fealty to Ordoño. This allowed the Christians to expand to the south peacefully, both by repopulating the area known as the Desert of the Duero and by being welcomed by Christian-majority cities formerly under Muslim rule. The repopulation efforts were mostly led by the clergy, but Rodrigo also took part in Ordoño's Repoblación, repopulating Amaya in 860. Amaya was known as the "patrician city" because at one time it had been the capital of eight of the provinces of the Visigothic Kingdom of Toledo which had been conquered in 711-712 by Tariq ibn Ziyad. It had been left empty since Tariq's conquest. A significant part of Rodrigo's re-settlers were Mozarabs who fled to Asturias from persecution in the Emirate of Cordoba. Having settled Amaya, Rodrigo prepared for the expansion of Castile to the south. Rodrigo constructed fortresses along the new border. These became the basis for the modern municipalities of Úrbel del Castillo, Castil de Peones, Moradillo de Senado (in Burgos) and Villafranca Montes de Oca. In 863, Count Rodrigo captured and plundered Somosierra owned by the Cordobans. The Castilians seized the fortress of Talamanca de Jarama and captured, but soon released, the local Wali Murzuk and his wife. At the same time, Ordoño ravaged Coria. One chronicle says that in 863, the 'brother of Ordoño' fought Muslim troops. Military Defeats Rodrigo's victories warranted a response from Muhammad I of Córdoba. That year, on Muhammad's orders, his son Abd ar-Rahman and commander Abd al-Malik ibn Abbas went to Álava and Castile and ravaged the border lands of the Kingdom of Asturias, destroying several fortresses and killing many civilians. Count Rodrigo tried to stop the Moors, blocking the gorge near Pancorbo, but Abd ar-Rahman and Abd al-Malik managed to inflict a heavy defeat on the Castilians. According to the Spanish Muslim historian Ibn Idariboth, in battle and during the retreat, the Christians suffered heavy losses, including 19 counts. Only a few Castilians, including Rodrigo. In 865, a Moorish army of 20,000 soldiers, again led by Abd ar-Rahman and Abd al-Malik, invaded Rodrigo's realm. The Moors captured the Castilian border fortresses that survived after the campaign of 863, including Bordjia belonging to the Count Gundisalvo (or Gonzalo), which some historians identify with Burgos. After this, Abd ar-Rahman and Abd al-Malik inflicted a new defeat to the Count of Castile in the bloody battle at the Battle of the Morcuera near Añana. Despite