Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur
3rd Almohad Caliph
1160 CE to 1199 CE
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur (c. 1160 Morocco – January 23, 1199 Marrakech, Morocco), also known as Moulay Yacoub, is the third Almohad Caliph.
Succeeding his father, al-Mansur reigns from 1184 to 1199.
His reign is distinguished by the flourishing of trade, architecture, philosophy and the sciences, as well as by victorious military campaigns in which he is able to temporarily stem the tide of Christian Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula.
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The Maghreb is united under a local regime for the first time, and although the empire is troubled by conflict on its fringes, handcrafts and agriculture flourish at its center and an efficient bureaucracy fills the tax coffers.
In 1229, the Almohad court renounces the teachings of Ibn Tumart, opting instead for greater tolerance of opposing views.
As evidence of this change, the Almohads host two of the greatest thinkers of Andalus: Abu Bakr ibn Tufail and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).
The Portuguese freebooter Gerald the Fearless has by 1168 been so successful that his eastward expansion threatens the southward expansion of the Kingdom of León.
These actions are in violation of the succession arrangements laid down by Alfonso VII at Sahagún, since they comprise lands whose conquest had been assigned to León.
A few of Gerald's conquests in the far east had even been assigned to Castile.
The Leonese king, Ferdinand II, son of Alfonso VII, had taken action immediately after the taking of Cáceres, probably early in the spring of 1166, capturing Alcántara later that year and thus securing a crossing over the Tagus.
Subsequently, he has allied with the Almohad caliph Yusuf I, who has warned him of Gerald and the Portuguese's encroachments on his interests.
Gerald takes the taifa and city of Badajoz in the early summer of 1169 after a long siege, but the garrison takes refuge in the citadel, the alcazaba, the siege of which continues.
Seeing an opportunity to add to his domains the chief city of the region at the expense of both his Muslim and Christian enemies, Afonso I of Portugal arrives with an army to Badajoz to relieve his nominal vassal.
This provokes the opposition of Ferdinand of León, who claims Badajoz as his own and comes south with an army at the request of Yusuf, who has already sent a contingent of five hundred cavalry to assist the garrison.
The besieging Portuguese are themselves besieged by the Leonese and fighting break out in the streets.
While trying to flee, Afonso is caught on the hinge of a gate and flung from his horse, breaking his leg.
He is captured by Ferdinand's men, while Gerald is captured by the Leonese majordomo, Fernán Ruiz de Castro, called el Castellano ("the Castilian").
He is an important person at court, who for a while holds the highest military post in the capital (tenente turris Legionis, "possessing the tower of León").
He is the king's brother-in-law, being married to Stephanie the Unfortunate, an illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII by his second mistress, Urraca Fernández, and thus a half-sister of Ferdinand II.
After the mêlée, the Leonese have control of the town and the alcazaba, which they soon relinquish to their Muslim allies.
Ferdinand succeeds in gaining the valley of the upper Limia and the regions of Toroño (around Tuy), Capraria (around Verín), and Lobarzana (around Chaves) from Afonso in exchange for his release.
Several of Gerald's conquests are ceded to purchase his freedom.
Ferdinand retains Cáceres, but …
…gives to Fernán Ruiz Trujillo, Montánchez, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Monfragüe.
Fernando thus establishes a semi-independent lordship between the Tagus and Guadiana rivers, with his seat at Trujillo.
After Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, upon reaching Seville on August 10 with the body of his father, killed in Portugal on July 29, 1184, had immediately been proclaimed the new caliph.
Al-Mansur had vowed revenge for his father's death, but fighting with the Almoravids, who had been ousted from the throne, had delayed him in Africa.
After inflicting a new defeat on the Almoravids, he had set off for the Iberian Peninsula to avenge his father's death.
His siege of Tomar, center of the Portuguese Templars, on July 13, 1190, had failed to capture the fortress.
However, further south he in 1191 recaptures a major fortress, Paderne Castle and the surrounding territory near Albufeira, in the Algarve—which has been controlled by the Portuguese army of King Sancho I since 1182.
Having inflicted other defeats on the Christians and captured major cities, he returns to Morocco with three thousand Christian captives.
King Alfonso VIII of Castile has from 1172 engaged in resistance to the Almohads.
The Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Ya'qub had in 1190 forced an armistice on the Christian kings of Castile and Leon, after repulsing their attacks on Muslim possessions in Spain.
At the expiration of the truce in 1194, Alfonso invades the province of Sevilla (Seville) with the largest army of this age, over three hundred thousand men, to defeat Abu Yusuf, prompting him to leave his North African capital, Marrakech, with an expedition against the Christians.
The Castilians manage to surprise the Muslim advance guard; but, having underestimated the strength of the Almohad army, they are severely beaten by Ya'qub, who is joined by the cavalry of the Castilian Pedro Fernández de Castro, a personal enemy of Alfonso.
The decisive defeat occurs in a battle fought on July 18, 1195, near the fortress of Alarcos (Al-Arak in Arabic), close to Ciudad Real.
Alfonso and his army flee to Alarcos and Toledo, while …
…Ya'qub returns to Sevilla, where he assumes the title al-Mansur Billah (’Victorious by God’), and replenishes his own considerable troop losses.
Fernández de Castro, following the Battle of Alarcos, mediates negotiations between King Alfonso VIII of Castile and King Alfonso IX of León, in the city of Toledo.
After the failed meeting between the two sovereigns, Pedro Fernandez de Castro stays in León fighting against the kingdom of Castile.
Troops from León and Navarre, as well as Moorish forces, invade Castile, but the Castilians manage to repel the attackers.
Alfonso, assisted by Pope Innocent III and Spanish clergy, now prepares for a coordinated assault on the Almohads and other Muslim powers in southern Spain.
The outcome of the Battle of Alarcos had shaken the stability of the Kingdom of Castile; this situation will continue for several years.
All nearby castles had surrendered or been abandoned: Malagón, Benavente, Calatrava, Caracuel and Torre de Guadalferza, and the way to Toledo was wide open.
For the past two years, al-Mansur's forces have devastated Extremadura, the Tagus valley, La Mancha and even the area around Toledo; they have moved in turn against Montánchez, Trujillo, Plasencia, Talavera, Escalona and Maqueda.
Some of these expeditions had been led by the renegade Pedro Fernández de Castro.
Most significantly, however, these raids have not led to any territorial gains for the caliph, although Almohad diplomacy does obtain an alliance with King Alfonso IX of León (who had been enraged when the Castilian king had not waited for him before the battle of Alarcos) and the neutrality of Navarre.
These alliances prove to be temporary only.
The Excommunication of Alfonso IX and the End of the War Between Castile and León (1196–1197)
In 1196, as hostilities between Castile and León intensified, Pope Celestine III intervened in support of Castile, issuing a papal excommunication against King Alfonso IX of León. This act sought to pressure the Leonese monarch into ceasing his military campaigns against his cousin, Alfonso VIII of Castile.
Despite papal condemnation, Alfonso IX found allies among his nobility, including Pedro Fernández de Castro, a powerful noble who, along with other Leonese lords, had previously aided the Saracens against Castile. These nobles swore renewed oaths of loyalty to Alfonso IX, strengthening his position even as he faced ecclesiastical censure.
The Marriage of Alfonso IX and Berengaria of Castile (1197): A Diplomatic Resolution
The conflict between León and Castile came to an unexpected resolution in 1197, when Alfonso IX married Berengaria of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile. This strategic union brought peace between the rival kingdoms, as Berengaria’s dowry provided her husband with a legitimate claim to Castilian territory, effectively aligning their dynastic interests.
Although the marriage ended immediate hostilities, it soon faced papal opposition on the grounds of consanguinity, leading to further political and religious complications in the years to come.