Battle of Los Alporchones The Battle of Los Alporchones was a battle of the Spanish Reconquista that occurred on 17 March 1452 . The battle was fought between the troops of the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and its client kingdom , the Kingdom of Murcia . The Moorish army was commanded by Malik ibn al - Abbas and the Castilian troops were commanded by Alonso Fajardo el Bravo , the head of the House of Fajardo and the Alcaide of Lorca Castle . The battle was fought in the area around the city of Lorca and resulted in a victory for the Kingdom of Castile . Context . After the successful recapturing of the Throne of Granada from his uncle , the Sultan Muhammed X in 1447 , Muhammed IX continued his bellicose policies with regards to the Kingdom of Castile . His predecessor ( Muhammad X ) had managed to retake a few frontier towns from the Kingdom of Murcia through regular raids or Razzis which had become very feared by the Christian population of the region . Most of these incursions into Christian territory were taking advantage of the fact that the contemporary ruling family of the Kingdom of Murcia , the House of Fajardo was preoccupied with internal squabbles . The most successful of these incursions resulted in the sacking and capturing of the town of Cieza followed closely by a much celebrated Muslim victory at the Battle of Hellín , both of which occurred in 1448 . The continued incursions by the Emirate of Granada into Murcia obliged the Castilian monarch , John II of Castile to ask for a truce in 1450 in order to be able to better concentrate his own forces in a separate war against Juan Pacheco , the Marquis of Villena . Muhammad IX refused the truce offer in a bid to take full advantage of the disunity amongst the Castilian nobility . The following year , in 1451 , the Granadan Sultan launched a fresh incursion into the Kingdom of Murcia which brought back much plunder to Granada ' s coffers . Between 1451 and 1452 , Muhammad IX planned a large scale Algara ( Arabic for incursion : الغارة ) against the area of Campo de Cartagena . This incursion resulted in the capture of 40 , 000 heads of cattle and around 40 prisoners , mostly pastors . The immensity of this incursion forced the Christians of Castile to put aside their internal squabbles and form a united front against the Kingdom of Granada . The Alcaide of Lorca Castle , Alonso Fajardo , nicknamed " el Bravo " ( English : " The Brave " ) sent his herald s to various towns within the Kingdom of Murcia to gain support for a counter campaign . They managed to gather an army peopled with soldiers from Aledo , Caravaca de la Cruz , and Murcia totaling around 300 knights and 2 , 000 infantry soldiers . Fajardo ' s army made camp in a field outside of Lorca called Los Alporchones in the full knowledge that the Granadan army would have to pass through the area when returning from their pillaging expedition . The Battle . On 17 March 1452 , the Moorish army finally arrived at Los Alporchones and an action was fought between the two parties . The Castilian attack came initially as a surprise and the Christian forces were able to get an early advantage over the Granadan army . The Castilian army was nearly immediately victorious , however the Granadan commander , Malik ibn al - Abbas who was renown for his courage and competence , succeeded in reforming his line twice during the engagement . The chronicles recount that the Alcaide , Alonso Fajardo , arriving to the conclusion that the fight could go either way , decided to enter into single combat with the enemy captain . The pair fought until Fajardo managed to unhourse al - Abbas , taking him prisoner . The capture of the Granadan captain broke the morale of the Muslim army who were routed from the field . They were pursued by the Castilian forces all the way to Vera in the Province of Almería where it is mentioned that only 300 managed to escape . The Granadan casualties were very high with around 400 captured , whilst the Castilian castualties were around 40 dead and 200 wounded . Consequences . The battle had many lasting consequences . Incursions into the territory of the Kingdom of Murcia stopped all together as the Kingdom of Granada asked for a five year truce . Future conflicts would remain on Granadan territory until the Granada War . The prestige of Lorca and in particular the House of Fajardo rose significantly . It was one of the branches of this noble house that would eventually go on to form the powerful . In homage to St Patrick of Ireland , whose saint ' s day is celebrated on 17 March , the same day as the battle , he was named the patron saint of the city of Murcia . A church was built in Lorca which would later house the Malik ibn al - Abbas was executed by his captors shortly after the battle whilst the victory , Alonso Fajardo el Bravo would go on to be slain in a battle in Caravaca de la Cruz against soldiers under the command of his cousin , Pedro Fajardo , the Adelantado in the service of Henry IV of Castile . Legacy . The battle , as many battles of the Reconquista , was the subject of poetical works . The following Spanish language text is an excerpt from the beginning of a short poem describing the events of the battle . Of note , the Arabic names have all been used with their Spanish equivalents , the names that they would have been known by to their Spanish enemies . For example , " Malik ibn al - Abbas " was known as " Alabez de Vera " .