The warlike events that broke out in the vicinity of the Guadalete river –some Arab sources place the confrontation near Barbate, Medina Sidonia or Jerez de la Frontera–, between July 19 and 26, 711, marked the future of Hispania and of the towns that inhabited it: Visigoths and Hispano-Romans.
Background
The Visigoths were originally a nomadic Germanic people., whose main activity was grazing. With the arrival of the third century, it began its expansion towards the south of Europe, carrying out as a consequence a wave of incursions into the territories of the Roman Empire, who tried to contain them by signing agreements with them and giving them territories. However, hostilities soon broke out between the two (battle of Adrianople, year 378).
From its origins, the Visigoths developed a tribal organization through clans and tribes, choosing a commander to go to war. On the other hand, they always stood out for being a superstitious people, since they believed that the elected leader should bring them victory. However, if this did not occur, the leader could be eliminated, after which a new one was appointed. Under these premises, it is not surprising the multitude of Gothic kings that followed one another, many of them being eliminated through conspiracies or by groups of power.
Between the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th century, we find the beginning of the Visigothic domination of the Peninsula. Action that initially fell into the hands of Leovigildo, who permanently moved to the Peninsula to effectively exercise his power. Having to face numerous times the Swabians and power groups contrary to his authority, since he was not elected king but appointed by his brother, Liuva I, who lived in Narbonense Gaul and whose children were small to rule
After years of conspiracies, successions, deaths and assassinations of kings, don Rodrigo came to the peninsular throne in the year 710. The new monarch had been legally elected through traditional Visigothic methods. However, he soon had to deal with opposition and plots orchestrated by the sons of the previous monarch, Witiza.
The members of the Witiza faction, despite their opposition to the appointment of don Rodrigo, dared to swear allegiance to the new monarch while behind his back they conspired to eliminate him, something that would free their path to the throne.
This being the case, the main step that decide giving the children of Witiza to end the reign of don Rodrigo is meet muslims that were in full expansion, and to whom the witizanos offered the opening of the doors of the Peninsula in exchange for their help.
At the time of the interview with the Witizanos, the Muslims were settled in the vicinity of Ceuta. Visigothic city, whose property opened the door to the possession of the Strait of Gibraltar, and greatly approached the possibilities to launch expeditions on the Iberian Peninsula, western key to Christian Europe.
“It is proven, by Arab and Christian chronicles, that the Witizans crossed the strait to make a deal with the Muslims: facilitate their invasion and grant them loot in exchange for recovering the throne” (Primo Jurado 2016, 52).
In this historical moment, the city of Ceuta was in the hands of a Visigoth governor known by the name of don Julián, great ally of the old king Witiza. Don Julián had always been characterized by fiercely defending the city from possible foreign invasions. However, the death of Witiza and the arrival on the throne of Don Rodrigo made him rethink his loyalties, turning to betray his new king. Nevertheless, legends arose over the years, such as that of La Cava, which explained how the origin of Don Julián’s betrayal was not only marked by what was narrated above, but the main trigger was the injury suffered by his daughter Florinda at the hands of Don Rodrigo, who possessed her without Your consent. In short, either for one reason or another, the governor of Ceuta became part of the plot orchestrated by the Witiza side, something that was decisive due to the strategic position of the city of Ceuta.
“Thus, Don Julián swore allegiance to Muza ibn Nusair, governor or valí of Muslim Africa, and converted to Islam” (Primo Jurado 2016, 53).
Guadalete: the battle
Muza ibn Nusair, once he obtained the approval of the Umayyad Caliph of Damascus, ordered the leader, Tariq ibn Ziyad, to launch an expeditionary operation on the Iberian Peninsula, for which he had the support and support of Don Julián, who cleared the way for them through Ceuta. The Tariq forces, in this first trial expedition, were surprised to land in the current region of Tarifa, since they did not find any opposition to their actions. So the Muslims quickly launched a second expedition, but this time with a larger number of forces, forgetting the trial and exploration to make way for the invasion and the armed force.
In this way, in said second trip, Tariq landed in the current region of Algeciras at the command of some 17,000 Berber infantrymen –7,000 men according to other sources, from which it can be deduced that we are dealing with a symbolic number–, during the month of April of the year 711, with whom he carried out numerous lootings throughout the region, hoping that the Visigothic forces would demonstrate and they will stand up to him.
With the arrival of the Muslims in the Peninsula, the plan of the Witizans began to take shape. The conspirators thought to use the Muslims to do the bloody work for them: Eliminate Don Rodrigo and his followers on the battlefield, which once achieved they could take advantage of to reach the throne. However, they did not count on the Muslims having their own intentions and they did not realize that instead of being the ones using the Muslims to achieve their goals, they were the ones being used by the Umayyads to further their expansion.
However, in a few days don Rodrigo was informed of the new Muslim settlement in the south of the peninsula and the raids that were being carried out in the region while waiting for his military response.
“In the first days of the month of June of this year 711, the bulk of the Umayyad troops were already in Hispania, establishing themselves, in the domain of Algeciras, a bridgehead that would allow control of communication between the two shores of the Strait” (Abellán Pérez 2014, 62).
The response to the invasion could not be immediate, since the king was in the northern regions of present-day Navarre fighting the Basques, who had taken up arms against his authority. Because of this, Don Rodrigo decided to send a contingent of cavalry, commanded by his nephew Sancho, to observe the new invaders and gather information about his activities and positions.
Despite Sancho’s conservative strategy, he was captured and his cavalry quickly eliminated by Tariq’s men. This disastrous news reached don Rodrigo, who decided not to wait any longer, moving quickly to meet his adversary. However, this rapid advance played against the Visigothic monarch, since he did not spend time setting up levies in the different villages he passed through, nor did he leave enough men to garrison the cities closest to the conflict.
The main objective of don Rodrigo was to seek direct confrontation with Tariq through a decisive battle that drove him back to the African continent. Battle in which all the flower of the Visigothic nobility appeared, among which were the Witizanos.
“The most rigorous studies speak of an important difference between the two forces, while Tariq had 17,000 soldiers (16,700 infantry and 300 cavalry), the Visigoth army had 40,000 troops –30,000 according to other sources– (35,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry) ” (First Sworn 2016, 54).
Don Rodrigo and his troops sighted the Muslim camp on July 19, 711located on a hill next to the Guadalete river and fortified by a palisade.
As we have been able to observe through the numbers provided, the Christian superiority was overwhelming. In addition, they had the advantage of being on familiar ground. However, the poor combat strategy developed by don Rodrigo and the betrayal of the witizanos to their king, played in favor of the invading contingent.
The same day of the sighting of the camp, that July 19, Don Rodrigo decided to launch his attack. This consisted of an uphill cavalry charge directed at the enemy camp, but disrupted by the narrowing of the hill. Being the waves of Muslim arrows the ones in charge of massacring the Visigoths in this first attempt. None of the three cavalry charges they managed to make before the touch of retreat managed to penetrate Tariq’s camp.
The next day the fighting continued after a long defeatist night in the Visigoth camp. Where the witizanos dedicated themselves to demoralizing the troops, arguing that the invaders were only looking for loot and that once they filled their pockets they would return to their lands, with which they proposed to their followers to abandon don Rodrigo in the middle of the fight so that the Muslims would finish off him and his men.
“The Witizanos were at the head of the wings of the army, by decision of Don Rodrigo himself, who would seek reconciliation with it” (Abellán Pérez 2014, 62).
On the second day of fighting it was the turn of the Visigoth infantry, also massacred by enemy arrows on the same hill as the day before. This time in greater numbers, since the movements of the infantrymen were slower. To all these misfortunes was added the agreed desertion of the Witizans and their troops at the crucial moment of the fray –His followers accounted for 20% of the total army–, leaving Don Rodrigo alone before Tariq’s offensive, which arrived on July 26 after several days of Visigothic initiative. This offensive was the final blow and marked the decisive moment of the combat.
“Don Rodrigo, whose only virtue was bravery, dies with a sword in his hand and with his horse Orelia stabbed. His corpse is lost” (Primo Jurado 2016, 55).
Tariq’s attack was devastating, as he almost completely destroyed the Visigoth hosts, seizing victory and plunging the Visigothic world into disaster.
Impact
After the defeat, the remains of the headless Visigothic army were reorganized, facing Tariq’s troops in a new pitched battle near Écija, the former being defeated again and annihilated.
The news of Tariq’s victory quickly reached Muza, who moved to the Peninsula with 18,000 men., launching a new active line of invasion, now that the only opposition was in the big cities such as: Córdoba, Seville, Toledo, Mérida, etc. Cities that…