High Middle Ages · Africa · War

1086

Almoravids Cross the Strait and Enter al-Andalus

1086

Following their victory at Sagrajas, Yusuf ibn Tashfin's Almoravid forces remained in Iberia, gradually absorbing the squabbling taifa kingdoms that had invited them as saviors. One by one, the petty Muslim courts of Seville, Granada, and Badajoz discovered that their Saharan allies had no intention of going home. The Almoravids were not rescuers - they were conquerors with better theology and longer memories than the taifa kings they replaced.