Sayf al-Dawla
After the city of Zaragoza was conquered by the Almoravids in 1110, ʿAbd al-Malik and Sayf al-Dawla fled to Rueda to resist the invaders. There they received help from Alfonso the Battler, king of Aragon. Their state was reduced to the towns of Rueda and Borja and their hinterland. In 1130 ʿAbd al-Malik died. In 1131 Sayf al-Dawla sent messengers to the court of King Alfonso VII of León to propose his rendering homage to Alfonso. The latter sent an embassy led by Count Rodrigo Martínez and the king's counsellor Gutierre Fernández de Castro to Rueda to make final arrangements. The "taifa" king and his sons then went to Alfonso, surrendered Rueda to him and became his vassals. Alfonso in turn gave Sayf al-Dawla territory in the Kingdom of Toledo and the task of defending a sector of the southern frontier from the Almoravids.