The Battle of Uclés was fought on 29 May 1108 during the Reconquista period near Uclés just south of the river Tagus between the Christian forces of Castile and León under Alfonso VI and the forces of the Muslim Almoravids under Tamim ibn-Yusuf. The battle was a disaster for the Christians and many of the high nobility of León, including seven counts, died in the fray or were beheaded afterwards, while the heir-apparent, Sancho Alfónsez, was murdered by villagers while trying to flee. Despite this, the Almoravids could not capitalise on their success in the open field by taking Toledo. Sources The Arabic sources for the battle are an official letter from Tamim and the narrative history Nazm al-Yuman. The Christian sources nearest in time are the Crónica Najerense, connected to Nájera, and the Historia Compostelana, written from the perspective of the church of Santiago de Compostela. In the thirteenth century Lucas de Tuy included a detailed account in his Chronicon Mundi ab Origine Mundi usque ad Eram MCCLXXIV ("Chronicle of the World from its Origin to the Era 1274 [1231 AD]") and Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, De rebus Hispaniae, provided the primary account used by historians for the next several hundred years. A romanticised version of Jiménez de Rada's narrative was given in the Primera Crónica General. The Spanish historiography of the battle was dominated by Prudencio de Sandoval until 1949, when Ambrosio Huici Miranda began to edit and compile the Arabic sources (published 1955). Preliminary moves Tamim, leading the forces of Granada, set out for Jaén in early May. There he met the forces of Córdoba and they continued together to Chinchilla, where they were joined by the forces of Murcia and Valencia under Muhammad ibn Aysa and Abdallah ibn Fatima, their respective governors. They marched on Uclés, which offered no resistance and was captured on 27 May. The Almoravids then spread out, sacking other Christian settlements in the valley of the Tagus, while the inhabitants fled. The garrison of Uclés meanwhile took refuge in the alcázar. The Historia Compostelana says that it was the heir, Sancho, who initiated a counter-attack. This is plausible in light of the fact he had already been granted the rule of Toledo by his father, who was in the north of the kingdom at the time of the Almoravid offensive. Sancho had probably moved south with a sizable army in April in