Siege of Lleida (1149)
| Siege of Lleida (1149) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Reconquista | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
County of Barcelona County of Urgell | Almoravid Emirate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Ramon Berenguer IV Ermengol VI of Urgell | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Lleida by a Catalan army lasted from the spring of 1149 until 24 October, when the Almoravid garrison surrendered on terms, which also included the surrender of the nearby towns of Fraga and Mequinenza.
Siege
[edit]By June 1149, Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona had laid siege to the Almoravid city of Lleida.[1] His army consisted of knights drawn from both Catalonia and Aragon and he received assistance from the Templars of Monzón.[2] By September, he had secured nearby Corbins and granted it to the Templars.[1] Lleida was captured on 24 October 1149.[3] In accordance with an agreement reached in 1148, Count Ermengol VI of Urgell also took part in the campaign.[4][5] Nicholas Breakspear, abbot of Saint-Ruf and the future Pope Adrian IV, was present at the siege.[6][7] On the same day as Lleida surrendered, the towns of Fraga and Mequinenza capitulated on the same terms.[1][8][9]
Primary sources
[edit]Although strategically significant, the capture of Lleida drew less attention than the siege of Tortosa the previous year, which involved international contingents as part of the Second Crusade.[10] At least one later source does, however, treat the 1149 siege as a crusade, attributing the victory "to the faith and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ".[11] In fact, the campaign of 1149 was "part of the continuum of armed conflict with Muslims" along the frontier and thus a matter of primarily local interest, although papal policy clearly admitted of spiritual benefits to participants.[2]
No detailed contemporary account of the siege survives.[12][2] They are mentioned in several chronicles. The Annales Dertusenses anni 1210 date the fall of Lleida and Fraga to the ninth kalends of November (i.e., 24 October) of the Era 1187, AD 1149.[9] The Cronicón Barcinonense segundo agrees, but the Chronicon alterum Riuipullense misdates the event to the ninth kalends of October, which is 23 September.[9] The fall of Mequinenza is mentioned in the Anales Toledanos primeros.[1] In addition to the chronicles, several surviving documents are dated by the siege, showing that the count of Barcelona was present throughout.[13]
Result
[edit]The Muslim inhabitants of Lleida were granted the same terms as those of Tortosa the previous year and those of Zaragoza in 1118. This was a contract that stipulated that the Muslims would hand over the mosque and move outside the town walls but otherwise retain their rights and communal autonomy.[14] In January 1150, Ramon Berenguer IV and Ermengol granted fueros to Lleida.[15][16] Ramon Berenguer took the title marquis of Lleida and, acting as sovereign, granted the city to Ermengol in fief.[17] Other castles in the conquered territory included Alguaire, Albesa, Almenar, Algerri and Alfarràs.[18] The enfeoffment of Ermengol fulfilled the agreement reached in 1148.[4]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d Ubieto Arteta 1981, p. 231.
- ^ a b c Barton 2019, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Jaspert 2001, p. 95.
- ^ a b Ubieto Arteta 1981, p. 229.
- ^ Pascual Ramos 2000, p. 312.
- ^ Smith 2003, p. 36.
- ^ Constable 1953, p. 262.
- ^ Barton 2019, pp. 87–88.
- ^ a b c Iranzo Abellán & Martín-Iglesias 2015, p. 284 and note.
- ^ Jaspert 2001, p. 96.
- ^ Jaspert 2001, p. 96 and n. 53, quoting Vones-Liebenstein 1996, p. 359: ad fidem et cultum Domini nostri Iesu Christi.
- ^ Constable 1953, p. 231.
- ^ Ubieto Arteta 1981, pp. 229, 231.
- ^ Catlos 2014, p. 37.
- ^ Pascual Ramos 2000, p. 307.
- ^ Ubieto Arteta 1981, p. 232.
- ^ Pascual Ramos 2000, p. 313.
- ^ Ubieto Arteta 1981, p. 231. A map of the "marquisate" of Lleida can be found on p. 230.
Works cited
[edit]- Barton, Thomas W. (2019). Victory's Shadow: Conquest and Governance in Medieval Catalonia. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501736162.
- Catlos, Brian A. (2014). Muslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c.1050–1614. Cambridge University Press.
- Constable, Giles (1953). "The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries" (PDF). Traditio. 9: 213–279. JSTOR 27830277.
- Iranzo Abellán, Salvador; Martín-Iglesias, José Carlos (2015). "Los Annales Dertusenses anni 1210 (olim Chronicon Dertusense II) Díaz 1188): edición, traducción, análisis lingüístico y estudio histórico". Euphrosyne. 43: 265–293.
- Jaspert, Nikolas (2001). "Capta est Dertosa clavis Christianorum: Tortosa and the Crusades" (PDF). In Jonathan Phillips; Martin Hoch (eds.). The Second Crusade: Scope and Consequences. Manchester University Press. pp. 90–100.
- Pascual Ramos, Eduardo (2000). "Estudio comparativo de la carta de población de Tortosa (1149), carta de población de Lleida (1150) y la carta de franquicia de Mallorca (1230)". Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. 13: 305–323.
- Smith, D. J. (2003). "The Abbot-Crusader: Nicholas Breakspear in Catalonia". In Bolton, B.; Duggan, A. (eds.). Adrian IV, the English Pope, 1154–1159: Studies and Texts. Aldershot: Ashgate. pp. 29–39. ISBN 978-0-75460-708-3.
- Vones-Liebenstein, Ursula (1996). Saint Ruf und Spanien: Studien zur Verbreitung und zum Wirken der Regularkanoniker von Saint Ruf in Avignon auf der Iberischen Halbinsel (11. und 12. Jabrbundert). Brepols.
- Ubieto Arteta, Antonio (1981). Historia de Aragón, I: La formación territorial. Anubar.
Further reading
[edit]- Font i Rius, José María (1949). La reconquista de Lérida y su proyección en el orden jurídico. Lleida.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Lladonosa i Pujol, Josep (1961). La conquesta de Lleida. Barcelona.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Tortosa Duráan, J. (1953). "La conquista de la ciudad de Lérida por Ramon Berenguer IV, conde de Barcelona". Ilerda. 17: 27–46.