Navas+de+Tolosa

**Map of Navas de Tolosa**


 * Distance:** 156.7 Km
 * Altitude:** 997 metros
 * Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Las_Navas_de_Tolosa**

From the muslim times there is still a Los Collados castle. Only the hexagonal tower remains, the other parts of it have since been destroyed. Navas de Tolosa is the site of a famous battle. The battle was fought only 9 km from the village. After the battle, Christians were step ahead of the Muslims. Christian forces outnumbered the Muslims; this is the beginning of Christian victories.

Alfonso VIII was only living to get revenge and take over Navas de Tolosa from the Muslims. He wanted to give the Muslims a blow of such importance that they could not raise again. To do this he would need a strong army, and he did not have one. He would have to rely on neighboring communities for help.The Pope proclaimed a crusade against the Muslims, and promised to grant plenary indulgence to those who were coming to the Peninsula to fight along with the Christians of the area. It requested the kings of Navarra and of León that they were postponing for another moment his personal disputes with Alfonso VIII and were joining the Castilians in favor of the common cause. On July 13, 1212, the Christian army was very close to where the final battle would be carried out, and separated from the army rival for the ravine or step of the Flagstone (Sierra Morena), strongly guarded and studied by the almohades. The ravine was a place so narrow that a regiment of effective few ones with full knowledge of the area might defeat any army of the epoch who was daring to cross it. The Christian armies were exhaused by the battle, but they gave the Muslims a hit they would never recover from. This battle is the turning point in Muslim-Christian Spain.