Al-Andalus
Qalʿat Banī Saʿīd قلعة بني سعيد
Today: Alcalá la Real, Spain
- Years
- 713–1341
Qalʿat Banī Saʿīd, on the hill of La Mota, commanded the way between the Guadalquivir and the plain of Granada. It was Qalʿat Astalīr from 713, Qalʿat Yaḥṣub in the 9th century and, from the mid 12th, named after the Banū Saʿīd family who held it. It was a Naṣrid frontier fortress until Alfonso XI took it in 1341, after a year-long siege.
What to see today
- Fortaleza de La Mota (Alcazaba de Qalʿat Banī Saʿīd): Fortress, c. 1201 to 1341