Alfonso VIII killed at Alacros

Question for you AHers who know about Spain:

At the Battle of Alacros in 1195, King Alfonso VIII barely managed to escape with his life. Now, the question is, what if he died? The loss at the battle already shook the stability of Castile, and Alfonso's death could have been a tipping point in the war on the Iberian peninsula. It would have made things hell for Christian kingdoms up in the north. Would the 4th Crusade have been called upon the Almohads instead?
 

Philip

Donor
At the Battle of Alacros in 1195, King Alfonso VIII barely managed to escape with his life. Now, the question is, what if he died? The loss at the battle already shook the stability of Castile, and Alfonso's death could have been a tipping point in the war on the Iberian peninsula.

I don't know if this could be exploited. The Caliph saw his victory as securing Iberia, and left for Africa. Alfonso VIII's death would only reinforce this illusion.

It would have made things hell for Christian kingdoms up in the north.
A power shift to Leon under Alfonso IX might occur. I would not expect a collapse.

Would the 4th Crusade have been called upon the Almohads instead?
A(nother?) Crusade might be called, but I doubt the 4th Crusader to the East would be averted.
 
Alarcos.

The death of the king may have caused the advancing Muslim armies to push deeper into Christian territory. It could also have produced a stronger Christian reaction, with the Spanish kingdoms appealing to France and other western powers for aid. I can't recall all of the details, but it appeared that the Christian kingdoms and the Muslims were more or less equally matched in military strength.
 
Well, in OTL Alarcos gave the Almohads control over La Mancha and all its fortresses. Among them Calatrava, whose Order had to expend some years in exile.

The key question here is if, being aware that the King has been killed, Yaqub al-Mansur decides that it is a good opportunity to strike against Toledo. The remnants of the Castilian army have fled there anyway, but their moral is probably low, the new king is only 6 years old, and the other Christian kings have promised nothing but neutrality. Will Toledo fall? If it does then there is little-to nothing to keep the Almohads marching to the Guadarrama mountains.

That means that in a few years, the Kingdom of Castile has lost around half of its territory and the frontier has been pushed back to where it was a century before.
 
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