Legend has it that in 1003 a Christian host of 500 knights led by four Catalan counts faced and defeated a caliphal army of 20,000 men, in Torà, near Lleida. According to a new study, the legend tells of a battle that actually took place.
A new one, recently published in the magazine Archeology worksrevisits one of the least known military episodes of the border between Al-Andalus and the Catalan counties of the 11th century: the Battle of Toràpresumably fought in the year 1003.
The study author, Josep SuñeCSIC researcher, critically analyzes historical sources to separate the historical fact from the religious legend that surrounds it, and proposes a possible connection with another confrontation from the same period: the Battle of Albesa.
All information about this battle comes from a hagiographic text, the The miracles of Saint Benedict (The Miracles of Saint Benedict), written between 1041 and 1044 by the French monk André de Fleury. What is remarkable about this account is its extraordinary level of detail, unusual for the time.
The text narrates how a caliphal army of 20,000 men faced, in Torà (current Solsonès region, Lérida), a Christian host vastly outnumberedcomposed of 500 knights and led by four Catalan stories:
The caliphal armies were vast and diverse military forces who served the caliphates in the Middle Ages, with infantry, cavalry and sometimes navy units, using advanced tactics for expansion and defense.
The narrative of the Battle of Torà is imbued with supernatural elements. Faced with an initial Christian stampede, the count Bernard of Besalú he exhorts his troops, announcing that the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Saint Michael and Saint Peter will grant them victory.
After a decisive charge from a narrow valleyChristians achieve a overwhelming victory: they massacre thousands of Muslims, take prisoners and capture loot and, according to the report, even reach kill the caliph himself.
That same night, a cleric at the sanctuary of São Miguel on Monte Gargano, in Italy, he goes into ecstasy, and the Virgin confirms to him that she has granted victory to the Christians of Hispania, with a balance of 10,000 Muslims killed — and just a Christian casualty.
The key question: did it really happen?
The main challenge for historians is discern the historical core under this layer of miracles, says the . Josep Suñé approaches this issue with caution.
On the one hand, it highlights a “great inaccuracy“: it is a proven historical fact that no Umayyad caliph died in combat against Christians at that time.
The legitimate caliph, Hisham II, was a decorative figureand real power was exercised by the ḥājib (chamberlains) of the Amírid family: Almançor and, after his death in 1002, his sons.
However, the author emphasizes that the report contains political details and geographic too precise to be a mere invention. André de Fleury correctly names the four counts who ruled simultaneously in Catalonia forty years earlier.
Furthermore, the description of the land of Toràa plain surrounded by mountains, with a narrow valley near the castle, is remarkably accurate. “Such precise knowledge of the terrain only seems possible to me if we admit the hypothesis that one of the two Catalan monks, or someone very close, was present that day“, argues Suñé.
According to Josep Suñé, this precision is explained by the presence in the Abbey of Fleury de two Catalan monks, John and Bernattwenty years before the text was written.
Bernat, according to André himself, he had been a knight before becoming a monk. It is very likely that your direct testimonies or notes were the main source of the report.
The date riddle: 999, 1003 or 1006?
One of the central contributions of the article is the analysis of the possible date of the battle. The four earls mentioned ruled together between 993 and 1010which leaves a 17 year margin. Suñé examines three Amírid expeditions against the Catalan counties during this period as possible scenarios.
The first scenario is the 999 campaignin which a raid attacked Pamplona, Pallars and Manresa. However, Suñé ddiscard this optionbecause we Miracles the Muslim leader defeated in Torà is called Helgaltiffawhile the one who attacked Manresa in the same text is called Almazor.
If the monks Joan and Bernat were referring to the same person, it would make no sense use two very different names.
The second scenario, the campaign of 1006is the date proposed by the medievalist Albert Benet and Clarà. Suñé rejects it because the 1006 expedition appears to have limited to the County of Ribagorza, far from Toràand there is no evidence that any Catalan count participated.
A campaign of 1003 is the option that Suñé considers better substantiated. In the summer of that year, the filho de Almançor, ‘Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffarlaunched a large punitive raid against the Catalan counties, who had been harassing the border.
The Arab chronicles report in detail that the Montmagastre castle was conquered and Castellolí was attacked. To travel from one fortress to another along the border mark of the time, going through Torà was almost inevitable.
Furthermore, Arab sources reveal that during this campaign Andalusian forces suffered serious setbacks. Al-Muzaffar almost died after being hit by a stone that almost crushed his skull, and an important Umayyad vizier, a relative of the caliph, died on the return journey.
“Rarely had the high command of a Cordoba incursion been hit in such a way,” observes Suñé. This would fit in with a Christian account which exaggerates these setbacks, transforming the leader’s near death into his actual death.
The shadow of the Battle of Albesa
Josep Suñé’s study introduces a fascinating riddle: the possible relationship with Battle of Albesaalso dated to 1003.
In the annals of the monastery of Ripoll it is recorded that the Bishop Berenguer of Elna died in Albesa. What is intriguing is that just 10 km from Torà there is a mountain range and a depression called Albesa, in the municipality of La Molsosa, Solsonès.
Could be the same place? The coincidences are tempting, but an Arabic source places “al-Mašša”, identified by some as Albesa, near Balaguerin the region of La Noguera, which is a completely different location.
Suñé does not solve the riddlebut leaves it open as one of the most fascinating questions that remain open and one of the most difficult to resolve.
The author suggests that the 1003 expedition camped in a place called al-Bathàwhich some associated with Albesa, in La Noguera, but which, according to the chronicles, was still in Christian territory.
The connection between al-Bathà, in Albesa two anais and Torà remains a mystery.
After considering all the evidence, Josep Suñé arrives at a clear conclusion: none any reason to deny the existence of a battle in Torà.
Although André de Fleury’s account is embellished with miraculous elements and epic exaggerations, such as the death of the caliph or the number of casualties, its core is historically plausible.
“It is very plausible that the Andalusians also tried to take the castle of Torà and that, finding an important contingent of counts and knights gathered there, have been vigorously repelled“, concluded Suñé.
