The Siege of Algeciras was the first of many sieges on the city by Christian forces in the lengthy period of Spanish Reconquista. The siege, ordered by King Alfonso X of Castile also known as "el Sabio", was a fruitless military campaign initiated by the Kingdom of Castile with the objective of removing the Moroccans from Algeciras. The siege on Algeciras, then known to the Muslims as Al-Jazira Al-Khadra, was strategically important because Algeciras had been at the time the main fortress and landing place for African reinforcement troops in the Iberian Peninsula. Castile, which had a powerful armada of ships anchored in the Bay of Gibraltar to blockade such reinforcement, had a few days previously to the siege, seen that fleet obliterated by the Muslim admiral, Abu Yusuf Yaqub at the Naval Battle of Algeciras. Since the middle of the 13th century, the Marinid Dynasty was emerging as a new power in Morocco, ruled by Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq. The Marinids had established contact with the Muslims of Al-Andalus and offered soldiers to the King Muhammad II de Granada in his bitter struggle against the Reconquista of the Christian kingdoms to the north. On April 12, 1275, a massive Moroccan army disembarked in Algeciras and commenced marching towards the cities of Sevilla, Jaén and Córdoba. From Castile, Ferdinand de la Cerda, who circumstantially governed the kingdom in the absence of his father, Alfonso X, found himself being interviewed by the pope in Bercayre, could do no more than contain the invasions. Nuño González de Lara, who controlled the frontier of Córdoba, left from the city and gave battle against the Moroccans, dying in the action, but also forced the Muslims to withdraw from their advance. Due to the constantly threatened nature of the Castilian borderlands, the infante Fernando left Burgos in August to gather an army but became deathly ill and died a little while later at Ciudad Real. His brother, the infante Sancho, who would later become Sancho IV eventually marched to Córdoba to finally counter the Marinid threat. After strengthening their positions in the area, Sancho marched to Sevilla from where he planned to command future operations and troop movements in the campaign. The other son of the king, also named Sancho, the Archbishop of Toledo, went to join the fight in Jaén, but not wanting to wait for Lope Díaz de Haro, Lord of Biscay, died in combat shortly thereafter. His body was beheaded and his right hand cut off. The next day, the Lord of Biscay, together with a young Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, defeated a coalition of African-Andalusian forces and obliged them to withdraw. Under these circumstances, the Muslim forces were not able to advance further into Castilian territory. In 1276, they signed a two year truce with the Kingdom of Castile. Nevertheless, the Marinids under Yusuf did not return to Africa and maintained control in force of Algeciras and Tarifa, having a large troop presence in both cities. In the meantime, the Castilians busied themselves with issues of succession to the crown. Alfonso X decided to pass the privilege on to his son Sancho, even though he was under considerable pressure from the nobility and from his wife, Violante, that he pass the crown on to the children of the dead heir, Fernando. The siege It was under this set of compromising circumstances that Alfonso X decided to lay siege to the city of Algeciras, understanding that while the city remained under Moroccan control, it continually posed the threat of a new invasion of the Kingdom of Castile. Al-Jazira Al-Khadra, the name the Muslims had given to Algeciras, had been the first city founded by the Muslim conquerors when they first landed on the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711. The contemporary city stretched to the north of the Río de la Miel and possessed a complex defensive system of walls and entrances, probably being designed by the Almohads who had improved upon the original fortifications in the 8th Century. The Castilian king sent another one of his sons in March of 1278, infante Pedro de Castilla y Aragón to rally his troops in Sevilla along with Sancho. As soon as the armies were joined, they marched for Algeciras. The vanguard of the column was commanded by Alfonso Fernández de Castilla, illegitimate son of Alfonso X.

• published: 10 Jun 2015
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