Raid on Barcelona
Part ofReconquista
Map of theIberian Peninsula in 1115
Date 1115 Location Barcelona, Spain Result See§ Aftermath
Belligerents
Almoravid dynasty	County of Barcelona Viscount of Narbonne
Commanders and leaders
Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tifilwit [es]	Ramon Berenguer III
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
700 soldiers	Heavy

In 1115, forces of theAlmoravid Emirate under the commanderAbu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tifilwit [es] and acting on the orders of the EmirAli ibn Yusuf, carried out a raid against the city ofBarcelona, the main city of theCounty of Barcelona.

Following the death ofMuhammad ibn al-Hajj [ca;ar], the governor ofZaragoza, during thean 1114 campaign in Catalonia, the EmirAli ibn Yusuf appointed Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tifilwit as the new governor. The latter was also the governor ofMurcia,Valencia,Tortosa and the rest of theSharq al-Andalus. The emir ordered Abu Bakr to march on the County of Barcelona.^[1] The purpose of the attack was to avenge the death of Ibn al-Hajj.^[2]

During the raids of 1114–1115, CountRamon Berenguer III of Barcelona was away on theBalearic Crusade. There are two sources for the 1115 raid: the contemporary LatinLiber maiolichinus, a poem about the Balearic expedition, and the later ArabicRawd al-Qirtas ofIbn Abi Zar. While some historians questioned the account in theRawd al-Qirtas, seeing it as a piece of propaganda, a successful doublet of the failed 1114 campaign, theLiber maiolichinus corroborates the reality of a second raid.^[3]

Abu Bakr gathered all his forces and headed north, plundering and razing the lands around Barcelona.^[4][5] The Almoravid attack reached the gates of Barcelona, which was besieged for 20 days. TheRawd al-Qirtas described the attack:^[6]

The emir of the Muslims was much afflicted by [Ibn al-Hajj's] death and named in his place Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tifilwit, who was his governor in Murcia. While in Murcia, he received appointment to Valencia, Tortosa, Fraga and Zaragoza, with whose soldiers he left for Valencia, and uniting them with those that were there, with those in Zaragoza, he went against Barcelona and besieged it twenty days, desolated its territory and its fruits and ruined its farms [alquerías]; he left upon encounteringIbn Radmir with great forces from thePlain of Barcelona and from the country of Aragon, and in the battles they gave each other many Christians died and some seven hundred Muslims.

Thechurch [ca] ofSant Andreu de Palomar and the monastery ofSant Pau del Camp were among the victims of the raid.^[7][8] News of the Almoravid attack on Barcelona reached the crusader camp in the Balearic Islands,^[3] leading to the withdrawal of the Catalan contingent under Count Ramon Berenguer III.^[9] He returned with the forces drawn from Barcelona andNarbonne and there were battles between the two sides.^[10][11] This is recorded in theLiber maiolichinus.^[3]

After this campaign, the Almoravids returned to their lands.^[12][3] Before the end of the year or early in 1116, they had retaken the Balearic Islands.^[13][14]

The devastation wrought by the raiders was less than that inflicted on the city in thesack of 985, but the city's recovery was slower since the raid came at a time when the local economy was suffering. A document of June 1116 refers to frequent famines in the area. In 1127, the abandoned monastery of Sant Pau del Camp had to be handed over to themonastery of Sant Cugat.^[8] In 1132, Sant Andreu de Palomera was reconsecrated.^[7]

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• Annan, Muhammad Abdullah (1997).دولة الإسلام في [The State of Islam in Andalusia] (in Arabic). Vol. 3: عصر المرابطين والموحدين [The Era of Almoravids and Almohads] (5th ed.). Cairo: Al-Khanji Library.
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• Ferrer i Mallol, María Teresa; Riu i Riu, Manuel, eds. (2009).Tractats i negociacions diplomàtiques de Catalunya i de la Corona catalanoaragonesa a l'edat mitjana. Memòries de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica (in Catalan). Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans.ISBN 978-84-92583-77-5.
• Grau Montserrat, Manuel (1958)."Contribución al estudio del estado cultural del valle del Ebro en el siglo XI y principios del XII"(PDF).Butlletí de la Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona.27:227–272.
• Hernandez Gimenez, Felix (1994).Estudios de geografía histórica española. "Biblioteca de arqueología medieval hispánica" ser. (in Spanish). Madrid: Ed. Polifemo.ISBN 978-84-86547-26-4.
• Houben, Hubert (2002).Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West.Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-65573-6.
• Ibn Abi Zar (1966).Rawd al-Qirtas. "Textos Medievales" ser., no. 12. Vol. 1. Translated by Ambrosio Huici Miranda. Valencia: J. Nácher.
• Kennedy, Hugh (1996).Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus.Routledge.ISBN 978-1317870418.
• Sāmarrāʼī, Khalīl Ibrāhīm Ṣāliḥ; Ṭāhā, ʻAbd al-Wāḥid Dhannūn; Maṭlūb, Nāṭiq Ṣāliḥ, eds. (2000).تاريخ العرب وحضارتهم في الأندلس [History and Civilization of the Arabs in Andalusia] (in Arabic) (al-Ṭabʻah 1 ed.). Bayrūt: Dār al-Kitāb al-Jadīd al-Muttaḥīdah.ISBN 978-9959-29-015-1.

• 1115 in Europe
• Conflicts in 1115
• Battles of the Reconquista
• Battles involving the Almoravid Empire
• 12th century in al-Andalus
• Military raids

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