Siege of Burriana

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.

After taking Burriana, the castles to the north continued to fall into Aragonese hands one by one including; Peniscola, Castelló de la Plana, Borriol, les Coves de Vinromà and Vilafamés. Three years later, the decisive Battle of the Puig sealed the conquest in 1236.

• Reconquista

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