Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa , known in Arab history as the Battle of Al - Uqab ( معركة العقاب ) , took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the " Reconquista " and in the medieval history of Spain . The Christian forces of King Alfonso VIII of Castile were joined by the armies of his rivals , Sancho VII of Navarre , Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal in battle against the Berber Almohad Muslim rulers of the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula . The Caliph al - Nasir ( " Miramamolín " in the Spanish chronicles ) led the Almohad army , made up of people from the whole Almohad empire . Most of the men in the Almohad army came from the African side of the empire . Background . In 1195 , Alfonso VIII of Castile had been defeated by the Almohads in the so - called Disaster of Alarcos . After this victory the Almohads had taken important cities as Trujillo , Plasencia , Talavera , Cuenca and Uclés . Then , in 1211 , Muhammad al - Nasir had crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with a powerful army , and invaded the Christian territory and captured the stronghold of the Calatrava Knights in Salvatierra . After this , the threat was so great for the Iberian Christian kingdoms that Pope Innocent III called European knights to a crusade . Previous movements . There were some disagreements among the members of the Christian coalition : French and other European knights were not used to the Iberian summer heat , but more importantly , they did not agree with Alfonso ' s merciful treatment of Jews and Muslims that were previously defeated in the conquest of Malagón and Calatrava la Vieja . Previously , they had caused problems in Toledo , ( where the different armies of the Crusade gathered ) , with assaults and murders in the Jewish Quarter . More than 30 , 000 men deserted and returned to their homes across the Pyrenees . Battle . Alfonso crossed the mountain range that defended the Almohad camp , sneaking through the Despeñaperros Pass , being led by Martin Alhaja , a local shepherd that knew the area . The Christian coalition caught the Moorish army at camp by surprise , and Alhaja was granted the hereditary title Cabeza de Vaca for his assistance to Alfonso VIII . According to legend , the Caliph had his tent surrounded with a bodyguard of slave - warriors who were chained together as a defense . The Navarrese force led by their king Sancho VII broke through this bodyguard . The Caliph escaped , but the Moors were routed , leaving some 100 , 000 casualties on the battlefield . The victorious Christians seized several prizes of war : the tapestry covering the entrance to Al Nasir ' s tent was sent to the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas near Burgos where it remains on display to date , and Miramamolín ' s tent and standard were delivered to Pope Innocent III . Christian losses were far fewer , only about 2 , 000 men ( though not as few as legend had it ) . The losses were particularly heavy among the Orders . Those killed included Pedro Gómez de Acevedo ( bannerman of the Order of Calatrava ) , Alfonso Fernández de Valladares ( " comendator " of the Order of Santiago ) , Pedro Arias ( master of the " Order of Santiago " , died of wounds on 3 August ) and Gomes Ramires ( Portuguese master of the Knights Templar ) . Ruy Díaz ( master of the " Order of Calatrava " ) was so grievously wounded that he had to resign his command . The Caliph Muhammad al - Nasir himself died in Marrakech shortly after the battle , where he had fled after the defeat . After the battle , the kingdom of Navarre adopted a new coat of arms in memorial of Sancho ' s achievement . The new coat of arms featured a network of golden chains on a red field with an emerald . Today , it can be seen within the coat of arms of Spain . Aftermath . The crushing defeat of the Almohads significantly hastened their decline both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Maghreb a decade later . This would give further momentum to the Christian Reconquest begun by the kingdoms of northern Iberia centuries before , resulting in a sharp reduction in the already declining power of the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula . Shortly after the battle , the Castilians took Baeza and then Úbeda , major fortified cities near the battlefield , and gateways to invade Andalusia . Thereafter , Ferdinand III of Castile took Cordova in 1236 , Jaén in 1246 , and Seville in 1248 ; then he took Arcos , Medina - Sidonia , Jerez and Cadiz . After this chain of victories , only Ferdinand ' s death prevented the Castilians from crossing the Gibraltar Strait to take the war to the heartland of the Almohad empire . Ferdinand III died in Seville on May 30 , 1252 , when a plague spread over the southern part of the Iberian peninsula while he was preparing his army and fleet to cross the Straits of Gibraltar . On the Mediterranean coast , James I of Aragon , proceeded to conquer the Balearic Islands ( from 1228 over the following four years ) and Valencia ( the city capitulated September 28 , 1238 ) . By the year 1252 , the Almohad empire was almost over , at the mercy of another emerging African power . In 1269 , a new association of African tribes , the Marinid , had taken control of the Maghreb , and most of the former Almohad empire was under their rule . Later , the Marinids tried to recover the former Almohad territories in the Iberian peninsula , but they were definitively defeated by Alfonso XI , and King Afonso IV of Portugal in the Battle of Salado , the last major military encounter between large Christian and Muslim armies in the Iberian peninsula . Moorish Granada . In 1294 Sancho IV retook the Taifa of Granada , key to the control of the Straits of Gibraltar . Granada , Almería and Málaga were the only major Muslim cities of the time remaining in the Iberian peninsula . These three cities were the core of the Nasrid dynasty and its Emirate of Granada , which was a vassal state of Castile , until the kingdom was finally taken by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 .