Battle of Teba - March To Teba

March To Teba

Douglas presented his credentials to Alfonso XI. According to John Barbour, the King offered Douglas riches, fine horses and armour. Sir James declined these gifts, declaring that he and his men were prepared to offer their arms in the service of the king as humble pilgrims, seeking absolution for their sins. Alfonso accepted and assigned experienced soldiers, accustomed to the style of fighting on the Frontera, as advisors to Douglas and his fellow knights. While the Scots rested after their long voyage and waited for the expedition to depart, many foreign knights who had come to seek service with Alfonso of Castile paid their respects to Douglas, including a number of Englishmen who were particularly keen to meet the man who until recently had been their nemesis.

Alfonso formed up his army for the advance south. Barbour claims that Douglas was given command of the lead division, the 'vaward' or vanguard. It may be more likely that he was put in charge of all the foreign knights in the Castilian army.

The Christian host, its size unknown, marched to Ecija then to Osuna on the frontier. Once across the border, Alfonso continued south to the meadows of Almargen, five miles west of Teba, from where he advanced to set up camp and invest the fortress,

While waiting for his siege engines to come up from Ecija, Alfonso prepared for the Granadan forces in Malaga to react. These were under the command of Uthman bin Abi-l-Ulá, a Berber noble fighting in the service of the sultans of Granada, who set off with six thousand cavalry and an unknown number of infantry to the relief of Teba. Marching up the Guadalhorce valley, Uthman's force crossed over into the valley of the river Turón where they pitched camp between the citadel of Ardales and the castle of Turón, ten miles south of Teba.