Military Organisation in the Reconquista

Armies of Al-Andalus and Orders of Battle for the better known battles, .
Armies of Al-Andalus
Andalusian

Andalusian armies were composed of a number of elements. The proportion of these elements
changed depending on the political situation, and particular armies would concentrate on some
and not others.

Organisationally the army was composed of 5 groups (Heath, 1980):

Jund, hereditary regulars,

Hashid ("recruits"), volunteers recruited for a single expedition,

Mujahids or al-Murabitun, unpaid religious volunteers,

Murtaziqa, regular foreign mercenaries

Muttawia, unpaid foreign irregulars

Ethnically the army was also compose of 5 groups:

Arabs. Arab immigrants provided the basis of some early armies; the significant influxes were
in 711, 712, and 741 (Heath, 1980).

Slavs (Saqlabi). European Slave troops were employed from the reign of al-Hakam I (796-822)
although only became a large professional military force in the 10th century (Kennedy, 1996).
Despite being called Slavs, most were recruited from Kingdom of Leon.

Berbers. Berbers mercenary/immigrants were being employed throughout the history of Al-
Andalus, however, there were particular bursts of recruitment: under Abd al-Rahman II (822-852),
Al-Hakam II (961-976), and the vizier Al-Mansur (976-1002) (Kennedy, 1996).

Negroes. Negro slaves and mercenaries were employed periodically - particularly as a counter-
balance to either the Slavs or Berbers (Kennedy, 1996).

Andalusians. Muslims born in Al-Andalus of any extraction (native, Arab, Berber).

Abd al-Rahman I (756-788) imported 40,000 Berber mercenaries from North Africa as a
counter-foil to the Arab Jund already settled in Al-Andalus. He also recruited a Black Guard of
2,000 men.

Al-Hakam I (796-822) had an army of 50,000 (Heath, 1980). it consisted mainly of Berbers and
Negroes, but also included a Christrian Guard known as al-Khurs ("The Mutes") of 2,000 infantry
and 3,000 cavalry.

The vizier Al-Mansur (976-1002) had a fully professional army of 60,000 (Kennedy, 1996;
Heath, 1980). He particularly favored Berbers, bringing many over from North Africa. This
emphasis meant the army was predominately cavalry. In c. 978 Al-Mansur disbanded the existing
Caliph's Slav bodyguard of 3,750 men, but Slavs continued to form a significant proportion of the
army. A small Andalusian element remained although the Andalusian elite was largely
demilitarised by this time (Nicolle, 1988) .
 The Caliph Muhammad II (1008-1010) was opposed by the Berber generals, and most, but not
all, of the Slavs abandoned him to pursue their own political aims (Kennedy, 1996). As a result he
attempted to recruit a militia from the native Cordobans which faired badly against the Berbers.

The Caliph Al-Qasim ibn Hammud (1018-1021, 1023) attempted to counterbalance the Berbers
by recruiting a Negro bodyguard (Kennedy, 1996).

Taifa armies were small (Kennedy, 1996). In 1055 Seville took Algerciras with only 200 horse,
and in 1069 when they took Cordoba they had an advance guard of 200 horse and a main body
of 1,000. However, having called for volunteers to retake Barbastro, Al-Muqtadir of Zaragoza
managed to raise an army which included 6,000 archers and 50 horsemen from Seville.
Granadine garrisons may have been as low as 100 Zanata in Granada itself and 300 at Malaga.
Al-Murabitun

The Al-Murabit leaders were all from the Banu Turgut of the Lamtuna tribe of the Sanhaja
Berbers (Kennedy, 1996). Originally the men were from the Lamtuna tribe, these and the Guddala
and Massufa (also Sanhaja) remained the mainstay of the armies throughout the period. Other
groups were assimilated including the other Sanhaja tribes (Gazzula, Lamta, Banu Warith),
Masmuda tribesmen of the Atlas and Zanata of northern Morocco.

The armies appear to be comprised of various groups (Kennedy, 1996): Al-Murabitun,

Mercenaries, Slave soldiers, Andalusian Volunteers, Guards.

Al-Murabitun. Probabaly Berbers of the Lamtuna, Guddala and Massufa, but possibly any
Sanhaja.

Mercenaries (Hashm). I suspect these are non-Al-Murabitun Berbers.

Black slave soldiers (Abid). Nicolle (1988) mentions larges numbers of black Africans and I
presume these are the Abid mentioned by Kennedy (1996). Most were recruited form Senegal,
and they used bamboo spears, long leather shields, bows, and massed drums. A slave soldier
sparked the Cordoban rebellion in 1121, and many black slaves were in the army the Aragonese
defeated in 1129.

Andalusian Volunteers (Muttawia).

Christian. The Murabitun employed Christian mercenaries and converted prisoners (Nicolle,
1988).

Guards. Ibn Tashfin formed a guard of slave soldiers - 2,000 blacks, 500 uluj, and Andalusian
horsemen (Kennedy, 1996; Nicolle, 1988). Nicolle says the blacks were horsemen, but Kennedy
only says the Uluj were. Nicolle also says the uluj were non-Berber including Arabs, Turks and
Europeans, but Kennedy suggest they were probably of Frankish origin. .

The Murabitun used camels - later armies had 30,000 available - although as time when on
they relied more on cavalry (Nicolle, 1988).

The mercenaries and slave soldiers adopted the veil in imitation of the Al-Murabitun (Kennedy,
1996).

Most Al-Murabitun fought on foot with a front rank of long spears and javelinmen behind
(Kennedy, 1996; Nicolle, 1988). The commander of each unit carried a flag that was used to
direct his men: stand when the banner is up and kneel when the banner is lowered. Under Ibn
Tashfin and subsequently Murabitun made use of war drums (Nicolle, 1988).

From 1132 to 1144 a Catalan renegade called Reverter - the one time viscount of Barcelona -
lead the elite corps of the Al-Murabitun army (Kennedy, 1996). This may have been the Uluj
mentioned as part of the guards ??.

The Al-Murabitun armies could reach 20-30,000, but were usually smaller, for example, in 1058
Abu Bakr led a force of 400 horsemen, 800 camel men and 2,000 foot (Kennedy, 1996). The
invasion force of 1086 had 12-20,000 men. 4,000 men were sent to the siege of Aledo. Even
provincial forces were up to 5,000. In 1102 the Al-Murabitun had 17,000 horsemen in Al-Andalus:
4,000 in Seville, 1,000 in Cordoba, 1,000 in Granada, 4,000 in the Levante, and the remaining
7,000 distributed along the frontier. These figures are for horse only and it is unclear how many
foot were maintained although it is worth remembering that foot considerably outnumbered horse
in Al-Murabitun armies.

Although powerful in the field, the Al-Murabitun were reliant on their Andalusian allies for
expertise in siege work (Kennedy, 1996).
Almohads
Included black slaves, Murabitun deserters, and elite Ghuzz Turkish archers (Nicolle, 1988).
Almohads made even more use of war drums than the Murabitun. Almohad infantry formed
similarly to the Murabitun: a front rank with long spears, a second with javelins and spears and a
third of slingers.

From: http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/iberia/0711/org.htm