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Updated: May 2, 2025
XXVI. Then the King's soldiers went to the house of Abeniaf the Alcayde who had sent for the Almoravides, and called unto him to come forth that they might take him before the King; but he was trembling in great fear, and would not come out.
The Moorish power reached its height in the tenth century, and gradually declined in the eleventh, when it broke up into petty and short-lived kingdoms. The Almoravides from Africa began their rule in Spain about 1090. This dynasty was overthrown by the Almohades in 1145, and the latter became extinct in Spain in 1257.
The invasion of a Moorish host in Spain, under the eminent Caliph Jusef Ben Taxfin, chief of the Almoravides and conqueror of Morocco; the rapid subjugation of the independent Emirs, and the defeat of Alfonso's army at the battle of Zalaka, in 1087, recalled the Castilians to a sense of Rodrigo's worth.
And others let down ropes from the walls, and drew up the Almoravides. King Yahia put on woman's apparel, and fled with his women, and hid himself in a dwelling near unto a bath. And the Almoravides took possession of the Alcazar, and plundered it. One Christian they slew who guarded the gates, and another who was of St. Maria de Albarrazin, who guarded one of the towers of the wall.
And the Cid thought to have Valencia if the Almoravides did not come, and for this reason did all that he could to prevent their coming. X. At this time Abenrazin the Lord of Albarrazin covenanted with the King of Aragon that the King should help him to win Valencia, and he would give him great treasures; and he gave him in pledge a Castle which is called Toalba.
Then sent he to the Cid, saying that he would do all which he commanded to gain his love, and he began to stop the allowance of the Almoravides, saying that he could give them nothing, for he had nothing whereof to give: this did he to the end that they might go their way, for he lacked not means.
One by one the Moorish Princes were subdued by the men whose aid they had invoked, until a dynasty of the Almoravides was fastened upon Spain. To the refined Spanish Arabs contact with these savages from the desert was a terrible scourge, and so far as they were able they withdrew into communities by themselves, leaving these African locusts to devour their substance and dim their glory.
And they took counsel and made a letter for the leader of the army of the Almoravides, wherein they told him that the Cid had made a treaty with the King of Aragon, whereby the King bound himself to help him against them; and they bade him beware how he came towards Valencia, unless he chose to do battle with eight thousand Christian horsemen, covered with iron, and the best warriors in the world.
And when Ali Abenaxa the Adelantado of the Almoravides knew it, he sent his son-in-law the King of Seville to besiege him in Valencia, and gave him thirty thousand men at arms. And this King came in great haste to Valencia, and besieged the Cid therein. And the Cid made ready with all his people, and went out to fight him.
Before long, however, Alfonso turned out his brothers and also extended his borders even to the Tagus by taking Toledo in 1085. But his successes roused the Moslem powers to fresh fanaticism. A new and stricter dynasty, the Almoravides, arose in Africa and crossing the straits inflicted a crushing defeat on the Christians at Zalaca.
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