Since the middle of the 13th century, the Marinid Dynasty was emerging as a new power in Morocco, ruled by Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq. The Marinids had established contact with the Muslims of Al-Andalus and offered soldiers to the King Muhammad II de Granada in his bitter struggle against the Reconquista of the Christian kingdoms to the north. On April 12, 1275, a massive Moroccan army disembarked in Algeciras and commenced marching towards the cities of Sevilla, Jaén and Córdoba. From Castile, Ferdinand de la Cerda, who circumstatially governed the kingdom in the absence of his father, Alfonso X of Castile X, found himself being interviewed by the pope in Bercayre, could do no more than contain the invasions. Nuño González de Lara, who controlled the frontier of Cordoba, left from th