Battle of Jerez The Battle of Jerez was fought in 1231 between the forces of Ferdinand III , king of Castile and León , and the Moors . It took place near the modern city of Jerez de la Frontera , in southern Spain . The Moors were led by Ibn Hud , the de facto successor of the Almohads . The Castilians were victorious . In April 1231 , Ferdinand ordered an expedition of algara s ( mounted scouts / raiders ) which departed from Andújar towards Córdoba , leaving a trail of destruction in its path . They raided Palma del Río , killing many inhabitants . Thereafter they proceeded as far as Seville which they bypassed heading towards Jerez and Vejer camping near the Guadalete river . In all likelihood this troop was intended to distract Ibn Hud from the frontier , and in this it succeeded beyond expectations as not only Ibn Hud chased after them , but in battle his troops were routed and suffered heavy losses , allowing the Christians to depart loaded with loot . On a strategic level , the raid was also successful in that it allowed the unimpeded capture of Quesada by an army of Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada , also ordered in April by Ferdinand . It is not exactly clear who led the Castilians in this raid turned battle . It is undisputed that Álvaro Pérez de Castro was present . The reference to infante Alfonso in the Christian chronicle has been interpreted however to mean either Alfonso de Molina , the king ' s brother , or the king ' s son , the future Alfonso X . The " Primera Crónica General " ( 1906 ) interpreted it as Molina , and so did historian Derek William Lomax ( 1978 ) , however historian Gonzalo Martínez Diez ( 2000 ) concludes it was the king ' s son because of a passage that describes the infante as being very young ( " muy moço " ) and under the protection of Álvaro Pérez de Castro who led the troops ( " para guardar el infante y por cabdillo de la hueste " ) . Spanish historian Julio González ( 1946 ) was aware of both interpretations , but thought it was highly improbable that Ferdinand ' s son was involved in a military action at such a young age . A 2003 biography of Alfonso X also places him alongside Álvaro Pérez de Castro in the raiding campaign of 1231 , including this battle . In his chronicle , Alfonso X referred to the operation as a " cavalgada " . Alfonso X described its impact as follows : " It is fitting that you who are hearing this story know that the thing in the world that most broke the Moors , why they had to lose Andalusia and the Christians gain it from them , was this battle of Jerez . That is how the Moors were shattered . They could never again muster the daring nor the effort which they had previously against the Christians , such was the level of the shock and fear they experienced on that occasion . " Alfonso X recounts that he was also impressed with the bloody execution of 500 captured prisoners , a task that he was put in charge of . Gonzalo Martínez Diez concludes that the defeat certainly weakened Ibn Hud ' s power base , for in April 1232 a challenger arose in the person of Mohammed ibn Nasr , who proclaimed himself emir in Arjona , and would eventually become the first Nasrid ruler of Granada . According to Julio González , Ibn Hud was perhaps more concerned with eliminating the remnants of the Almohads , as he took Gibraltar from them in October 1231 , finally driving them out of the peninsula , and later laid siege to Ceuta in 1232 . Ibn Hud ' s reign started to fall apart only a year later , between October 1232 and October 1233 suffering both internal and external setbacks : a rebellion in Seville sought alliance with ibn Nasr , the Christians took Úbeda , and the Almohads secured Ceuta . Another measure of the unraveling of Ibn Hud ' s power is that a later raid against Cádiz went unopposed , and the city was ferociously sacked by Christian mercenaries in 1234 - 1235 ( Hijri year 632 ) . The battle was later glorified in the writings of the 19th century Spanish romantic writer Adolfo de Castro .