Site of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
The site of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, one of the most important in Spanish history. The battle took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain. The forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his Christian rivals, in battle against the Berber Muslim Almohad rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula. The crushing defeat of the Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Maghreb a decade later. It enabled the Christians to take over almost all of southern Spain in the ensuing forty years. The above painting is a somewhat fanciful portrayal.
