to take possession. In order to secure an undisputed title,
he had to persuade Alfonso IX’s two surviving daughters
by his fi rst wife, Teresa of Portugal, to renounce their
rights. The two former queens of León, Teresa and
Berenguela, negotiated the settlement at Benavente on
11 December 1230, which compensated the infantas
for their renunciation. Thus the kingdoms of León and
Castile, separated since 1157, were reunited under Fer-
nando, who was able to use their combined resources
to prosecute the Reconquest.
Meanwhile, rivalry between Ibn Hk d of Murcia and
Ibn al-Ahmar (1232–1273), founder of the Nasrid dy-.
nasty and the kingdom of Granada, benefi ted Fernando,
who launched a major offensive that resulted in the
capture of Úbeda in 1232. Elsewhere he laid waste the
land around Arjona and Jaén, and threatened Córdoba
and Seville. As 1235 drew to a close, a small band
of Castilians, after invading the suburbs of Córdoba,
quickly summoned Fernando to come to their aid.
Receiving their message at Benavente in the middle of
January 1236, he rapidly marched south and reached
Córdoba on 7 February. In the weeks that followed, the
bulk of his army tightened the siege of the city. When
it became apparent that they could expect no help from
their correligionists, the defenders surrendered on 29
June 1236. Those who wished to do so were permitted
to leave, taking whatever they could carry, those who
chose to remain were assured of religious liberty. The
mosque of Córdoba was consecrated as a cathedral for
the newly established Christian bishopric. The bells of
Santiago de Compostela, which the Moorish ruler Al-
Man.sˉu r, had carried off in 997 and hung in the mosque,
were returned to the Christian shrine in Galicia.
In the years immediately following the conquest of
Córdoba, many dependent towns and fortresses in the
Guadalquivir valley submitted to Fernando. A few years
later Murcia, in the southeast, also acknowledged his
sovereignty. The assassination in 1238 of Ibn Hˉu d, who
ruled Murcia, opened the possibility that the area might
fall under the domination of Ibn al-Ahmar, the emir of.
Tunis. To avert that, Ibn Hˉu d’s family proposed to submit
to Fernando as their suzerain and protector. Because he
was ill, he sent his oldest son, Alfonso, to receive the
homage of the Murcian towns. The Banˉu Hˉu d received
him at Murcia in April 1243, and Lorca, Cartagena, and
other towns, after a show of resistance, also submitted.
As vassals of Fernando, the Murcian lords pledged
an annual tribute of half their revenues, but otherwise
they continued to rule as before. When Alfonso tried to
seize Alcira and Játiva, towns reserved for Aragón (ac-
cording to the Treaty of Cazola, 1179), he encountered
opposition from Jaime I of Aragón. After negotiations
they concluded the Treaty of Almizra on 26 March
1244, establishing the boundaries between Castilian
and Aragónese conquests in that part of the peninsula.
Once he had recovered from his illness, Fernando
resumed the offensive, taking Arjona and several neigh-
boring towns in 1244. His next objective was Jaén, a
seemingly impregnable fortress. After systematically
destroying the crops, the king blockaded the city in
August 1245. Ibn al-Ahmar, now the undisputed master.
in Granada, Jaén, Málaga, and Almería, was unable to
offer any support to the defenders, who faced the real
prospect of starvation. Because his hands were tied, Ibn
al-Ahmar authorized them to surrender in March 1246..
As the Moors departed, Fernando introduced Christian
settlers and converted the mosque into a cathedral. In
the hope of preserving himself and his dynasty, Ibn al-
Ahmar pledged homage and fealty to Fernando, prom-.
ising to serve him as a loyal vassal, both in battle and
in his court, and to pay a tribute of 150,000 maravedis
over a term of twenty years.
Seville, the wealthiest city in all of Spain, a port
on the lower Guadalquivir River with access to both
the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, next attracted Fer-
nando’s attention. Preliminary operations disrupted
the outer defenses of the city and severed supply lines.
Alcalá de Guadaira, Carmona, Constantina, Reina, Lora,
Cantillana, Guillena, Gerena, Alcalá del Río, and other
adjacent towns capitulated in 1246–1247. A formal siege
of Seville was established in July 1247.
The blockade of Seville was completed when Ramón
Bonifaz of Burgos, acting on the king’s orders, orga-
nized a fl eet in the ports on the Bay of Cádiz and entered
the mouth of the Guadalquivir. Repelling enemy ships,
he made his way upriver and broke the bridge of boats
connecting Seville and Triana. Their supplies steadily
dwindling, the defenders appealed to the Almohads in
North Africa for help, but in vain.
Isolated, with no expectation of relief, the defenders
of Seville surrendered on 23 November 1248. Fernando
III permitted them to leave, carrying their movable
property, with safe conduct to Jerez or on Castilian ships
to Ceuta, in Morocco. The Moors were given a month
to settle their affairs before departure, and a Castilian
garrison immediately occupied the alcázar fortness
Fernando entered the city in triumph on 22 December- An archbishopric was established in Seville, and
the king dedicated the remaining years of his reign to the
colonization of Seville and the surrounding region, dis-
tributing houses and lands to those who had participated
in the conquest or who were willing to settle there.
Fernando achieved the greatest success of all the Cas-
tilian kings in the Reconquest because the collapse of the
Almohad Empire disrupted the unity of Muslim Spain.
Taking advantage of the jealousies of rival Moorish lead-
ers, he gained control of the valley of the Guadalquivir
from Úbeda to Seville and reduced the Moors of Murcia
and Granada to the tributary status of vassals.
Aside from his efforts to eradicate Muslim rule in
FERNANDO III, KING OF CASTILE