South of the Sierra de Gata and around Coria lies a raiding belt between Leonese Coria and the Almohad castles of Alcántara and Cáceres, with Montánchez and Trujillo behind.
The Almohads fortified the Sierra de Gata castles (Santibáñez, Salvaleón, Eljas, Trevejo, Gata and others) without settling them; Alfonso IX took them only in 1212, Alcántara on 17 January 1213 and Cáceres in 1229. Portezuelo, between Coria and the Tagus, fell back to the Almohads in 1196 after Ferdinand II and the Templars had held it. Nobody can farm the Tagus crossings.
Who raids here
Almohad garrisons of Alcántara and Cáceres raid north towards Coria and the Sierra de Gata; the Leonese of Coria and Ciudad Rodrigo and the military orders raid south. In 1196 the Almohads came through the Extremadura with Leonese support against Castile; no campaign on this frontier is recorded for 1199.
Castles leonese
Coria; Ciudad Rodrigo behind the Sierra de Gata.
Castles almohad
Alcántara, Cáceres, Montánchez, Trujillo, Valencia de Alcántara; the unsettled forts of the Sierra de Gata; Portezuelo (from 1196).
Last campaign
1196 (Almohad recovery of Portezuelo and the great Almohad raid through the Extremadura).
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Positions from the Trujillo colloquium study; the date of the Almohad hold on the Sierra de Gata forts is not pinned.
On the map: A rough band; the Castilian frontier of Plasencia lies to the east and is left to the Castile file.
Sources and studies
- Alfonso IX de León y Extremadura (Coloquios Históricos de Extremadura, Trujillo)
- Castilian-Leonese War (1196-1197) (Wikipedia, en)
- Pedro Fernández de Castro (died 1214) (Wikipedia, en)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.