permission or participation of Hugh of Cluny, where the abbot's brother, Thomas de Chalon, led the army.[4] Certainly zeal for the crusade spread elsewhere in France, for Amatus of Montecassino notes that the "grand chivalry of the French and Burgundians and other peoples" (grant chevalerie de Francoiz et de Borguegnons et d'autre gent) was present at the siege.[4]

Thus, a large army was present at the siege when it began in 1064 primarily of Frenchmen and Burgundians, along with a contingent of Italians, made up mostly of Normans, as well as a local Spanish army made up of Catalans and Aragonese. Later, these Catalan and Aragonese soldiers would be disgusted by the crimes committed by those Normans after the capture of the city.[5]

The leader of the papal contingent was a Norman by the name of William of Montreuil.[6] The leader of the Spaniards was Sancho Ramírez, King of Aragón and Navarre, whose realm was greatly threatened by the Moors to the south.[citation needed] The largest component, the Aquitainian, was led by Duke William VIII of Aquitaine (known as Guy-Geoffrey), whom one historian calls the "Christian generalissimo".[4] Though the makeup of this grand army has been subject to much dispute, that it contained a large force of Frankish knights is generally agreed upon.[6]

The duke of Aquitaine led the army through the Pyrenees at Somport. He joined the Catalan army at Girona early in 1064. The entire army then marched past Graus, which had resisted assault twice before, and moved against Barbastro, then part of the taifa of Lleida ruled by Al-Muzaffar.[4] The city was besieged for forty days until it surrendered according to both Muslim and Christian sources.[7]

Aside from William of Montreuil and Guy-Geoffrey, a 1078 story about the Normans placed Robert Crispin as the leader of the campaign.[8] However, it is more likely that he was the leader of the contingent of Normans who participated in the campaign.[9]

## Consequences

[edit]

Terms were given by the Christians to spare the lives of the Muslims and respect their properties, but the pact was quickly broken.[7] Another source tells that the garrison offered to surrender their property and property of their families in exchange for letting them leave the town, and so it was agreed with the besiegers.[10] However, the Crusaders didn't honour the treaty and killed the soldiers as they came out. Crusade soldiers plundered and sacked the city without mercy.[7] It is said fifty thousand Muslims were killed or captured and the victors divided an enormous amount of booty.[11] The contemporary Muslim chronicles suggest the invading forces might have slain the adult men and enslaved women and children; the numbers however are greatly exaggerated: Barbastro would hardly reach a population of eight thousand in those times.[12][13]

The Andalusi Muslim jurist Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, among the witnesses of the fall of Barbastro, described the aftermath as follows:

> What can be your opinion, Oh Muslims, when you see masajid and oratories, that once were witness to the recitation of the Qur’ān and the sweetness of the call to prayer; immersed in širk and slander, loaded with bells and crosses, in the place of the followers of ar-Raḥmān: aʼimmah and pious men, vergers and muʾaḏḏinūn...are dragged away by the kuffār like animals for sacrifice, they are brought to the butcher; they prostrate themselves humbly in the masajid which are then burnt and reduced to ashes while the kuffār laugh and insult us, and our Dīn wails and weeps.[2]

The plight of women seems to have been particularly difficult as a consequence of the siege and victory of the crusaders. Many died during the siege of thirst-related diseases and were subjected to degrading treatment after victory, converting them into servants and slaves, or sometimes even exposing them to the torture of their husbands.[10]

The crusaders made off with a huge booty. Al-Bakri's Kitab al-Masālik wa-l-mamālik ('Book of Highways and Kingdoms', written 1067–8) records the capture of a good many Saracen girls and Saracen treasures.[14] Armengol III of Urgel, the brother-in-law of King Sancho Ramírez, was entrusted with the government of the city. On 17 April 1065, after roughly ten months of occupation,[8] the Moors easily retook the city. Thibaut, the Burgundian leader, died, possibly of wounds received on campaign, while returning to France after the loss of the city in 1065.[4]

## Historiography

[edit]

Historian Reinhart Dozy first began a study of the War in the mid-nineteenth century based on the scarce primary sources, mainly Amatus and Ibn Hayyan.[15] Dozy first suggested the participation of a papal element based on Ibn Hayyan's reference to the "cavalry of Rome."[16] Subsequent historiography has stressed the Cluniac element in the War, primarily the result of Ferdinand I of León's recent attempts to introduce the Cluniac reform to Spain and inspired by the death of Ramiro I of Aragon following the failed siege of Graus.

This interpretation has been criticized in more recent decades, especially the papal connection and Italian involvement.[15] It has been suggested that Alexander was preoccupied with the Antipope Cadalus at the time and did not preach a plenary indulgence for warriors of the Reconquista until the 1073 campaign of Ebles II of Roucy. It has also been theorized that it was not William of Montreuil, but Guy Geoffrey, who was the "Roman" leader implied by Ibn Hayyan.[15]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Lapeña Paul 2004, p. 159.
2. ^ a b Sarrió Cucarella 2012.
3. ^ Ayala Martínez 2011, p. 104; Rodríguez García 2000, pp. 357–358.
4. ^ a b c d e f Bishko 1969, p. 62.
5. ^ Calderón Ortega, José Manuel (January 2009). "Los desastres de la guerra: reflexiones sobre la muerte de prisioneros y cautivos durante la Edad Media". Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval (22): 34. doi:10.5944/etfiii.22.2009.1636. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
6. ^ a b O'Callaghan 1983, p. 197.
7. ^ a b c Marín-Guzmán 1992, p. 299.
8. ^ a b Lapeña Paul 2004, p. 160.
9. ^ Ferreiro 1983, p. 138.
10. ^ a b Ibn Hayyan 1981.
11. ^ Chaytor 1933, p. 37.
12. ^ Ubieto Arteta 1981, p. 61.
13. ^ Philippe Sénac (2003). "Un château en Espagne: notes sur la prise de Barbastro (1064)". Études d'histoire médiévale offertes à Pierre Toubert par ses élèves. p. 548.
14. ^ al-Bakri 1992.
15. ^ a b c Ferreiro 1983.
16. ^ Ferreiro 1983, p. 131.

## Sources

[edit]

* Ayala Martínez, Carlos de (2011). "Fernando I y la sacralización de la Reconquista". Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval (17): 67–115\. doi:10.14198/medieval.2011.17.04. hdl:10045/25667. ISSN 0212-2480.
* al-Bakri (1992). "Kitab al-Masālik wa-l-mamālik". In Melville, Charles; Ubaydli, Ahmad (eds.). Christians and Moors in Spain. Vol. III: Arabic Sources. Oxford: Aris & Phillips. pp. 70–71\. ISBN 978-0-856684-50-0.
* Bishko, Charles Julian (1969). "Fernando I and the Origins of the Leonese–Castilian Alliance with Cluny". Cuadernos de Historia de España. 48.
* Boissonnade, Pierre (1932). "Cluny, la papauté et la première grande croisade internationale contre les sarrasins d'Espagne: Barbastro (1064–1065)". Revue des Questions Historiques. 60: 257–301.
* Bull, Marcus Graham (1993). Knightly Piety and the Lay Response to the First Crusade: The Limousin and Gascony, c. 970–c. 1130. Clarendon Press.
* Canellas López, Ángel (1951). "Las cruzadas de Aragón en el siglo XI". Argensola: Revista de Ciencias Sociales del Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses. 7: 217–28\. ISSN 0518-4088.
* Chaytor, Henry John (1933). A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuen & Co.
* Ferreiro, Alberto (1983). "The Siege of Barbastro, 1064–65: A Reassessment". Journal of Medieval History. 9 (2): 129–44\. doi:10.1016/0304-4181(83)90005-2.
* Ibn Hayyan (1981). "La Cruzada contra Barbastro (1064)". In Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (ed.). Historia de Aragón: La formación territorial. Anubar Ediciones. pp. 53–67\. ISBN 978-8470131813.
* Lapeña Paul, Ana Isabel (2004). Sancho Ramírez, rey de Aragón (¿1064?-1094) y rey de Navarra (1076-1094) (in Spanish). Gijón: Ediciones Trea. ISBN 978-84-9704-123-2.
* Marín-Guzmán, Roberto (1992). "Crusade in al-Andalus: The Eleventh Century Formation of the Reconquista as an Ideology". Islamic Studies. 31 (3): 287–318.
* Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1971). The Cid and his Spain. Translated by Harold Sunderland. London: F. Cass.
* O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1983). A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
* Rodríguez García, José Manuel (2000). "Historiografía de las Cruzadas" (PDF). Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval. 13: 341–395.
* Sarrió Cucarella, Diego (2012). "Corresponding across Religious Borders: Al-Bājī's Response to a Missionary Letter from France". Medieval Encounters. 18 (1): 1–35\. doi:10.1163/157006712X634549.
* Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1981). Historia de Aragón (in Spanish). Zaragoza: Anubar. ISBN 978-8470131813.
* Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas (2007). Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation in the Iberian Reconquista (PDF) (Ph.D.). University of Nottingham. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18.
* Bosch i Vilá, Jacinto (1970). "De nuevo sobre Barbastro, 1064–1065: Nuevos aspectos y precisiones sobre la conquista cristiana y la reconquista musulmana". Biblos. 46: 225–33.
* Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas, "Pope Gregory VII and Count Eblous II of Roucy’s Proto-Crusade in Iberia c. 1073", Medieval History Journal 21.1 (2018), 1-24. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0971945817750508

Authority control databases: National |

* United States
* Israel

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template