Battle of Lucena
Part of the Reconquista
A monument in Lucena commemorating the battle
Date April, 1483 Location Lucena, Spain Result Decisive Castilian victory Capture of Muhammad XII Death of Ibrahim Aliatar and utter destruction of the Granadan army
Belligerents
Emirate of Granada	Crown of Castile
Commanders and leaders
Muhammad XII of Granada (POW) Ibrahim Aliatar †	Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Carrillo de Albornoz Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Arellano Hernando de Argote
Strength
c.5,000-6,000	c.4,500-6,000
Casualties and losses
Very Heavy; Granadan army rendered ineffective	Minimal

Part of a series on the
History of Spain
Prehistory Prehistoric Iberia
Early history Pre-Roman peoples Carthaginian Spain (575–206 BCE)
Roman Hispania Roman Conquest (206–27 BCE) Hispania (218 BCE–472 CE) Romanization Diocese of Hispania
Early Middle Ages Kingdom of the Suebi (409–585) Kingdom of the Visigoths (418–721) Byzantine Spania (552–624)
Middle Ages Muslim conquest (711–716) Al-Andalus (711–1492) Reconquista (711–1492) Christian kingdoms (718–1479)
Early modern period Catholic Monarchs (1479–1516) Granada War (1482–1492) Colonisation of the Americas (1492–1898) Habsburgs (1516–1700) Golden Age (1556–1659) Iberian Union (1580–1640) Bourbons (1700–1808) War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) Nueva Planta Decrees (1707–1716)
Peninsular War Abdications of Bayonne (1808) Napoleonic Spain (1808–1813) Cortes of Cádiz (1810–1814) Constitution of Cádiz (1812) Treaty of Valençay (1813)
Absolutist restoration Sexenio Absolutista (1814–1820) Trienio Liberal (1820–1823) Ominous Decade (1823–1833)
Reign of Isabella II Regency of María Cristina (1833–1840) First Carlist War (1833–1840) Regency of Espartero (1840–1843) Década moderada (1844–1854) Second Carlist War (1846–1849) Bienio progresista (1854–1856) Glorious Revolution (1868)
Sexenio Democrático Provisional Government (1868–1871) Reign of Amadeo I (1870–1873) Third Carlist War (1872–1876) First Republic (1873–1874)
Restoration Spain Reign of Alfonso XII (1874–1885) Regency of María Cristina (1885–1902) Reign of Alfonso XIII (1886–1931) Spanish–American War (1898) Spain during World War I (1914–1918) Rif War (–1927) Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923–1930) Dictablanda of Dámaso Berenguer (1930–1931)
Second Republic Provisional Government (1931) First Biennium (1931–1933) Second Biennium (1933–1936) Revolution and Asturian miners' strike (1934) 1936 general election (1936) 1936 coup d'état (1936) Civil War (1936–1939) Nationalist victory (1939)
Francoist Spain Spanish Maquis (1939–1965) Republican exile (1939–1977) Spain during World War II (1939–1945) Blue Division (1941–1944) Basque conflict (1959–2011)
Contemporary history Transition to democracy (1975–1978) Current constitution (1978) 1981 coup d'état attempt Madrid train bombings (2004) 2008–2014 financial crisis 2017 Barcelona attacks Catalan declaration of independence (2017) Coronavirus pandemic (2020–present)
Topic Economic history Law enforcement LGBT history Military history Religious history
Timeline
Spain portal History portal
v t e

The Battle of Lucena, also called Battle of Martín González, was a war event in which Christian forces of the Crown of Castile were faced against the Muslim forces of the Nasrid Emirate of Granada. It took place in the month of April of the year 1483, in the course of the Granada War, and in the course of it the Christian forces took Muhammad XII of Granada as prisoner.^[1]

It was fought very close to the city of Lucena, in the province of Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain, south of the Sierra de Aras. The origin of the battle was the pretense of Muhammad XII of Granada (Boabdil) to take Lucena and perform a punishment raid against the Christians, to emulate the victory that his competitor, Muhammad XIII had won, that defeated the Christian forces at the Al-Sarquiyya (Córdoba). The Emirate of Granada was at that time experiencing a serious internal conflict between the supporters of the sultan Abu l-Hasan Ali and those who supported his son Muhammad XII of Granada (Boabdil).

Muhammad XII (Boabdil) besieged Lucena on April 20, 1483, with the help of his father-in-law Ibrahim Aliatar, mayor of Loja, an expert of the lands of southern Córdoba and a great winner of the Nasrids in terms of raids against Christians. The city of Lucena was defended by the "alcaide de los Donceles" Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Arellano and the alcaide of Lucena Hernando de Argote. The alcaide de los Donceles lit the merlons of the watchtowers to ask help to his uncle Diego Fernández de Córdoba y Carrillo de Albornoz, 2nd count of Cabra, who came with his army from the nearby Cabra. Muhammad XII (Boabdil) arranged his army in the northwest direction to avoid being caught by surprise by the count's army; However, seeing that they were outnumbered, they withdrew to the outskirts of the city, where the battle began as such.^[2]

In the course of the battle, the Muslim forces fled in disarray. Ibrahim Aliatar, Muhammad XII's father-in-law, died in battle and Muhammad XII tried to escape, but his horse got stuck in the mud and he had to hide in the vegetation. An infantry squad had him detained and the soldiers deduced that he was some important man because of his clothing, which it made possible for the Christians to capture Muhammad XII (Boabdil), who was taken prisoner to the Castle of Moral (in Lucena).^[3] After such success, the nephew (the alcaide de los Donceles) and the uncle (the count of Cabra) began a dispute to see who would deliver the prisoner to the Catholic Monarchs. Such was the dispute that Ferdinand II of Aragon ordered both of them to take the sultan at Porcuna, where he was imprisoned again in the castle's tower, currently known as Torre de Boabdil (Tower of Muhammad XII).^[4]

The clothing, shoes and swords of Muhammad XII (Boabdil) were given by the Catholic Monarchs as a gift to the alcaide de los Donceles and the count of Cabra. The whole set is, currently, displayed at the Army Museum of Toledo.^[5]