Siege of Coria (1138)

Siege of Coria
	Part of the Reconquista
	; The wall of Coria as it was when it kept out Alfonso in 1138
Date	July 1138
Location	Coria, Cáceres
Result	Almoravid victory, siege lifted.
Belligerents
Kingdom of León–Castile	Almoravid Empire
Commanders and leaders
Alfonso VII of León and Castile; Rodrigo Martínez †	unknown

The siege of Coria in July 1138 was the first and shorter of two attempts by Alfonso VII of León to take the city of Coria in Muslim Spain. Coria had previously been reconquered in 1079 by Alfonso VI,^[1] but was lost to the Almoravids not long after Alfonso's death in 1109.^[2] On the heels of a successful razzia (raid) deep into Islamic al-Andalus, Alfonso VII briefly invested the city before retiring. A second siege in 1142 was successful.

The main source for the siege is the second book of the contemporary Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris.^[3]

^ Glick, Thomas F. (2005). Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages. BRILL. p. 38. ISBN 9004147713.
^ Simon Barton, "Two Catalan Magnates in the Courts of the Kings of León–Castile: The Careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva Re-examined", Journal of Medieval History 18:3 (1992) 241; Chronica, II, §13.
^ Written in medieval Latin, probably by Bishop Arnold of Astorga, the Chronica is an account of the reign of Alfonso VII. The second book details several of the major campaigns of the Reconquista from this time. The siege of Coria is the subject of §§39–43 (the sections are numbered from one [1] for each book). The edition of the Chronica used throughout is G. E. Lipskey, The Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor, PhD thesis (Northwestern University, 1972), who numbers all the sections of both books consecutively (book II beginning with §96).

[1] Glick, Thomas F. (2005). Islamic And Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages. BRILL. p. 38. ISBN 9004147713.

[2] Simon Barton, "Two Catalan Magnates in the Courts of the Kings of León–Castile: The Careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva Re-examined", Journal of Medieval History 18:3 (1992) 241; Chronica, II, §13.

[3] Written in medieval Latin, probably by Bishop Arnold of Astorga, the Chronica is an account of the reign of Alfonso VII. The second book details several of the major campaigns of the Reconquista from this time. The siege of Coria is the subject of §§39–43 (the sections are numbered from one [1] for each book). The edition of the Chronica used throughout is G. E. Lipskey, The Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor, PhD thesis (Northwestern University, 1972), who numbers all the sections of both books consecutively (book II beginning with §96).

[1]

[2]

[3]