Siege of Burriana

Siege of Burriana
Part of the Reconquista Aragonese Conquest of Valencia
Chronological map documenting the Conquest of Valencia.
Date 1233 Location Burriana, Province of Castellón, Spain Result Conquest of the City of Burriana by James I of Aragon
Belligerents
Crown of Aragon Knights Hospitaller Knights Templar Senyoria d'Albarrasí	Taifa of Valencia
Commanders and leaders
James I of Aragon Bernardo Guillermo de Montpellier Bernardo Guillermo de Entenza	Zayyan ibn Mardanish

The Siege of Burriana was one of the battle actions that occurred during the Conquest of Valencia by James I of Aragon. Burriana was an important Muslim city, being the capital of La Plana, Valencia. It was known as the "Green City". The city was besieged for two months, finally falling to the forces of James I in July of 1233.

Context

In 1229, the city of Valencia, known to the Muslims as "Balansiya", had fallen to the forces under the command of Zayyan ibn Mardanish, a local leader who was opposed to the Almohades. In capturing that city, he dethroned Zayd Abu Zayd, who subsequently fled to the Kingdom of Aragon. James I of Aragon used this as a casus belli to intervene in the Muslim civil war on the side of the Almohades, but in reality with the pretext of expanding his own territory.

Two Aragonese knights, Hugo de Follalquer, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, and Blas de Aragón, who had just returned from a period of exile in Valencia, met with Jaime I at Alcañiz. They recounted stories of the prosperity of the Muslim kingdom and encouraged the king to conquer it in 1233.

Consequences

After taking Burriana, the castles to the north continued to fall into Aragonese hands one by one including; Peniscola, Castellón de la Plana, Borriol, Cuevas de Vinromá and Villafamés. Three years later, the decisive Battle of the Puig sealed the conquest in 1236.

See also

• Knights Hospitaller
• Knights Templar
• James I of Aragon
• Reconquista

References

• The information on this page was translated from its Spanish equivalent.

Bibliography

Zurita y Castro (2003) "Book III" Anales de Aragón (Edició d'Ángel Canellas López. Edició electrònica de José Javier Iso, María Isabel Yagüe i Pilar Rivero ed.) Institución Fernando el Católico p. 238 http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/24/48/ebook2473.pdf 

(in Spanish) Linajes de Aragón Los Cornel http://plan.aragob.es/FBA.nsf/0/f56127346d36153cc1256e15002b4140/$FILE/Los%20Cornel.pdf