Battle of Calatañazor The Battle of Calatañazor was a legend ary battle of the " Reconquista " that supposedly took place in July 1002 at Calatañazor between an army of invading Saracens under Almanzor and a force of Christian allies led by Alfonso V of León , Sancho III of Navarre , and Sancho García of Castile . Almanzor , who historically died the night of 10 – 11 August , is said to have died of wounds received in the battle . Its ahistoricity was first demonstrated by Reinhart Dozy in 1881 . The French Arabist Évariste Lévi - Provençal attributed the destruction of San Millán de la Cogolla by the Saracens to the campaign of Calatañazor . Sources . Of the death of Almanzor only two Christian annalists make mention . Both the " Annales Compostellani " and the " Chronicon Burgense " place it in the Era MXL , that is , 1002 . The first says only that he died ( " mortuus es Almozor " ) , but the latter adds that he is in hell ( " et sepultus est in inferno " ) . The notice of his death is amplified in the chronicle s . Towards the beginning of the twelfth century the anonymous author of the " Historia Silense " wrote that he was killed in Medinaceli . Late that century the " Chronica Naierensis " added that he was at war with Sancho García of Castile at the time of his death , which occurred while he was in retreat at the village of Grajal . He was buried in Medinaceli , but his body was later moved . The final story , of Almanzor ' s receiving wounds in battle with the Christians , and subsequently dying , is found in its earliest version in the " Chronicon mundi " of Lucas of Tuy . Lucas erroneously names the Christian leaders as Vermudo II of León ( died 999 ) and García Fernández of Castile ( died 995 ) . Both Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada in his " De rebus Hispaniae " and Alfonso X in his " Estoria de España " follow Lucas in every detail save that of the fisherman - apparition . The only substantial Islamic account of the battle is that found in the seventeenth - century historian al - Maqqari , based primarily on the medieval Spanish tradition . He adds that Almanzor ordered a large contingent of North African troops to join with those of Toledo for the campaign . He proceeded to devastate the Ribera del Duero before heading deeper into Castile . He was surprised by a Christian army in his camp near the castle called " The Eagles " ( " Las Águilas " ) . He fell ill shortly after his defeat , perhaps from wounds received at the battle , but he continued to fight against Castile until he was being carried about on a litter . He was brought to Medinaceli , but the physicians were unable to diagnose his infirmity . He called his son , Abd al - Malik al - Muzaffar , to his bedside to give him instructions , but when he fled his father ' s tent in tears the dying general uttered the prophetic words , " This appears to me the first sign of the decadence that awaits the empire . " Legend . Almanzor was finishing a campaign in Galicia when he decided to invade Castile . He assembled a large army at Calatañazor , where the Leonese and Castilians met him . Thousands of Muslims were slain and Almanzor himself escaped only because of nightfall : Under cover of darkness he fled with his retinue . The next day Vermudo marched on the Muslim camp at dawn , but found it abandoned and collected instead an enormous booty . García Fernández , having pursued the fleeing Muslims , came away with a large number of prisoners . The same day as the battle in another part of Spain a fisherman was seen exclaiming , first in Arabic then in Spanish , " In Calatañazor Almanzor lost the drum " . Many Muslims came from Córdoba to see the fisherman , but every time they approached him he disappeared before their eyes only to reappear elsewhere repeating the same lament . Lucas of Tuy believed it was the devil lamenting the disaster of Calatañazor ( " el diablo que llorava la cayda de los moros " ) . Almanzor never ate or drank after his defeat , and dying in Medinaceli he was buried there .