User:Kansas Bear/Battle of Sierra Elvira

Battle of Sierra Elvira
Date 25 June 1319 Location Sierra Elvira, Pinos Puente Result Castilian Defeat
Belligerents
Crown of Castile	Emirate of Granada
Commanders and leaders
Infante Pedro of Castile † Infante Juan of Castile †	General Ozmin Ismail I, Sultan of Granada
Casualties and losses
heavy	unknown

The battle of Sierra Elvira was a military disaster for the kingdom of Castile and Leon, and killed two of the guardians of Alfonso XI, which ruled in the name of the king. The two guardians were John of Castile, son of Alfonso X and Peter of Castile son of Sancho IV and Queen María de Molina. On the death of two Infants, María de Molina was the only guardian of the king until he was joined in 1320 by Prince Felipe of Castile, his uncle, and Juan Manuel, grandson of Ferdinand III.

Incursion Vega de Granada (June 1319)

In the winter of 1318 were completed in Crown of Castile war preparations for next year's campaign against the Nazari kingdom of Granada, and the infant Pedro of Castile via Toledo Trujillo Seville, Córdoba and Úbeda brought the troops would intervene in the campaign and also worked on making the necessary weapons in the city of Seville. Found the infant in the city of Úbeda, to take over the Castle Tíscar located in the current province of Jaén, which was captured on Saturday night before Pentecostal of [ [1319]]. In June 1319, while Prince Pedro of Castile was in Tíscar, the Castilian armies under the command of the infant Juan de Castilla "the Fee" is approaching, as it Finally he decided, despite not being physically fit, to join his nephew in the expedition against the Muslims of Granada, in order to prevent the latter acquired more prominence in the affairs of the kingdom.

The plan of the infant John was looting the Vega de Granada and take part in military triumphs harvested by his nephew, Prince Pedro, while this would intimidated the king Ismail I of Granada and caused the most damage in its territory. In June 1319, while Prince Pedro besieging the Tíscar Castle, Prince John, who was with his son John-Eyed in the town of Cordoba Baena , left the latter to charge of the defense of Baena and headed to Alcaudete, to meet his nephew, Prince Pedro, who was waiting there. Both armies gathered in Alcaudete, which the Father Juan de Mariana totaling nine thousand horsemen and several thousand foot, left for the Vega de Granada, swept its way to the fields, cutting down forests and exterminating or capturing livestock. The infant John was in command of the vanguard of the Castilian-Leonese column, while the infant Peter was in the rear, accompanied by the Masters of the Orders of the Santiago Calatrava and Alcántara, by the archbishops of Toledo and Seville, and by numerous members of the nobility.

On the way to the city of Granada, the Christian army went through Alcalá la Real, where he spent the night and stayed the next day too. After passing through the towns of Moclín and Íllora, the latter town who attacked Christians and whose castle may have taken, and Pinos Puente, arrived on a Saturday, the eve of San Juan, to the outskirts of the city of Granada, where they camped.

The army remained encamped there until Monday, the day that the infant John suggested to return to lands of Castile, despite the opposition of the infant Pedro, who wished to penetrate into enemy territory. However, the prevailing view of the infant Juan de Castilla "the Fee", and that same day launched the return trip, finding the infant John in command of the rear of the Christian column, and Prince Peter at cutting edge.

Disaster at Vega de Granada (June 25, 1319)

On June 25, the day when the Christian troops retreated to their bases, the rear Castilian-Leonese army was attacked in the Cerro de los Infantes located in the municipality of Pinos Puente, 16 kilometers of Granada, by the cavalry of the Sultan of Granada, under General Ozmín that the news of the withdrawal of the army of infants, had left the city of Granada with a force of five thousand men of the cavalry and several thousand soldiers of infantry. However, at first, the attacks of Muslims merely trying to provoke the enemy, through small skirmishes kept in the rear of the Christian column. Shortly after, the heat, it was the month of June, the Christian army began to grow discouraged, hungry and exhausted, and Muslims from Granada harshly attacked on all sides of the Christian rear, which was well surrounded. In view of the situation, the infant Juan de Castilla "the Fee", who was in command of the rear of the column Castilian-Leonese, sought the assistance of Pedro Infante, who was in command of the vanguard of the army. Pedro Infante troops, frightened and full of plunder, began to flee and tried to cross the River Genil, killing many soldiers in the attempt, despite the determination of the infant [[Pedro de Castilla y Molina | Pedro] ], who tried until the last moment to reorganize his troops and lead them to fight alongside his uncle, Prince John, whose situation was desperate, for he was in need of reinforcements. Unable to bear the disobedience of his troops, who refused to fight, they found themselves powerless against the situation arising, the infant Pedro:

"Et the Infante Don Pedro put his hand to the sword by acapdillar, et never could: et tolli blows to the body, lost et Fabla, et horse fell dead on the ground."

While in the forefront of the Christian column life lost Prince Pedro, who had twenty-nine years old, from Granada Muslims killed all the Christians who found that, because of the high temperatures and large carrying loot them, barely able to defend themselves. Also, the Chronicle of Alfonso XIconcernsthat when the infant John of Castile learned of the death of his nephew, Prince Peter,

"... et sopo soon as he as the Infante Don Joan ovo therefore very great regret, et so great was the sorrow thus made, then lost the understanding et la fable, et tovieronlo so hours from noon fasta of vespers, who lived ."

nin nin memory

When the masters of the Military Orders, the Archbishop of Toledo and Bishop of Córdoba, who were in the forefront of Castile, were informed of the death of Pedro Infante, which waiting, they fled. Meanwhile, in the rear, the Sultan's army sacked Granada, the Christian camp, and the spoils, started back to the city of Granada. At nightfall, the infant John, who had not yet died, was placed on a horse, and the body of Pedro Infante on a mule, and the Castilian-Leonese army, whose commanders were determined to withdraw because of the multitude of casualties, retreated to their bases in the rear. During the night journey, the horse carrying the body of the infant John, who had died during the night, was lost sight of his men, due to lack of visibility and the speed of flight of Christians, and was lost the lands of King of Granada.

Meanwhile, Christian art, which carried the corpse of the infant Pedro, made it to Priego de Córdoba, from where the corpse of the infant was transferred to the Cordovan municipality of [ [Baena]] and later, through Arjona , to the city of Burgos, where he was buried in monastery of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas of Burgos.

When the infant son of Juan de Castilla "the Fee", John the Eye, he learned that his father's body had been lost in the lands of King of Granada sent men after her, but finding none, he sent emissaries to the sultan of Granada, who ordered a search. Once found the body of the infant, was taken to Granada and placed in a casket draped with cloth of gold. Then the king of Granada ordered to form a procession, escorted by gentlemen, to lead the remnants of Juan Infante reinode to domains of Castilla and Leon, where they took over the emissaries of John-Eyed. The body of the infant John was transferred to the city of Córdoba, where, through Toledo, was taken to the city of Burgos, where the remains of infant were buried in the Gospel side of the altar of the Burgos Cathedral where his tomb is preserved today.

Consequences disaster

Castilian-Leonese defeat in the disaster of the Vega of Granada, the name is known to battle changed the course of events in the south of the Iberian Peninsula for several decades until the age of majority of Alfonso XI.

In the peace agreement that followed the defeat Castilian-Leonese, signed by Prince Felipe de Castilla with the Granada in the town of Baeza on 18 June of 1320 agreed to a truce of three years from Kingdom of Granada and Kingdom of Castile that was broken in 1323. The agreement of Baeza also took an active part of Councils of the most important cities of southern Spain, like Córdoba Jaén and Sevilla , but also involved in drafting the peace agreement, the Military Orders, whose possessions and strengths are vital to maintaining the strategic balance between the nobles and barons and the Crown. Following the agreement of Baeza in 1320 opened a period of relative peace between the kingdom of Granada and the Kingdom of Castile, which was altered when the truce expired in Baeza. For his part, Juan Manuel, acting as guardian of the king with authority in matters Murcia, negotiated their own truce with the kingdom of Granada, and his father, James II of Aragon, served Similarly.

The death of infants Juan de Castilla "the Fee" and Pedro of Castile marked the rise to absolute power in the Court of infant castelllano and Leon Felipe de Castilla, son of Queen Maria de Molina, Juan Manuel, grandson of Ferdinand III, and John the Eye, infant son of John and grandson of Alfonso X. In 1324 the king Ismail I of Granada , a campaign developed quickly, recovered the cities of Huéscar orce and Galera, close to the current Province of Murcia. The following year in 1325, besieged and sacked the city of Tuesday, using cannons.