Explanation

The Battle of Sagrajas , also called Zalaca or Zallaqa , was a battle between the Almoravid army led by the Almoravid king Yusuf ibn Tashfin and an army led by the Castilian King Alfonso VI. The battleground was later called az-Zallaqah because the warriors were slipping all over the ground due to the tremendous amount of blood shed that day, which gave rise to its name in Arabic. After Alfonso VI, King of León and Castile captured Toledo in 1085 and invaded the taifa of Zaragoza, the emirs of the smaller taifa kingdoms of Islamic Iberia found that they could not resist him without external assistance. In 1086 Yusuf ibn Tashfin was invited by them to fight against Alfonso VI. In that year, he replied to the call of three Andalusian leaders and crossed the straits to Algeciras and moved to Seville. From there, accompanied by the emirs of Seville, Granada and Taifa of Málaga marched to Badajoz.