‘From Mercenary to Crusader: the Career of Álvar Pérez de Castro (d. 1239) reconsidered’, in...

FROM MERCENARY TO CRUSADER: THE CAREER OFÁLVAR PÉREZ DE CASTRO (D. 1239) RE-EXAMINED

Simon Barton (University of Exeter)

On 5 December 1239, at Orgaz south of Toledo, Álvar Pérez deCastro ‘the Castilian’ breathed his last.1 When his liege lord, KingFernando III of Castile-León (1217–52), heard the news, the Estoria

de Espanna tells us, ‘his pains doubled, and no man could say howgreat was the sorrow that it caused him, nor how wretched he felt,nor how much he lost’.2 King Fernando had good reason to feel theloss of his vassal keenly. For the previous 14 years, Álvar Pérez hadproved far and away the most important and dependable royal officialon the southern frontier with al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), and hismilitary record was second to none.3 In the summer of 1225, hehad played a leading role in the raiding expedition that had defeatedthe Almohad governor, Abu’l Ula, and had advanced as far as thevery outskirts of Sevilla, where it had won a major victory over aMuslim army.4 As a sign of royal favour, Álvar had been rewardedwith the tenencias (tenancies) of Andújar and Martos by a grateful

1 That, at least, is the date given in the fragmentary sixteenth-century Tumbo ofthe monastery of Valbuena de Duero: Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Códices,1484B/25, fol. 228v. The death of Álvar Pérez is related in the late thirteenth-cen-tury Estoria de Espanna: Primera Crónica General de España, ed. Ramón Menéndez Pidal,with introduction by Diego Catalán, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1977), henceforth PCG, II,739a–b.

2 ‘Quando el rey Fernando oyo de la muerte de don Aluar Perez, doblaronselelos pesares, et non podrie omne dezir quant grant fue el pesar que ende ouo ninquanto sse ende sintio, nin quan mingua le fizo’: PCG, II, 739b. I am indebted toDr Juan Carlos Bayo Julve for his invaluable assistance with the translation of theextracts from the Estoria de Espanna.

3 The career of Álvar Pérez has not yet been the object of detailed study. Thereare some preliminary notes in Julio González, Reinado y diplomas de Fernando III, 3 vols. (Córdoba, 1980–86), I, 140–4.

4 On the military operations of 1225, see Crónica latina de los reyes de Castilla, ed.and trans. Luis Charlo Brea (Cádiz, 1984), henceforth CLRC, 66–8; cf. Crónica deveinte reyes, ed. Gonzalo Martínez Díez et al. (Burgos, 1991), 300; González, FernandoIII, I, 300.

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Fernando III.5 Six years later, accompanied by the king’s youngerbrother, Alfonso, Álvar had led an equally-daring raid along almostthe entire length of the Guadalquivir valley, via Andújar, Córdoba,Palma del Río, Sevilla and Vejer, which had culminated in a famousvictory, in the face of overwhelming odds, against the forces ofMuhammad ibn Hud at Jerez.6 ‘That day’, the Estoria de Espanna

relates, ‘Álvar Pérez put on a delicate mantle and took a staff in hishand, and with such weapons he entered into the fray very proudlyand cheerfully and valiantly, leading his men and giving them everyencouragement, making everyone believe that he had a poor opin-ion of Ibn Hud’s strength’.7 The Estoria summed up the importanceof the victory as follows:

It is important that all those of you who hear this story are awarethat this raid on Jerez was the thing in the world that most shatteredthe Moors, the reason why they lost Andalucía and the Christians wonit. For in this way, the Moors were crushed and thereafter they didnot possess the daring nor the bravery that they had shown againstthe Christians before, so great was the fear and bewilderment thatthey felt from that time.8

In 1235, Álvar had followed up this success by again raiding Jaénand Arjona, and by negotiating the settlement whereby Ibn Hudagreed to pay Fernando III the princely sum of 430,000 maravedís inreturn for a truce.9 The following year, the Castilian noble had also

5 Álvar Pérez had been awarded the tenencias of Martos and Andújar by 5 Septem-ber 1225 and held on to them both until at least 16 January 1227; on 8 December1228, Fernando III granted the castle of Martos to the Order of Calatrava: González,Fernando III, II, nos. 206, 222, 243. Álvar appears to have retained Andújar untilat least 1235: González, Fernando III, I, 141.

6 Lucas of Túy, Chronicon Mundi, in Hispania Illustrata, ed. Andreas Schott, 4 vols.(Frankfurt, 1603–8), IV, 1–116, at 115; cf. PCG, II, 724b–729a; Crónica de veinte reyes,306–9.

7 ‘Ese dia se uistio don Aluar Perez una falifa delgada, et tomo vna vara en lamano: et con tales armas entro en la fazienda muy loçano et muy alegre et muyesforçado, acabdellando sus gentes et diziendoles muchos bienes, et dandoles grandesesfuerços: dando a entender que el poder de Abenhut tenia en poco’: PCG, II,726b.

8 ‘Conuiene que sepades los que esta estoria oyredes que la cosa del mundo quemas quebranto a los moros, por que el Andalozia ouieron a perder et la ganaronlos cristianos dellos, fue esta caualgada de Xerez; ca de guisa fincaron quebranta-dos los moros, que non podieron despues auer el atreuimiento ni el esfuerço queante auien contra los cristianos: tamanno fue el miedo et el espanto que tomarondesa vez’: PCG, II, 729a.

9 CLRC, 90.

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played a key role in the siege operations that had led to the cap-ture of the city of Córdoba and had featured prominently in themopping up operations that followed.10

Contemporaries could not fail but to be impressed by the deedsof Álvar Pérez de Castro. For Bishop Lucas of Tuy, he was ‘a mostpowerful hero of Castile’ (heros potentissimus de Castella); Bishop Juanof Osma (in all likelihood the author of the anonymous ‘LatinChronicle of the Kings of Castile’) and Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménezde Rada both regarded him as ‘noble and powerful’ (nobilis et potenter).11

For its part, the Estoria de Espanna summed up his achievements asfollows:

In all virtues and good qualities don Álvar Pérez was an accomplishedand perfect knight; when he was in Córdoba or in any other part ofthe frontier, the king could be sure of all that he was holding there.12

In short, with Álvar Pérez in command on the southern frontier,Fernando III could sleep soundly in his bed.

The career of Álvar Pérez might appear at first sight to corre-spond to that of the archetypal warrior hero. The glowing encomiumpreserved in the Estoria de Espanna depicts a valiant crusader and aloyal vassal, whose feats of arms and derring-do in the service ofGod and king helped pave the way for the spectacular conquest ofthe entire Guadalquivir valley by the Castilian Crown by the mid-dle of the thirteenth century. On further examination, however, itis apparent that there was nothing archetypal about Álvar Pérez atall, just as what one might call the ‘historical trajectory’ of the entireCastro family since the middle of the twelfth century was in manyrespects distinctly out of the ordinary.

During the first half of the twelfth century, the Castro family hadbeen among the most powerful and influential aristocratic kin groupsin Castile.13 However, when Álvar Pérez’s grandfather, Fernando

10 CLRC, 95–6; Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, De rebus Hispanie sive Historia Gothica,ed. Juan Fernández Valverde, Corpus Christianorum. Continuatio Mediaevalis 72 (Turnhout,1987), henceforth DRH, 298; PCG, II, 729b–731b.

11 Lucas of Túy, IV, 115; CLRC, 95; DRH, 298.12 ‘En todos bienes et en todas bondades era varon conplido et acabado don

Aluar Perez; quando el en Corduua estaua o a qualquier parte desa frontera, seguroestaua el rey de quanto el alla tenie’: PCG, II, 739b.

13 No in-depth study of the Castros has yet been attempted. For an introduc-tion, see Margarita Torres Sevilla, Linajes nobiliarios de León y Castilla (siglos IX–XIII)(León, 1999), 78–94.



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Rodríguez, had been forced out of Castile in 1160 by his arch-rivalsfor power, the Lara family, with whom he had waged an unsuc-cessful battle to control the regency of the kingdom during the minor-ity of Alfonso VIII (1158–1214), he had found asylum at the courtof Fernando II of León (1157–88).14 That same year, he had playeda distinguished part in the military clash at Lobregal in the Tierrade Campos, where his forces had routed a Castilian army, killinghis father-in-law, Count Osorio Martínez, and taking prisoner CountNuño Pérez de Lara. Four years later, he had repeated his successagainst the Laras, defeating and killing Count Manrique Pérez inbattle at Huete near Cuenca. In recognition of his sterling service,Fernando Rodríguez had been appointed to the prestigious positionof mayordomo in the household of Fernando II in 1162–4 and 1165–6,and had been awarded a series of important tenencias (including thoseof León, Salamanca and Zamora). In 1169, his exploits in battleagainst the Portuguese warlord Geraldo Sempavor at Badajoz hadenabled him to carve out a sizeable lordship for himself based aroundTrujillo. In 1174, however, probably because of the rapprochementbetween Fernando II and Count Nuño Pérez de Lara, FernandoRodríguez had become estranged from the Leonese court and informedthe Almohad governor of Sevilla of his intention to defect to theMuslim camp. Once permission had been secured from the Almohadcaliph in Marrakesh, Fernando and his followers had made theirway to Sevilla, where they had pledged support for the Almohadcause.15 Later that year, with Almohad military support, Fernandohad led an unsuccessful attack against Leonese-held Ciudad Rodrigo.16

A year later, however, he had returned to the Leonese court andhad been granted the hand in marriage of Fernando II’s half-sister,Estefanía. He was to remain a prominent figure on the Leonesepolitical scene until his death in 1185.17

14 For what follows, see Julio González, El Reino de Castilla en la época de AlfonsoVIII, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1960), I, 324–30; Simon Barton, The Aristocracy in twelfth-centuryLeón and Castile (Cambridge, 1997), 154–5.

15 Ibn Sahib al-Sala, Al-Mann bil-Imama, tr. Ambrosio Huici Miranda (Valencia,1969), 135. Ibn Idari al-Marrakushi claims that Fernando Rodríguez crossed toMorocco and dwelled for five months in Marrakesh: Ibn Idari, Al-Bayan al-Mugrib,tr. Ambrosio Huici Miranda (Valencia, 1963), 401–2. Both authors date these eventsto the year 1167/8.

16 On Fernando Rodríguez’s role in the attack on Ciudad Rodrigo, see Lucas ofTuy, IV, 106; DRH, 243.

17 On the latter stages of the career of Fernando Rodríguez, see González, Reinode Castilla, I, 328–30.



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The career of Fernando Rodríguez’s son, Pedro Fernández deCastro, had been equally eventful. When Pedro, lord of Dueñas,Castrojeriz and Palenzuela, among other places, had become estrangedfrom Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1189, he had followed his father’sexample and sought political asylum at the Leonese court. Thereafterhis allegiance had swung between Castile and León at regular inter-vals, until in 1194, for reasons that are not altogether clear, he haddefected to the Almohads. The following year, Pedro had fought inthe Almohad army that routed Alfonso VIII in battle at Alarcos nearCalatrava and had been instrumental in arranging the military alliancebetween Alfonso IX of León (1188–1230) and the Almohad caliphYa'qub al-Mansur (1184–99), for which he had been excommuni-cated by Pope Celestine III in October 1196.18 Although Pedro hadlater returned to the Leonese and Castilian courts, a new peacetreaty agreed between the two kingdoms in 1213 had declared himto be persona non grata.19 Some time after September 1213, he hadtravelled to Marrakesh, where he had died on 18 August 1214, ‘pur-sued like a capital enemy’ by his erstwhile lord Alfonso VIII ofCastile.20

The readiness of Fernando Rodríguez and Pedro Fernández deCastro to cross the frontier with Islam in search of political asylumand patronage may at first sight appear paradoxical. For over a cen-tury before the latter’s death, the ecclesiastical hierarchy—both inIberia and in Rome—had been actively promoting the peninsula asa crusading theatre on a par with the Holy Land and members ofthe Christian nobility had begun to be persuaded that warfare againstthe enemies of Christendom had a salvatory and penitential value.21

18 For an outline of his career, see González, Reino de Castilla, I, 330–6, 720.19 CLRC, 37.20 ‘Anales Toledanos I’, ed. Enrique Flórez, España Sagrada 23 (Madrid, 1767),

381–400, at 399; ‘Paucis diebus antea audierat mortuum esse Petrum FernandiCastellanum in partibus de Marrocos, quem uelud inimicum capitalem rex nobilispersequebatur’: CLRC, 41.

21 On the introduction of the ideology of crusade into the peninsula, see JoséGoñi Gaztambide, Historia de la bula de la Cruzada en España (Vitoria, 1958); RichardA. Fletcher, ‘Reconquest and crusade in Spain, c. 1050–1150’, Transactions of the RoyalHistorical Society, 5th series, 37 (1987), 31–47; Marcus Bull, Knightly Piety and the LayResponse to the First Crusade: the Limousin and Gascony, c. 970–c. 1130 (Oxford, 1993),96–114; and, most recently, Joseph F. O’Callaghan, Reconquest and Crusade in MedievalSpain (Philadelphia, 2003). See also Simon Barton, ‘A Forgotten Crusade: AlfonsoVII of León-Castile and the Campaign for Jaén (1148)’, Historical Research 73 (2000),312–20, and ‘From Tyrants to Soldiers of Christ: the nobility of twelfth-century



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Like the crusaders to the East, the kings and nobles of the Christianrealms took a vow and placed a cross on their clothing as a sign oftheir commitment to the holy enterprise.22 One such crusader wasthe Galician nobleman Martín Muñiz Falcón, who on 1 April 1226,shortly before departing on campaign to the region of Badajoz, issueda will declaring: ‘I am crossed with the sign of the cross in the nameof our Lord Jesus Christ and for love of my lord the archbishop[Bernard of Santiago de Compostela] and I wish to go with him inthe host against the Saracens to serve him and the lord king Alfonsoand I wish everything to be in order if perchance I should die’.23

The commitment of the lay nobility to the ideals of crusade wasalso manifested in the enthusiastic support they offered to the indige-nous Military Orders—particularly those of Calatrava, Santiago andAlcántara—both as fighting members and as patrons.24 In 1172, forexample, a confraternity of knights at Ávila decided to join the Orderof Santiago and resolved that once they had expelled the Muslimsfrom Spain, they would pursue them to Morocco, and from thereto Jerusalem.25

Yet, while crusading ideas were undoubtedly widespread in Spainby the thirteenth century, they were not the only ideas to shape theoutlook and conduct of the nobility. For one thing, the spiritualbenefits derived from crusade were closely bound up with traditionalsecular goals and rewards. When Alfonso VII of León-Castile (1126–57)and his army advanced on Almería in October 1147, the prelatesof Toledo and León are reported by the ‘Poem of Almería’ to haveunsheathed ‘the divine and material sword . . . They pardon sins andand raise their voices to heaven, pledging to all the reward of thislife and the next. They promise prizes of silver and, with victory,they assure them once more that they will have all the gold which

León-Castile and the struggle against Islam’, Nottingham Medieval Studies 44 (2000),28–48.

22 O’Callaghan, Reconquest and Crusade, 180–5.23 ‘Ego domnus Martinus Muniz dicto Falcom cruciatus sum signu crucis. In

nomine Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi siue pro amorem domno mei archiepiscopi etuolo ire cum eo in hoste super sarracenos ad seruiendum eum siue domni regiAlfonsi et volo omnia mea ordinata remaneant si forsitam mortuus fuero bene ordi-nata remaneant’: Vicente Salvado Martínez and Benito Salvado, ‘Tumbo de Toxo-soutos, siglos XII y XIII’, Compostellanum 36 (1991), 165–232, no. 41.

24 See Barton, Aristocracy, 156–9.25 José Luis Martín Martín, Orígenes de la Orden Militar de Santiago (1170–1195)

(Barcelona, 1974), no. 53.



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the Moors possess’.26 According to the Estoria de Espanna, the soldierswho took part in the conquest of Córdoba in 1236 were moved todo so ‘to serve God and the king and to win wealth and to helpthe Christians’.27

It is also worthy of note that in the aftermath of the victoriouscrusade of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) the chief concern among theecclesiastical hierarchy was not that excessive numbers of nobles werejourneying as crusaders to the Holy Land, as had been the case acentury before, but that far too many of them were crossing thefrontier with Islam to join forces with the Muslims. The haemor-rhage of fighting men may partly have been prompted by the financialdifficulties that a number of nobles were probably suffering at a timewhen the rural economy was depressed by drought, flooding andplague, and may have been compounded by Pope Innocent III’s bullof April 1213, which had abruptly terminated the crusade in thepeninsula in order to channel resources towards a new expeditionto the Holy Land.28 Alerted to the exodus, on 23 January 1214 PopeInnocent III issued a further bull threatening those Christians wholent assistance to the Muslims in war with oughtright excommuni-cation.29 His message was amplified shortly afterwards by ArchbishopRodrigo of Toledo, who delivered this stinging rebuke to ‘all theknights of the whole of the kingdom of Castile’:

Since, as we have been informed, some of you on your own, otherswith lords and friends, abandoning their people and native land, have

26 ‘Pontifices omnes Toleti siue Legionis,/exempto gladio diuino corporeoque . . ./Crimina persoluunt, uoces ad sidera tollunt,/Mercedem uite spondent cunctisutriusque./Argenti dona promittunt cumque corona/Quicquid habent Mauri rursuspromittitur auri’: ‘Poema de Almería. Prefatio de Almaria’, ed. Juan Gil, in ChronicaHispana saeculi XII. Pars I. Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis 71 (Turnhout,1990), 255–67, vv. 38–9, 42–5. The translation is taken from Simon Barton andRichard Fletcher, The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest (Manchester,2000), 251.

27 ‘Venieron y a aquella uoz por seruir a Dios et al rey, et por ganar algo etpor ayudar a sus cristianos’, PCG, II, 731b.

28 Simon Barton, ‘Traitors to the Faith? Christian mercenaries in al-Andalus andthe Maghreb, c. 1100–1300’, in Roger Collins and Anthony Goodman eds., MedievalSpain: Culture, Conflict and Coexistence. Studies in Honour of Angus MacKay (Basingstokeand New York, 2002), 23–45, at 35. On conditions in the peninsula after LasNavas, see González, Reino de Castilla, I, 1067–72; cf. Javier Gorosterratzu, DonRodrigo Jiménez de Rada: gran estadista, escritor y prelado (Pamplona, 1925), 124–38. Onthe bull of Pope Innocent, see Goñi Gaztambide, Historia, 132 n. 72.

29 Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Códices, 996B, fol. 44ra–b; Francisco J.Hernández, Los cartularios de Toledo: catálogo documental (Madrid, 1985), no. 652.



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allied themselves with the Saracens, in order, if possible, to attack anddefeat the Christian people with them, we beseech and warn you allin the Lord to desist from this aim, at such a dangerous time, andnot to ally yourselves with that perverse people; rather, as athletes ofChrist and defenders of His name and the Catholic faith, set your-selves like a wall for the house of Israel, for the laws of the country,and for the people and the country, ready to die, if necessary.30

The archbishop urged those who harboured any grievance to pre-sent their complaint before the king’s court. However, he went onto warn that anyone who dared to join forces with the Muslimswould suffer immediate excommunication.

The passage of Christian fighting men across the frontier withIslam and their recruitment as mercenaries in the militias of therulers of al-Andalus had been a regular feature of peninsular soci-ety since the early ninth century. The most celebrated role modelin this respect was Rodrigo Díaz, known to posterity as El Cid, whoserved as a mercenary in the army of the Muslim taifa state ofZaragoza between 1081 and 1086, and in later life pursued a remark-ably successful career as a freelance soldier of fortune, conqueringValencia and its hinterland in 1094.31 From the twelfth centuryonwards, Christians also began to cross the Straits to offer their mil-itary services in North Africa.32 The emir of the Berber Almoravid

30 ‘Quia igitur prout nobis relatum est alii ex uobis per se alii cum dominis etamicis relicta gente sua et patria se confederare Sarracenis attemptant, ut cum eissi potuerint populum impugnent et oppugnent Christianum universitatem uestram,rogamus in Domino et monemus quatinus in tanto necessitatis articulo ab hocproposito desistatis, et illa nephanda genti non presumatis adherere, imo sicut atletheChristi et sui nominis et fidei Catholice deffensores, uos murum pro domo DominiIsrael opponatis, pro patriis legibus et gente et patria si necesse fuerit morituri’.Toledo, Archivo de la Catedral, A.6.1.22; copy in Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, MS13,022, fol. 92r–v; published by Atanasio López, ‘Los obispos de Marruecos desdeel siglo XIII’, in Archivo Ibero-Americano 14 (1920), 397–502, at p. 497; translated byGorosterratzu, Don Rodrigo Jiménez, pp. 241–2. The archbishop’s letter is undated,but was probably drawn up prior to 1218, since the archbishop does not style him-self papal legate, and he alludes to the victory God had granted over His enemies‘in the war just passed . . . in our land and especially for our cause’, presumably areference to the campaign of Las Navas.

31 Richard Fletcher, The Quest for El Cid (London, 1989).32 On the role of the Christian militias in the Maghreb, see Louis de Mas Latrie,

Traités de paix et de commerce et documents divers concernant les relations des Chrétiens avec lesArabes de l’Afrique Septentrionale au Moyen Age (Paris, 1860), 32–3, 125–7, 147–53; JoséAlemany, ‘Milicias cristianas al servicio de los sultanes musulmanes del Almagreb’,in Homenaje a D. Francisco Codera (Zaragoza, 1904), 133–69; Andrés Giménez Soler,‘Caballeros españoles en Africa y africanos en España’, Revue Hispanique 12 (1905),299–327; Charles-Emmanuel Dufourcq, L’Espagne catalane et le Maghrib aux XIII e et



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dynasty 'Ali b. Yusuf (1106–43) was the first to establish a perma-nent Christian mercenary force in the Maghreb, although many ofthe earliest recruits were reportedly prisoners-of-war.33 During theperiod of Almohad ascendancy in the Maghreb (c. 1147–1248), thenumber of Christian mercenaries crossing the Straits appears to haveacclerated, notwithstanding the best efforts of Pope Innocent III andArchbishop Rodrigo Jiménez of Toledo to stem the flow of fighting-men across the frontier. After the death of the Almohad caliph Yusufal-Mustansir (1214–24), in particular, a bitter and protracted dynas-tic struggle erupted, in the course of which rival pretenders to thethrone, as well as the various groups (Hafsids, Marinids and Ziyanids,among others) which sought to cast off Almohad overlordship, soughtto recruit large numbers of Christian mercenaries into their war-bands.34 Thus, both the pretender to the caliphate, al-Adil, and hisrival 'Abd Allah al-Bayyasi are reported to have recruited contin-gents of Christian mercenaries into their armies in 1224–25, just asal-Adil’s brother, al-Mamun, who had himself proclaimed caliph inthe winter of 1227, crossed to the Maghreb with a contingent ofsome 500 knights the following year in an attempt to overcome hisrivals and secure his position on the throne.35 If Ibn Khaldun is tobe believed, the first ruler of Tlemcen, Yaghmoracan, recruited nofewer than 2,000 Christian soldiers into his army.36

From scattered references in Christian and Muslim narrativeaccounts we can discover the names of a relatively small number of

XIV e siècles (Paris, 1966), passim; Robert I. Burns, ‘Renegades, Adventurers, andSharp Businessmen: the thirteenth-century Spaniard in the cause of Islam’, TheCatholic Historical Review 58 (1972), 341–66; Mariano Gual de Torrella, ‘Milicias cris-tianas en Berberia’, Boletín de la Sociedad Arqueológica Luliana 34 (1973), 54–63; RoserSalicriu i Lluch, ‘Mercenaires castillans au Maroc au début du XVe siècle, in MichelBalard and Alain Ducellier eds., Migrations et diasporas Méditerranéennes (X e–XVI e siè-cles) (Paris, 2002), 417–34; Barton, ‘Traitors to the Faith?’.

33 ‘Chronica Adefonsi Imperatoris’, ed. Antonio Maya Sánchez, in Chronica Hispanasaeculi XII, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis 71 (Turnhout, 1990), ii.§8–11,14, 45.

34 On the decline of the Almohad empire, see Ambrosio Huici Miranda, Historiapolítica del imperio Almohade, 2 vols. (Tetuán, 1956–7), II, 451 ff.

35 Huici Miranda, Historia, II, 452–80. The chronicler Ibn Abi Zar' claimed thatal-Ma"mun was the first Muslim ruler to take Christian mercenaries from the penin-sula to the Maghreb: Ibn Abi Zar', Rawd al-Qirtas, tr. Ambrosio Huici Miranda, 2 vols. (Valencia, 1964), II, 486.

36 Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l’Afrique septentrio-nale, tr. William MacGuckin, Baron de Slane, rev. edn. Paul Casanova, 4 vols.(Paris, 1925–56), III, 354.



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those soldiers who crossed the Straits to North Africa in search ofemployment as mercenaries. They included magnates of the highestrank and power, like Fernando Rodríguez and Pedro Fernández deCastro; the Infante Pedro Fernandes of the Portuguese royal dynasty,who travelled to Morocco some time before 1219; and the CastiliansCount Fernando Núñez de Lara, who found asylum at the Almohadcourt after he was forced into exile in 1219, and his brother CountGonzalo Núñez, who crossed into Muslim territory in 1221.37 Therewere also nobles of more limited means, like the Galician LorenzoSuárez Gallinato who served in the army of Ibn Hud of Écija afterhe was banished by Fernando III for unspecified misconduct (malfetrías)some time before 1236.38 For the most part, however, these Christianmercenaries remain an anonymous, faceless mass. We know very lit-tle about their social and geographical origins, of the circumstancesthat prompted them to cross the frontier, or of the size, composi-tion and organisation of the armies in which they fought. Moreover,these mercenaries have left hardly any documentary record whichmight shed some light on their activities and preoccupations.

A notable exception is a charter which survives only in a sadlytruncated state among a few stray folios of a now lost Tumbo, orcartulary, compiled by the monks of the Cistercian monastery ofValbuena de Duero in the sixteenth century. The document in ques-tion was issued in January 1218 at the behest of Abbot Martín ofValbuena and Álvar Pérez de Castro.39 By the terms of the charter,the abbot granted in prestimonium, that is, as a benefice, to ÁlvarPérez the estate at Valbuena, which had first been endowed to theabbey by his great-great-grandmother Countess Estefanía Armengolin 1143, in return for which Álvar did homage to the abbot ‘as avassal does to his lord’ (sicut vassallus facit suo seniori ).40 Now, leavingto one side the terms of the agreement itself, the charter is eye-

37 On Pedro Fernandes, see John V. Tolan, Saracens: Islam in the Medieval EuropeanImagination (New York, 2002), 216–19. On the exile of Fernando Núñez, see DRH,290; CLRC, 58. On the exile of Gonzalo Núñez, see DRH, 292.

38 PCG, II, 731.b–733.a. For another account, see Don Juan Manuel, El CondeLucanor, ed. José Manuel Blecua (Madrid, 1988), 176–9.

39 Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Códices, 1484B/25, fols. 226v–228r (seeAppendix).

40 For the foundation charter granted by Countess Estefanía to Valbuena, seeJosé María Canal Sánchez-Pagín, ‘Don Pedro Fernández, primer maestre de laOrden Militar de Santiago. Su familia, su vida’, Anuario de Estudios Medievales 14(1984), 33–71, at 66–8.



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catching for two main reasons. First of all, it was drawn up inMorocco, or to be more precise ‘on the road that leads from Ebora

to Marrakesh’. This Ebora is undoubtedly the same Elbora, whichaccording to Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez was a vicus—a suburb or a village—near Marrakesh, which was inhabited exclusively by Christians; it was in Elbora, the archbishop records, that CountFernando Núñez passed away in or around 1219, shortly after hehad been received into the Order of the Hospital.41 Thirteen yearslater, in the course of an uprising against the Almohad caliph al-Mamun, the beni Farkhan (as the Christians were contemptuouslyknown by the Muslims) who were resident in this suburb were report-edly massacred and the church they had built was demolished.42 Luisdel Mármol, who was held captive in Marrakesh between 1556 and1563, was able to visit the ruins of this Christian quarter, which healso calls el-Bora, and provided a description of what had once beena substantial settlement enclosed with sturdy walls and gates.43

The other striking feature of the charter of 1218 is its witness-list,in which the names of almost 50 individuals—a remarkably largenumber for the time—are recorded. Five of those named ( Juan,Diego, Martín, Domingo and the scribe Diego) were monks ofValbuena; the rest were almost certainly the household followers ofÁlvar Pérez de Castro. What can this witness-list tell us? First of all,with the exception of Álvar Pérez and his brother Fernando, theselaymen do not appear to have belonged to families of the highestrank and power. At any rate, none of them can be traced in anyof the royal charters issued by Alfonso VIII, Enrique I (1214–17) orFernando III of Castile, or by Alfonso IX of León, although that isnot to say that they had not formerly served in some capacity intheir households. Despite having conducted a sustained trawl forthese men among the mass of Castilian and Leonese charters, thusfar I have been able to identify only one of the names mentionedin the 1218 document: Ordoño Garcés de Roa, the father of oneof the witnesses Rodrigo Ordóñez, who according to Bishop Juanof Osma was among those who were slain at the battle of Las Navasde Tolosa.44

41 DRH, 290.42 Ibn Idhari, I, 338; Rawd al-Qirtas, II, 492.43 Luis del Mármol, Descripción general del Africa, sus guerras y vicisitudes desde la fun-

dación del Mahometismo hasta el año 1561, 3 vols. (Granada, 1573–99), II, fol. 29.44 CLRC, 14.



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Where did these men come from? As one would expect, givenÁlvar Pérez’s family origins, a number of Castilians can be identifiedfrom the list. In particular, there is a cluster of names from the areaof the Duero valley south of Burgos: Rodrigo Ordóñez, who hasalready been mentioned, hailed from Roa; Álvaro Fernández fromnearby Guzmán (south-east of Palencia); García Fernández fromPeñaranda; Rodrigo García ‘de Velacos’ probably from Velasco nearBurgo de Osma; and Rodrigo Rodríguez from Arauzo de Miel. Fromsomewhat further afield we encounter the Castilians Gonzalo Pérezfrom Arguisuelas near Cuenca and Gutierre Díaz de Villafendino,wwhich probably refers to Villafandín near Villamanrique on theTagus. In addition to these men, there are at least two Leonese:Pedro Garcés from Matanza (near Astorga) and Domingo Rodríguezfrom Castroverde (unless this refers to Castroverde de Cerrato in themodern province of Valladolid); and two Galicians: García Pérezand Rodrigo Pérez de Villamar (unless the latter is from the villageof that name in Asturias). In addition, there are three Portuguese(Pedro Núñez de Riba de Limo, Pedro Pérez and Martín Domínguez),two Navarrese (Guerrezo González and one Jimeno), and threeCatalans (Gombau de Ribela, Pons and Vermondetus). Tucked awaytowards the end of the witness-list we also discover several membersof Álvar Pérez’s domestic household, including no fewer than fourfalconers.45 The origins of the dozen or so men who are styled with-out a toponymic cannot be established with any confidence.

What circumstances might have led to the issue of the charter of1218? Two possible scenarios immediately suggest themselves. First,there is the possibility that Álvar Pérez had journeyed with hisentourage to Morocco prior to 1218 in the company of a group ofmonks to collect the body of his late father Pedro Fernández (whohad died in August 1214), and to arrange for its conveyance to thepeninsula and burial in the Castro family monastery of Valbuena.The repatriation of the remains of the deceased to the peninsulaappears to have weighed heavily on the minds of contemporaries.We are told by Archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez that when Count

45 Pedro Fernández de Castro also had at least one falconer in his householdretinue. On 8 December 1189, he made a grant of land near Mayorga to his fal-conarius Alfonso in recognition of his loyal service: Pilar Loscertales de García deValdeavellano, Tumbos del monasterio de Sobrado de los Monjes, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1976),II, no. 190.

MARTIN-HARRIS_f6_110-129 8/26/05 20:10 2


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Fernando Núñez died at Elbora, probably in 1219, the count’s vas-sals conveyed his corpse together with the bodies of others who hadalso died there back to Castile for burial at the Hospitallers houseat Puente Fitero near Palencia.46 The problem with this scenario isthat there is no evidence whatsoever that Álvar Pérez was residenton Iberian soil in the years immediately prior to 1218. His namedoes not crop up in any of the records of the Castilian or Leonesecourts, nor is he cited in any private charters as lord of any tenen-cias, as one would expect of a noble of his standing. Pious donationsby Álvar Pérez to any peninsular religious institutions are likewiseconspicuous by their absence. One might also add that the entouragewhich accompanied Álvar in Morocco in January 1218, with its strik-ing geographical diversity, bears little resemblance to the morehomogenous knightly followings of other Christian magnates. Giventhese caveats, an alternative and more plausible scenario would bethat Álvar Pérez had accompanied his father to Morocco when thelatter went into exile late in 1213, and had remained in the serviceof the Almohad caliph thereafter. If that were the case, there wouldbe good grounds for supposing that the list of laymen appended tothe charter of 1218 formed nothing less than a roll-call of the Christianmercenaries who served in the Maghreb under the command ofÁlvar Pérez, and who may have served under that of his father too.If so, then the charter of 1218 may be regarded as a unique record.

Whatever the precise circumstances that led the charter of January1218 to be drawn up, we know for sure that Álvar Pérez must haveleft Morocco shortly afterwards and returned to his native Castile.In this he may have been prompted by the fall from power of theLara brothers, Alvaro, Fernando and Gonzalo Núñez, following theuntimely death of Enrique I and the succession of Fernando IIIshortly afterwards. By 30 June 1219, Álvar Pérez de Castro had joinedFernando III’s court.47 The following year, however, for reasons thatremain unclear, he switched allegiance to Fernando’s father, AlfonsoIX of León, and became his vassal.48 Between at least February and

46 DRH, 290.47 González, Fernando III, II, no. 81.48 Álvar Pérez can last be traced in the records of the Castilian court on 18 July

1220: González, Fernando III, II, no. 121. He had joined the court of Alfonso IXby 10 March 1221; he was styled uassallo regis in the royal charter issued on 2September 1221: Julio González, Alfonso IX, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1944), II, nos. 406,410.



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10 March 1221 he held the prestigious palatine office of alférez orsignifer regis (head of the king’s military household), a post which heagain held (after the post had briefly passed to Fernando Gutiérrez)between at least 16 February 1222 and 4 May 1222.49 A measureof the prominent position enjoyed by Álvar Pérez at the Leonesecourt is provided by a charter of 5 March 1221 which records ‘Alua-rus Petri subiectus regis Legionis habens dominatum sub rege in totoregno’; another styles the Castilian magnate ‘potens in omni regnoLegionis’.50 The Castilian was also the recipient of important tenen-cias in Asturias (between at least 27 October 1220 to 3 May 1223),51

Extremadura, including Salamanca (10 March to April 1221; and16 February 1222 to 5 June 1223),52 León (26 February 1221 to 3May 1223),53 and the Transierra (3 May 1223).54 Between at leastDecember 1222 and 5 June 1223 he held the post of maiordomo regis

with responsibility for the royal household.55 By 13 September 1223,however, Álvar Pérez had returned to the Castilian court: thereafterhis name invariably occupied pride of place among the lists of nobleswhich were customarily appended to the king’s charters.56

Álvar Pérez’s return to the Castilian court coincided with theexpiry of the 10-year truce between Castile and the Almohad empire,and the outbreak of dynastic infighting within the Almohad royalhouse, both of which encouraged Fernando III to go on to theoffensive. During the first of these expeditions, launched in September1224, Quesada was captured; in July 1225, accompanied by a sub-stantial army of nobles, the military orders and city militias, FernandoIII tried and failed to take Jaén.57 In the interim, however, Álvar

49 José María Fernández Catón ed., Colección documental del archivo de la catedral deLeón (775–1230), VI (León, 1991), no. 1897; González, Alfonso IX, II, nos. 406,417–21.

50 Taurino Burón Castro, Colección documental del monasterio de Gradefes (1054–1299),I (León, 1998), nos. 388–9.

51 Francisco Javier Fernández Conde, Isabel Torrente Fernández and Guadalupede la Noval Menéndez, El monasterio de San Pelayo de Oviedo: historia y fuentes, I (Oviedo,1978), no. 55; González, Alfonso IX, II, no. 429.

52 González, Alfonso IX, II, nos. 406, 417; José Luis Martín Martín et al., Documentosde los archivos catedralicio y diocesano de Salamanca (siglos XII–XIII) (Salamanca, 1977),nos. 148, 152.

53 González, Alfonso IX, II, nos. 406, 429.54 González, Alfonso IX, II, no. 429.55 González, Alfonso IX, II, no. 425; Martín Martín, Documentos de Salamanca, no.

152.56 González, Fernando III, II, no. 187.57 For details of these operations, see CLRC, 63ff.



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Pérez appears to have crossed the frontier to seek asylum with theMuslims and is reported to have helped defend Jaén against thebesieging Castilian army with a force of 40 Christian knights.58 Sub-sequently, as Fernando III’s armies ravaged the area to the south ofJaén, it was Álvar Pérez who, in an attempt to recover royal favour,negotiated the agreement between Fernando III and the citizens ofGranada, whereby in exchange for an undertaking by the king thathe would not wreak any further devastation in the area some 1,300Christian captives were set free.59 It was then, reports Bishop Juanof Osma, that Álvar Pérez returned to the Castilian court and wassubsequently awarded the governorship of the castles of Martos andAndújar, which had been surrendered to Fernando III by 'Abd Allahal-Bayyasi shortly before:

Then Álvar Pérez, a young nobleman, the son of Pedro Fernández,who had already abandoned his friendship with the Moors, became avassal of our king and received the aforementioned castles from thehand of the king and held and defended them faithfully and power-fully for a long time afterwards.60

During the final fourteen years of his life, Álvar Pérez was to remaina lynch-pin in the defence of the frontier with al-Andalus.61 However,his relations with Fernando III did not always run smoothly. When

58 ‘E yazíe dentro Aluar Peres con quarenta caualleros cristianos e bien tres millcaualleros moros e bien cinquènta mill omnes a pie’: Crónica de veinte reyes, 300. Thedefection of Álvar Pérez to the Muslim side evidently occurred some time after 26May 1225, when his name was still cited in the records of the court of FernandoIII: González, Fernando III, II, no. 205.

59 ‘Don Aluar Peres era y entonçes, e los moros rrogáronle que les truxese pleitesíacon el rrey que fincaríe el rrey por su vasallo e quel daríe quantos catiuos avíe enGranada, que les non cortase vna huerta que estaba çerca de la villa nin les fiziesemás daño. El rrey, por sacar los catiuos, touo por bien la pleitesía que don AluarPeres traya, e otorgóla, e entregaron los catiuos al rrey, que fueran fasta mill etrezientos’: Crónica de veinte reyes, 302.

60 ‘Tunc Aluarus Petri, nobilis iuuenis, filius Petri Fernandi, qui iam recesseratab amicitia Maurorum, factus est uassallus regis nostri recepitque predicta castrade manu regis, et tenuit et defendit longo tempore postea fideliter et potenter’:CLRC, 67. Álvar Pérez reportedly guided the royal army on its return journey northvia Pegalajar and Montijar: Crónica de veinte reyes, 302. Álvar Pérez may be tracedin the records of the court once more from 5 September 1225, when he was styledtenens Martos et Anduiar: González, Fernando III, II, no. 206.

61 For example, Álvar Pérez was among the force that relieved the siege ofMartos, probably in 1227: Crónica de veinte reyes, 303. In 1230, he took part in theaborted siege of Jaén and accompanied Fernando III back north to claim the throneof León on the death of the latter’s father, Alfonso IX: DRH, 295.



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Álvar married the king’s niece Mencía López, the eldest daughterof Lope Díaz de Haro, in Burgos in September 1233, the matchwas promptly denounced by Church leaders as incestuous and thecouple were excommunicated.62 Moreover, Fernando III, irritatedthat Álvar Pérez had not sought his permission to wed, stripped himof his tenencias.63 In response, Álvar Pérez and Lope Díaz angrilytook up arms in defence of their interests and Álvar fortified him-self in his headquarters at Paredes (between Palencia and Carrión).As Fernando III gathered an army to crush the uprising, the king’smother Queen Berenguela and his wife Queen Beatriz took counselwith various ‘prudent men’ and ‘commanded Álvar Pérez to abandonParedes as it was before, and to leave the kingdom altogether andgo to the land of the Saracens and live there, or some other place,until he could regain the king’s favour’.64 Accordingly, at the begin-ning of Lent of 1234, while Fernando III was in Valladolid, the kinggave permission to Álvar Pérez to set out for al-Andalus. However,queens Berenguela and Beatriz, reportedly foreseeing the harm thatwould befall the frontier if Álvar Pérez were to be allowed to resumehis alliance with the Muslims, acted promptly so that the noble wasrestored to royal favour and recovered his lands and castles.65

The reign of Fernando III and the triumphant campaigns of con-quest which he masterminded have often been portrayed as theapotheosis of crusading activity in the Iberian peninsula. The chron-icler Matthew Paris declared that ‘that king alone has done morefor the honour and profit of Christ’s church than the pope and allhis crusaders . . . and all the Templars and Hospitallers’.66 Yet, thechequered career of Álvar Pérez de Castro, not least his sojourns inMorocco in 1218 and in Jaén in 1225, as well as his near-defection

62 For what follows, see CLRC, 88–90.63 The tenencias relinquished by Álvar Pérez probably included that of Abia de

Cerrato near Palencia, which lay under his authority in 1229: Madrid, ArchivoHistórico Nacional, Clero, 1655/5; that of Dueñas, which he is known to have heldduring 1230: José Manuel Lizoain Garrido ed., Documentación del monasterio de LasHuelgas de Burgos (1116–1230) (Burgos, 1985), nos. 240, 243–7, 249; and that ofSalamanca, which the Castilian reportedly held in August 1232: Martín Martín et al., Documentos de Salamanca, no. 188.

64 ‘Ipse uero, habito prudentum uirorum consilio, mandauerunt Aluaro Petri utrelinqueret Paredes sicut prius erat, et exiret de toto regno iturus in terramSarracenorum, ibique moraturus uel alibi, donec regis gratiam recuperare posset,fauctoribus eiusdem regis grate restitutis’: CLRC, 89.

65 CLRC, 90.66 Derek W. Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain (London, 1978), 156.



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to the Muslim camp in 1233, serve to remind us of the shiftingnature of royal-aristocratic relations during the thirteenth century,and of the enduring permeability of the Christian frontier with Islamin the peninsula. There can be no doubting the impact that the ide-ology of crusade had upon the lay aristocracy of Christian Iberia,but the restless nobles who inhabited what has been dubbed the‘society organized for war’ were pragmatists to a man. When theGalician Fernando González made a grant of land to the monks ofLorenzana on 20 June 1224, the nobleman candidly admitted thatsince he had not received the patronage (benefacto) from King AlfonsoIX of León that he had anticipated, he had decided to journey ‘intothe land of the Saracens’ with Count Gonzalo Núñez de Lara.67

Muslim al-Andalus, as well as the Maghreb, were regarded as poten-tially fertile sources of wealth and power like any other. The prospectof eternal salvation was all very well and good, but the primary con-cern of even the doughtiest of crusaders was to secure the income—be it from one’s patrimony, royal largesse or the spoils of war—whichwould enable them to maintain a household and lifestyle concomi-tant with their status. If spiritual benefits came into conflict with anobleman’s own vital material interests, there could surely be onlyone winner.

67 Ángel Rodríguez González and José Ángel Rey Caiña eds., ‘Tumbo deLorenzana’, Estudios Mindonienses 8 (1992), 11–324, no. 118.



APPENDIX

Morocco, ‘on the road from Ebora to Marrakesh’, January 1218

Abbot Martín of the monastery of Valbuena de Duero grants theestate at Valbuena to Álvar Pérez de Castro to hold in prestimonium

MS: Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Códices, 1484B/25 (frag-ments of a sixteenth-century Tumbo of Valbuena, fols. 226v–228r).

Tiene el monesterio una escriptura en un/libro de pargamino escripto en colum-

nas y tripli/cada en otros libros de pargamino de letras antiguas/y comienca

In Nomine patris et filii et spiritu sancti/amen. Por la qual parece que

Don Martin/abbad de Valbuena con consejo y parecer de fray/Diego, fray Abrill,

fray Domingo cantor, fray Miguel/sacristan y de todo el convento a ruego y

petición/Aluari Petri et Garsie Guterri et Fernandi/Petri fratris AluariPetri et Didaci Garsie mayor/domus dicti Aluari: ceda y concede inprestimonium/y tenencia el lugar de Valbuena para que la ten/ga de mano

y a disposición y mandato del/dicho monasterio secundum illud forum etsub illo censu quod Donna Stephania comitissa que/eam monaste-rio nostro iure hereditario/traddidit possidendam infanta sua insti-tuit/y esto por el tiempo que al dicho abbad y convento/y a sus sucesores

pareciese—sed ego Aluarus Petri fatio tibi dompno Martino abbati/supra-dicti monasterii hominium sicut vassa/llus facit suo seniori cum supradicta villa/tua Vallebona, ut quandocumque uolueris tum/uel suc-cesor tuus, uel conuentus in uito uel//[fol. 227r] placado sine ullascatima et sine ulla con/traditione dimitant tibi uel illis uillam/tuamac suam in pace. Hoc autem factum/est apud Marrocos in uia quauenitur de/Ebora ad Marrocos, et ad maiorem huius facti firmitatemet testimonium. Ego supra/dictus Martinus abbas et ego AluarusPetri/huic carte quam ambo fieri iussimus sigila/nostra apponi feci-mus. Testes qui uiderint et/audierunt hoc factum sunt isti: Ferrandus/Petri filius Petri Ferrandez/et Gombaldus de Ribela et Poncetus acVermon/detus nepotes, filii Catalani, Didacus Garsie/et RodericusGarsie de Velacos, Nuncius Alfonsii/et Gonsaluus Petri de Argu-suelas/et Rodericus Ordonii filius Ordonii Garsie de Roda/et fratresGonsaluus Garsie filius Garsie Gonsalui/et Gonsaluus Petri Tirado



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mayordomus Didaci/Gomicii/et Guterrius Didaci de Villafendino,/etRodericus Roderici de Aranuco de Miel/et Fernandus MartiniciBaeaco/et Petrus Nunii de Riba de Limo,/Portugalensis/[fol. 227v]et Petrus Suberii Pacheca/et Petrus Guterrii filii Guterri Petri deMontaneses/et Guerrezo Gonsalui Nauarrensis/et Aluarus Fernandide Gusman/et Petrus Garsie de Matança/et Petrus Joannis et GarsiasPetri ‘Galletiani’/et Rodericus Petri de Villaamar/et Rodericus Nunifilius domni Nuni Calatra/uencis/et Garsia Ferrandi de Peñaranda/etJoannes Petri de Castro/et Munio de Castro,/et Semeno Nauarrensis/et Petrus Petri Portugalensis/et Martinus Dominici Portugalensis/etGonsaluus Petri Niño/et Semeno Borneu,/et Aluarus Carrigue defamilia Fernandi Roderici/et Ferrandus Aprilis de Usadriba/et PetrusVelasco/et Dominicus Aluari/et Petrus Montez/[fol. 228r] et SuberusMartini/et Fernandus Garauita/et Rogerius, Martinus, Dominicus etAdan/falconarii dompni Aluari Petri/et Dominicus Roderici de Castro-uerde,/et Joannes et Didacus et Martinus et Dominicus/de Vallebona.Facta carta apud Marrocos/era 1256, in mense Januario, regnanterege/Fernando, in Castella et in Toleto cum matre/sua Berengaria.Alferiz regis Lupus Didaci./Mayordomus Gonsaluus Roderici. Meri-nus/mayor Goncaluus Petri de Arnellas. Frater/Didacus de mandatoabbatis supradicti, et dompni/Aluari Petri mee scripsit.



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