Cordova, but were detained on the way by a regiment of the Visigothic army under the command of Bencius, a cousin of Roderick. Although the Arabs defeated Bencius, his resistance enabled the king himself to arrive on the field. At that time Roderick happened to be fighting in the north of Spain against the Franks and the Vascons, whom the partisans of Achila had incited to make a fresh attack. When the Visigothic king saw this new danger, he assembled a powerful army and marched against the invaders, who, according to some historians, also increased their forces to the number of 25,000 men. On 19 July 711, the armies met on the shores of Lake Janda, which lies between the city of Medina Sidonia and the town of Vejer de la Frontera in the province of Cadiz. The river Barbate flows into this lake, and as its Arabic name of Guadibeca was misunderstood by some of the chroniclers, there arose the mistaken belief that the battle was fought on the banks of the river Guadalete. The victory was won by the Arabs, owing to the treachery of part of the Visigothic army, which was won over by the partisans of Achila. Among the traitors, the chroniclers make special mention of Bishop Oppas and Sisebert, referring to the latter as a relation of Witiza. So the king could not prevent Ṭāriḳ from cutting off his retreat and dispersing his army. What became of King Roderick? The most common story in the chroniclers, both Arabic and Spanish, is merely that he disappeared, or that his end is unknown. Only a few state plainly that he perished in the battle of La Janda, and even these disagree as to the details of his death. Saavedra[1] has thus reconstructed the history of Roderick after his defeat of La Janda. The Arabs advanced on Seville and, after another victory, they took Ecija, besieged Cordova, which held out for two months, and entered Toledo. King Roderick rallied his forces in Medina, and went to threaten the capital, which was occupied by Ṭāriḳ. The Arab general asked Mūsā for reinforcements; in 712 the latter came himself with a large army. After taking possession of Seville and other strongholds, he advanced on Mérida, the place which the Muslims had most reason to dread. He besieged this city, which held out for a year, and was finally taken by storm.
At this point, we notice an important change in the accounts given by the chroniclers. Hitherto the invaders had met with but little resistance, and a certain amount of sympathy on the part of the townspeople, who, in some cases, had opened the gates of their cities to the foe. The Arabs had only left small garrisons in the towns which they had conquered, entrusting the protection and government of these towns to the Jews, who naturally welcomed the victorious Arabs. But, after
- ↑ Relying on a text of Rasis in which the king is represented as being present at the battle of Sagiuyne or Segoyuela, and on another text of the chronicle of Albelda (of the ninth century), which states that Roderick reigned for three years, 710-713; also on the definite statement of the Arab historians, that the king took refuge in a place called Assanam or Assuagin.
