Battle of Albelda ( 851 ) The first Battle of Albelda took place near Albelda in 851 between the Muslim forces of Musa ibn Musa , chief of the Banu Qasi and governor of Tudela on behalf of the Emirate of Córdoba , and an army of the Franks and Gascons from France , probably allies of the Christian Kingdom of Asturias , inveterate enemy of Musa . The Muslims , who were probably the aggressors , were victorious . The battle is usually connected with a campaign of Ordoño I of Asturias to suppress a Basque revolt , and may be related also to the capture of certain Frankish and Gascon leaders . In the past it has been conflated with the Battle of Monte Laturce , also near Albelda , which occurred in 859 or 860 . According to Ibn Hayyan , in 237 A . H . ( 851 / 2 A . D . ) , the same year that Íñigo Arista died , Musa ibn Musa defeated the Gascons ( " Glaskiyyun " ) in battle under the walls of Albelda . On the first day of battle Musa suffered serious losses , and he himself received thirty - five blows of a lance . On the second day Musa counterattacked and forced the Gascons to retreat . According to Ibn al - Athir , the Muslims invaded Christian territory in 851 and had a great victory by " Albaida " , the fame of which spread throughout al - Andalus . The " Chronicle of Alfonso III " records that Musa directed his forces against the " Franks and Gauls " , killing many and razing many places . The Gascon presence at Albelda in 851 may be explained as an attempted reprisal for an attack by Musa north of the Pyrenees , since at that time Musa was allied with the Kingdom of Pamplona , Gascony ' s southern neighbour . In 851 , the year after he succeeded to the throne , Ordoño I of Asturias suppressed a revolt of his Basque subjects . This done he marched to the other side of the river Ebro and , " with the help of God " according to the " Chronicle of Alfonso III " , forced the " Chaldaeans " ( an artful expression for the Muslims ) to flee . After this , the " Chronicle " adds , the Basques submitted . This encounter with the Muslims may be the same one as recorded by both Ibn Hayyan and Ibn al - Athir under the same year . It may have taken place near Albelda , Musa may have been commanding the Muslims , and it is possible that Ordoño ' s Gascon allies , called on to help quash the Basque insurrection , were put to flight by the Muslims , who were in turn put to flight by Ordoño . It is possible that close ties existed between Asturias and Gascony at this time : Ordoño ' s kinsman , Alfonso II , had been allied with Velasco the Gascon , and the Gascons in times of rebellion may have sought out Asturian aid , even Asturian suzerainty , as an Aragonese charter of 867 may indicate . The " Chronicle " records that , after the battle of Albelda in 851 , and partly by means of war , partly by treachery , Musa captured two Frankish leaders , Sancho and Emenon , whom he threw into a dungeon . The date of Sancho and Emenon ' s capture is not given , but Sancho disappears suddenly from Gascony in 855 , when his nephew , Arnold , a son of Emenon , appears as duke . Musa is known to have made an expedition against the Marca Hispanica in 855 – 6 , as recorded in Ibn al - Athir , Ibn Idari , and Ibn Khaldun . It is possible , on the other hand , that Sancho and Emenon were captured at the encounter of 851 , where Gascons are known to have been present , or in 852 , during a Frankish campaign to rescue Barcelona ( recently captured ) recorded in the " Annales regni Francorum " . The " gifts " from the Frankish king Charles the Bald , which Ordoño ' s soldiers found in the camp of Musa at Monte Laturce , may have been the ransom paid for Sancho and Emenon , in which case their capture occurred prior to 859 .