Disaster of the Vega de Granada

Disaster of the Vega de Granada
Part of Battle of the Strait; Reconquista
Map of the Kingdom of Granada
Date June 25, 1319 Location Pinos Puente, (Spain) 37.250000°N 3.750000°W / 37.250000; -3.750000 Result Granadan victory
Belligerents
Crown of Castile European crusaders	Kingdom of Granada
Commanders and leaders
Pedro of Castile  † Juan of Castile  †	General Utman b. Abi l-Ula Ismail I
Casualties and losses
unknown	unknown

Battle of the Strait (1274–1462)

The Disaster of the Vega de Granada, also known by the name of the Battle of Elvira or the Battle of Sierra Elvira, was a combat fought on June 25, 1319 in the Granadan locality of Pinos Puente, near Granada, between the forces of the Kingdom of Castile and those of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, which emerged victorious.

The battle was a disaster for the Kingdom of Castile; the frontier with Granada was left unprotected, and in it there died, in the vicinity of the Cerro de los Infantes, the Infantes Juan and Pedro of Castile, who were the leaders of the Christian army and the guardians of King Alfonso XI during his minority together with Queen María de Molina, who was officially left as sole guardian until she was joined, in 1320, by the Infante Felipe of Castile, her son, and by Don Juan Manuel, grandson of Ferdinand III. Furthermore, most historians, basing themselves on the Muslim and Christian testimonies of the period, affirm that the Christians were planning to conquer the City of Granada and in that way bring the Reconquista to an end, and the historian Andrés Giménez Soler stated regarding the consequences of the disaster that:

For Granada it was a moment of calm and relief in its agony; for Castile a most painful incident, but without importance in the history of the Reconquista.

Sources

The main Christian sources that described the disaster in detail are the Crónica and the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI, and to a lesser extent the Poema de Alfonso Onceno, since they are the three fundamental works on the reign of Alfonso XI. And numerous Muslim historians, mentioned for the most part by Saleh Eazah al-Zahrani in a 2009 article on the disaster from the Muslim point of view, also wrote about it, although most of their assertions were already refuted at the beginning of the 20th century by the historian Andrés Giménez Soler, who demonstrated the falsehood of many of the assertions of the Muslim chroniclers.

An example of the falsehood of most of the assertions of the Muslim chroniclers when they refer to this disaster is that some of them recorded that the Infantes Pedro and Juan died from wounds received in it, but most Spanish medievalists today do not hesitate to affirm, on the basis of the aforementioned Christian chronicles and other evidence, that both certainly died during the battle, but in both cases from natural causes. And although more than a century has passed since their publication, the articles of Andrés Giménez Soler on this disaster, which appeared between 1904 and 1905 in the Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, continue to be frequently cited by modern medievalists when they refer to this battle, since he was the first to compare the testimonies of Christians and Muslims.

Some Muslim chroniclers recorded that 25 Christian kings took part in the expedition together with more than 100,000 soldiers, and that more than 50,000 of them died in the disaster, along with many other exaggerations and falsehoods, but Giménez Soler, basing himself on various chroniclers, indicated that the number of Christian knights present at the disaster must have amounted to some 9,000.

Preparations for the expedition (1318–1319)

Imaginary portrait of Pope John XXII.

When the Cortes of Medina del Campo of 1318 ended, the Infantes Pedro and Juan and the "good men of the land" agreed to enter the Vega de Granada to "raid and lay waste" to it, and they established that the forces under their command would gather for this purpose in the city of Córdoba in the month of June 1319, as recorded in chapter XVIII of the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI. And during the winter of 1318 the supplies necessary for the expedition began to be stockpiled and the Castilians sped up the movements of troops, who, according to the Poema de Alfonso Onceno, gathered "many people of the crusade", although the historian Luis Fernández Gallardo pointed out that this expression possibly encompassed all the Christians who took part in the campaign, since it is not likely that all of them had performed the ceremonies proper to a crusader.

Pope John XXII, at the request of the Infante Pedro, granted the status of a crusade to the expedition against the Kingdom of Granada, and he also granted him the tercias and the tenths of the tithes collected in Castile, on the condition that he not sign any peace agreement with the Muslims, "under penalty of obedience and of the love of the Holy Church". And King James II of Aragon, son-in-law of the Infante Pedro of Castile, also planned to make two successive campaigns against the Granadan Muslims, but not to conquer any territory, rather to devastate that of his enemies and cause them the greatest possible harm with a hypothetical army of 32,000 men; and although the Pope granted him the same prerogatives as the Infante Pedro with respect to the crusade, James II found them insufficient and abstained from taking part in the expedition.

And because of the aforementioned agreements, the Infante Pedro found himself obliged to break the truce he had agreed with King Ismail I of Granada and to fight against him, and he excused himself to him by alleging that he had to act thus out of fear of the pontiff and of excommunication, and he returned to him the parias that the latter had given him. And in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI it is recorded that the Granadan Monarch expressed "very great sorrow" at all this and that he communicated the following to the Infante Pedro, turning the war between the two into an "authentic judgment of God":

I am a Moor, and the infante a Christian; I wish to keep the truth that God established, and the wealth that I gave to the infante I do not wish to take back, but I wish to keep the letter of fealty that he gave me for this reason. And the infante does me wrong, for he overran my lands and killed my Moors, and on top of this evil that he did me I gave him parias so that he would let me live in my lands in peace, and now he wishes to break the faith and the truth that he pledged with me. And I place God in the middle, that He may be the mediating judge and show justice and a miracle upon such a deed, so that all those of the world may know what faith and truth are.

The violation of the truce agreed with the Granadans by the Infante Pedro was also much criticized by the Castilians themselves, who would later go so far as to affirm, like the King of Granada, that the disaster was a "divine punishment" for having broken it, although the Infante Pedro declared "that he would not be the son of King Don Sancho (IV) if in a few years, God granting him life, he did not cause the House of Granada to be returned to the Crown of Spain, and that the hidalgos of Castile should all till and breed. And these words that the Infante Don Pedro said weighed heavily on the Castilians". And the Granadans, for their part, sent ambassadors to the sultan of Fez so that his troops would help them in their struggle against the Castilians, but the latter excused himself to them by alleging that his son had rebelled against him and that he could not help them, and the celebrated Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun stated that it was precisely the rebellions of the son of the sultan of Fez against his father that encouraged the Castilians to attack the Kingdom of Granada.

The Infante Pedro went shortly afterwards to Toledo, as recorded in the Crónica de Alfonso XI, where he was joined by the masters of the military orders of Santiago and Calatrava and the Archbishop of Toledo, Gutierre Gómez de Toledo, whom he ordered to make the necessary preparations and to go to the frontier with their troops to meet him there. And shortly afterwards the said infante went to the Extremaduran city of Trujillo and met with the Master of the Order of Calatrava, to whom he gave 3,000 gold doblas so that the Crown could recover the Castle of Trujillo, which had previously been pledged by his brother, the late King Ferdinand IV. And at the same time, the infante ordered the Master of Calatrava to make the necessary preparations and to get ready to join him on the frontier.

View of the Castle of Tíscar.

Later the Infante Pedro went to the city of Seville, where, as recorded in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI, "he ordered many picks to be made there, and built four engines there", which in compliance with his instructions were taken to Córdoba, and afterwards, passing through the municipalities of Écija and Hornachuelos, he reached the Jaén city of Úbeda, where he met with the masters of the orders of Santiago, Calatrava and Alcántara and with the archbishops of Toledo and Seville, and while there with them the infante informed them that he intended to conquer the Castle of Tíscar, since "it was the strongest thing the Moors had", and he went there with them and began to besiege it. And in the Crónica de Alfonso XI it is recorded that this fortress, commanded by Mahomad Handon, surrendered after several days of siege, and that its 4,500 inhabitants abandoned it and their safety was guaranteed until they reached Baza.

The historian Manuel Nieto Cumplido pointed out that the Bishop of Córdoba, Fernando Gutiérrez, took part in the campaign, and in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI it is recorded that while the Infante Juan was in Córdoba with the ricoshombres and the knights of the kingdoms of Castile and León, he was informed that his nephew, the Infante Pedro, had conquered the Castle of Tíscar, and that chronicle pointed out that the infante was not pleased by this, and that shortly afterwards he and his troops left Córdoba and went to Baena, and that from there the Infante Juan informed his nephew Pedro, who was still at Tíscar, that he wished "to enter the Vega de Granada". And although those accompanying the Infante Pedro advised him to conquer Biedma as well, the infante refused and stated that they would go to the Vega de Granada, since that was the purpose of the Infante Juan. And shortly afterwards, having secured the defense of Tíscar and of other nearby castles he had conquered, he went with all his troops to Jaén and later to Alcaudete, according to the Crónica de Alfonso XI, or to Cañete de las Torres, according to the Gran Crónica, where the Infantes Juan and Pedro and their armies came together, and some Muslim chroniclers pointed out that thirteen large Christian galleys arrived at that time in the Strait of Gibraltar and positioned themselves between Almería and Algeciras, since the Christians were planning to conquer the latter city, although this is not mentioned in the Christian sources.

And shortly afterwards, the two Castilian infantes and their troops headed for the Vega de Granada, and with them went, according to the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI, "great peoples of the kingdoms of Castile and of León and of Extremadura and of Galicia and of Andalusia, and people from beyond the passes of Aspa who came to their aid to save their souls", although that work also states that relations between the two infantes were not friendly:

View of the Municipality of Íllora, whose town was conquered by the Christians during their advance toward Granada, though not its castle.

But, as the history tells, they went full of venom toward one another, for each of them thought and understood that whichever of them remained alive without the other would be lord of Castile; but God, who is father and powerful lord and undoer of all things, did not wish that anything they had proposed in their hearts be fulfilled.

Shortly afterwards the Christian troops entered Muslim territory and passed through Alcalá la Real, where they remained for one day, and on the next they reached Moclín and penetrated into the lands of the present-day Province of Granada. And a day later they reached Íllora, seized the town and its arrabal, and had they stayed another day, according to the Crónica de Alfonso XI, they would also have taken its castle, although the Infante Pedro did not wish to remain there any longer, for his will was to besiege Granada and keep it encircled "until they won it, or die over it", as recorded in the Gran Crónica of the same king.

After leaving Íllora, the Castilian infantes and their troops, with "their banners unfurled", passed by the Cerro de los Infantes and reached the municipality of Pinos Puente. And on the following day, Saturday, June 23, the eve of Saint John, they advanced a little and reached the vicinity of Albolote, a municipality located at the foot of Sierra Elvira and 7 kilometers from Granada, where they remained throughout June 24, which was a Sunday. And the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI pointed out that the Infante Pedro wished to advance further and set up the Christian camp next to the gates of Granada, but the Infante Juan and most of those who were with them opposed it and did not consent to it, thereby provoking the anger of the Infante Pedro, who was obliged to conceal it in order "to have the hearts of the people for whenever he might need them". And on the following day, Monday, June 25, the Castilian troops began the retreat and prepared to return to Castile, with the Infante Pedro in the vanguard and the Infante Juan in the rearguard. And some Muslim chroniclers stated, although this is not recorded in the Christian chronicles, that on the eve of the disaster a Christian squadron attacked a Muslim village and that the Arab general Ozmín attacked them and forced them to flee toward their camp, this being the first triumph of the Muslims up to that point.

Giménez Soler stated that both the Muslim and the Christian chronicles agreed that the disaster took place on June 24, 1319, but the Crónica and the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI indicated that it took place on June 25, and on the basis of the latter most contemporary historians indicate that the battle took place on that day.

The Disaster (June 25, 1319)

View of Sierra Elvira.

On June 25 the Christian troops began their retreat toward their bases and their rearguard, under the command of the Infante Juan, was attacked at the Cerro de los Infantes by the cavalry of the Granadan sultan, under the command of the sheikh Utman b. Abi l-Ula, general of the defenders of the faith and known as Ozmín by the Castilians, who, upon learning of the infantes' retreat, had left the city of Granada by order of his king with some five thousand horsemen and several thousand infantry soldiers to face the nine thousand knights and the numerous infantry accompanying the infantes, as recorded in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI. And the historian María Teresa Ferrer pointed out in 1998, on the basis of the works of Giménez Soler and Jerónimo Zurita, that the Castilian troops were obliged that day to disperse to go in search of water, because of the intense thirst they suffered from being in the month of June and because it was a day of "most intense heat", so that when the Muslims attacked the rearguard it became even more disordered.

At first the attacks of the Muslims were limited to trying to provoke the enemy, by means of small skirmishes carried out against the rearguard of the Christian column, but shortly afterwards, and because of the heat, the Christian army began to appear disheartened, thirsty and exhausted, and the Granadans attacked hard on all flanks of the Christian rearguard, which thus found itself in great difficulties. And in view of the situation, the Infante Juan requested the help of his nephew Pedro, who was in command of the vanguard, and the latter came to his aid and tried to order his troops to attack their enemies, but he could not do so, since, as the Crónica de Alfonso XI pointed out, "and his men were so ill-commanded for him that day at that hour that he could never direct them against the Moors". And shortly afterwards the Infante Pedro ordered Juan Martínez Guerrero, who carried his banner, to advance to face the Muslims, and he ordered the same of the hijosdalgo accompanying him, although they "all fell silent and were looking on with evil eyes", but a Christian knight named Juan Ponce de Córdoba stepped out from the Christian ranks and said in a loud voice to his companions: "Hidalgos of Castile, who gnaw the bone and drag the iron, behold here the Moors, let us go strike them, for it is better to die for God an honorable death doing good than to live forever a dishonored life", in order to encourage them to fight, but shortly afterwards a Muslim knight came up to where the Infante Pedro was and, after insulting him, told him that "dead or captured he could not escape", and after challenging the Christians he returned to his ranks.

And the Infante Pedro, furious with his enemies, tried to hurl himself against them shouting "Santiago and Castile" to encourage his men, but the noblemen Juan Alfonso de Haro and Diego Gómez de Castañeda placed themselves in his path and told him that they would not allow him to launch himself into the attack, and that if necessary they would kill his horse. And the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI pointed out that when the infante heard this, he spurred his horse and they seized its reins, and he drew his sword to strike the one who was holding him back, but he cut one of the reins of his animal and it bolted, and as the infante tried to hold it, the sword fell from his hand and the animal reared, and the infante fell against "the rear saddlebow, so that the infante's head fell on the horse's haunches". And in that Crónica it was also recorded that the Infante Pedro was very badly injured by his fall, lost consciousness, to the point that he did not know "whether it was night or day", and began to bleed from his nose and mouth, so his companions removed his arms and covered him with a "cloak of vermilion scarlet", and he died shortly afterwards as a result of the blow he had received, although in the opinion of the medievalist María Teresa Ferrer other factors may have influenced his death, such as fatigue, distress, heat and thirst, which must have brought on a cerebral congestion or a heart attack.

View of the Genil River, where numerous Christian soldiers drowned during the disaster.

The troops of the Infante Pedro, terrified and laden with booty, took flight and tried to cross the Genil River, but the historian Antonio Ballesteros Beretta pointed out that many of the Christian soldiers drowned while trying to cross a canal fed by that river, and the death of the Infante Pedro was known only to a few knights who were with him, according to the Christian chronicles, although the historian José Sánchez-Arcilla Bernal pointed out that it was concealed at first so that panic would not spread among his men "at such a delicate moment". And when the Infante Juan was informed of his nephew's death he showed great sorrow, but tried to conceal it "as a leader and son of a king", and encouraged his troops by telling them not to fear anything, for with the help of God they could triumph without the help of the Infante Pedro, and he also reminded them that he was the "Infante Don Juan" and that they must not abandon him "in the power of the Moors", although when he saw his men so badly led and so "encumbered", the sorrow that took hold of him was so great that he suffered an apoplexy and lost his understanding and his speech, and remained thus from midday until the hour of vespers, "neither dying nor living", and he died at nightfall that same day.

Most modern historians agree that the death of the Infante Juan was due to an apoplexy, and that the Infantes Pedro and Juan died at the Cerro de los Infantes, which has been known by that name ever since. And Jerónimo Zurita maintained in the Anales de la Corona de Aragón that the death of both infantes was due to dehydration, caused among other factors by their supposedly having worn heavy armor on a very hot day.

And when the Muslims, who knew that the Infante Pedro had died and that the Infante Juan was in his death throes, saw all the Christians gathered together, standing still and ready to fight, they headed for the camp of the Christians and sacked it completely, killing or capturing at the same time all those they found there, and then they went back to Granada with their booty, which prevented the disaster from being even greater for the Castilians. And in the Crónica de Alfonso XI it is recorded that when the masters of the military orders, the Archbishop of Toledo and the men of the Council of Córdoba, who were in the vanguard half a league from the infantes, for whom they were waiting, learned that the Infante Pedro had died, they "were seized by such great dismay" that all of them took flight.

In the late afternoon, the Infante Juan, who had not yet died, was placed on a horse, and the corpse of the Infante Pedro laid across a mule, and those accompanying them abandoned the banners of the infantes and, without being pursued by their enemies, set out on the return to Castilian lands, although at nightfall the Infante Juan died and his corpse was lost in Granadan lands because of the darkness and the haste of the flight. And meanwhile, the Christian vanguard, which carried with it the corpse of the Infante Pedro, managed to reach Priego de Córdoba, from where his remains were taken to the Cordoban municipality of Baena, and later, passing through Arjona, to the city of Burgos, where he was buried in the monastery of Las Huelgas of Burgos, although beforehand the infante's vassals informed his wife, the Infanta María of Aragon, who had accompanied her husband to Andalusia and was in Córdoba about to give birth, of her husband's death; but so that her health would not be endangered on account of her condition, she did not accompany her husband's corpse to Burgos, and shortly afterwards, in August 1319, she gave birth in Alcocer to Blanca of Castile, the posthumous and only daughter of the Infante Pedro, who would become Abbess of the monastery in which her father was buried.

Most Muslim historians indicated that between 50,000 and 80,000 Christians died in the disaster, that more than 5,000 were captured, that the victors seized 43 quintals of gold and 140 of silver, and that the sale of the slaves lasted more than six months, but Giménez Soler demonstrated the falsehood and exaggeration of many of these assertions, although he did admit that the booty captured must have been considerable, and that this had a decisive influence on the Castilian defeat, since the Christians tried at all costs to keep the goods they had seized. Nevertheless, the Muslim historians attributed the victory to the impetuous attack of General Ozmín and his Zenetes, who surprised the Christians and made them flee, and all agree that the Christians did not defend themselves and thought only of fleeing and keeping their booty, and that the death of the Infantes Pedro and Juan caused panic to spread among their men. And the Portuguese noblemen Gutierre Díaz de Sandoval and Alfonso Martínez de Tejeira, the latter settled in Toledo, also died in the disaster.

And when Queen María de Molina, who was in Toro with her grandson Alfonso XI, was informed of the death of her son, the Infante Pedro, and of her brother-in-law, the Infante Juan, she showed "very great sorrow and very great grief at the death of her son" and great anxiety over the evils that would befall Castile because of the death of both, and she immediately informed the towns and cities of the kingdom of what had happened and reminded them that, according to what was established in the Concord of Palazuelos and in the Cortes of Burgos of 1315, the guardianship of King Alfonso XI belonged exclusively to her, and that once the Infantes Pedro and Juan had been buried she would summon the representatives of the kingdom to decide what was most suitable for it and for the King.

View of the Alhambra.

Furthermore, the death of the Infantes Pedro and Juan caused great consternation throughout the kingdom, and many interpreted it as a divine punishment for the sins and evil intentions of the infantes and for having devastated the Muslim lands, and in the Poema de Alfonso Onceno it was stated that "Defeated were the Christians, with all their might: God helped the pagans and showed them such favor", and in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI it was recorded that:

It is a lengthy account and I have no reason to tell it, except only that God had already given His sentence against the Christians, and the wheel of fortune had already turned in an evil way, such that without contest and without battle and without any wounds of Christians or of Moors – and whether it was by the will of God, or by the sins of the Christians, or by the evil intentions of the said infantes – both of these infantes were dead; and thus it is understood that it was a miracle and justice of God, for God, in whom all power is fully, was never pleased except with truth and never did justice without desert, and therefore He knew what He did and consented to.

Numerous Muslim chroniclers stated that the Granadans flayed the corpse of the Infante Pedro, stuffed the skin with cotton and hung it on the Gate of Granada, where it remained for several years, and that the wife or the children of the Infante Juan or Pedro, according to different versions, fell into the hands of the Muslims and that the Christians offered the strongholds of Tarifa, Gibraltar and 18 more fortresses in exchange for their release, without these being accepted, but Giménez Soler categorically demonstrated the falsehood of these assertions.

Tomb of the Infante Juan of Castile el de Tarifa. (Main Chapel of Burgos Cathedral).

It is also recorded in the Crónica and in the Gran Crónica de Alfonso XI that when the son of the Infante Juan, Juan el Tuerto, who was in Baena, that is, almost halfway between Córdoba and Granada, was informed that his father had died and that his corpse had been lost in enemy territory, he searched for it everywhere without finding it, and that he then asked the Granadan Monarch to order that it be searched for in his lands. And when the latter found it "without any wounds", he ordered that it be taken to Granada and placed in a coffin covered with "very noble cloths of gold", also placing "candles" around it and ordering the Christian captives to attend, and shortly afterwards he notified Juan el Tuerto that his father's corpse had been located and told him that his men could come to collect it and that he would gladly hand it over, since he had never received from him "annoyance or sorrow". And the men of Juan el Tuerto went to fetch the corpse, and it was escorted by numerous Muslim knights until it reached Castilian territory, and afterwards, passing through Córdoba and Toledo, it was taken by his son to Burgos, for his father had provided in his last will, which he executed on January 21, 1319, that his corpse should be buried in Burgos Cathedral, where his tomb is still preserved today.

And shortly before the Infante Juan was buried in the cathedral of Burgos, his widow María Díaz de Haro asked Queen María de Molina to confirm Juan el Tuerto in possession of all the lands that had belonged to his father, the Infante Juan, and to give him the office of adelantado mayor of the frontier, 500,000 maravedís of soldada and a key to the King's seal, and the Queen agreed to all the demands but refused to hand over the key to the royal seal until the representatives of the kingdom had met, since she wished to have support to confront Don Juan Manuel, who had already begun maneuvering to obtain the sole guardianship of the King, to which Juan el Tuerto also aspired.

Consequences

Tomb of Queen María de Molina. (Monastery of Las Huelgas Reales of Valladolid).

The Castilian defeat in this battle and the death of the Infantes Pedro and Juan altered the course of events in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and in the Kingdom of Castile for several years, until Alfonso XI came of age, which was confirmed at the Cortes of Valladolid of 1325. And various historians have pointed out that this monarch's interest in waging war against the Kingdom of Granada may have been motivated in part by the desire to avenge the deaths of his relatives, the Infantes Pedro and Juan.

The Andalusian lands were left defenseless after the disaster against the attacks of King Ismail I of Granada, whose victory in this battle, considered a great triumph for Islam, helped to raise his morale and that of the Granadans, who from then on could raid along the defenseless Castilian frontier. And all this also aroused misgivings abroad, for in a letter sent by Pope John XXII to the Master of the Order of Calatrava in August 1319, which alluded to the deaths of the Infantes Juan and Pedro, the pontiff exhorted the Calatravan knights and their master to continue firmly defending Christendom from the frontier with the Kingdom of Granada.

On August 26, 1319, two months after the Castilian disaster in the Vega de Granada, the representatives of the councils that made up the General Brotherhood of Andalusia met in Peñaflor and decided to take a series of preventive measures in view of the power vacuum and the conflicts that were approaching, and they agreed to admit into the Brotherhood the most prominent noblemen who had "interests on the frontier" with Granada, such as Pedro Ponce de León el Viejo and his Cordoban relative Juan Ponce de Cabrera. And at that meeting they also agreed to control the use that would be made of the revenues of the Crown, in order to guarantee the defense of the land and maritime frontiers, and that none of the councils of the Brotherhood would support any of those who aspired to exercise the guardianship of the King unless the rest of them did so, and a series of measures were also laid down concerning the Adelantado Mayor of the frontier of Andalusia, an office held at that time by Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba, who was to uphold and defend the ordinances of that Brotherhood.

Portrait believed to represent Don Juan Manuel, grandson of King Ferdinand III of Castile. (Murcia Cathedral).

The death of the Infantes Pedro and Juan brought about the rise to absolute power at the Castilian Court of the Infante Felipe of Castile, son of Queen María de Molina and supported by her, of Don Juan Manuel, grandson of Ferdinand III, and of Juan el Tuerto, son of the Infante Juan and grandson of Alfonso X, since each of them controlled a particular geographical area of Castile and they sought to achieve greater political prominence and to be appointed guardians of King Alfonso XI in place of the Infantes Pedro and Juan, despite the fact that in the Concord of Palazuelos and at the Cortes of Burgos of 1315 it had been established that, should any of the three guardians die, whoever remained alive would continue as guardian, which legally made Queen María de Molina the only legitimate guardian of her grandson. And because of all this a period of anarchy and genuine "civil war" began in Castile, as Manuel García Fernández stated, who also emphasized that Don Juan Manuel and Juan el Tuerto were supported by King James II of Aragon.

On April 23, 1320, the Adelantado Mayor of the frontier and the councils of Seville, Córdoba, Carmona, Écija and Niebla, together with some noblemen such as Pedro Ponce de León el Viejo and his grandmother, María Alfonso Coronel, agreed in Peñaflor on a series of measures concerning the defense of the frontier with Granada. And all of them authorized Pay Arias de Castro, alcalde mayor of Córdoba and alcaide of the alcázar of that city, to negotiate a peace agreement with the King of Granada, which all the councils of the general Andalusian Brotherhood undertook to respect and ratify, and they also agreed that once peace had been achieved they would ask the Pope to grant them a crusade bull and the tercias of the clergy to defend the frontier by sea and land and the fortresses previously conquered by the Infante Pedro.

And on June 18, 1320, almost a year after the disaster, the members of the General Brotherhood of Andalusia, represented by Pay Arias de Castro, agreed in Baena on an eight-year truce with King Ismail I of Granada, to which the Infante Felipe later also adhered, as did the Kingdom of Murcia and its adelantado mayor, Don Juan Manuel, and King James II of Aragon, who limited himself to renewing the truce he had previously agreed with the Granadans. But at the proposal of the latter, Córdoba and its territory were excluded from the truce for having recognized Don Juan Manuel as guardian of the King, contrary to what had previously been agreed by the councils of the general Andalusian Brotherhood, since all of them had undertaken not to recognize anyone who had not been designated by all of them by common accord, which led shortly afterwards to the Infante Felipe being recognized as guardian of the King in the kingdoms of Seville and Jaén as revenge against the Cordobans.

And in 1324, taking advantage of the anarchy existing in Castile and in a rapidly conducted campaign, Ismail I of Granada recovered the localities of Huéscar, Orce, Galera and Baza, the latter located near Guadix, and in 1325, a year later, he conquered and sacked the town of Martos using cannons.

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External links

• El enterramiento del infante don Juan "el de Tarifa". Aljaranda: revista de estudios tarifeños. (in Spanish)
• History of the Municipality of Pinos Puente, on the website of its Town Council. (in Spanish)