Looting caused the Spanish rout at the battle’s turning point

Evidence

The Muslims made smoke signals to call in help from their neighbors, and then prudently withdrew to high ground. The Spanish forces thus found they could enter the village unopposed and, discovering there were women in some houses, discipline broke down (comenzaron a desmandarse). Some of the troops took women prisoners, and then shut themselves inside the houses with them “to protect the prize they had taken.” At this point those Spaniards who were still at their military posts noticed that more than six thousand Muslims under the leadership of el Habaqui and el Maleh (names of which we will hear more before long) were hastening up in response to the smoke signals. The light forces that the Spaniards had in position had to beat retreat, and counterattacks failed to halt the Muslim advance. There ensued chaos, with some of the looters fleeing in disorder, abandoning their weapons as they went (otros arrojaron vilmente las armas y dieron a huir ), quite uncertain in which direction to run. “In such disorder Don John came down from the hillock [where his advisers had insisted he remain, away from the more perilous fighting] and showed himself courageously to our Christians, to persuade them to face up to the enemy, or at least to retire in good order.” M´armol even claims to report some of Don John’s own words, but we may be pardoned for our suspicions as to their authenticity. These may convey a poetic truth but are unlikely to be based on any verbatim report: “What is this, Spaniards? From whom are you in flight? Where is the honor of Spain? Have you not in front of you Don John of Austria, your commander? What are you afraid of? Retire in an orderly fashion, with your faces to the enemy, and before long you will see these barbarians are repulsed by your arms” (222). — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1054

Categorization

• XREF: The smoke-signal trap has a parallel in colonial ‘pacification’ warfare accounts and in the film Apocalypto’s jungle ambush dynamics.
• QUESTION: How typical was the Spanish practice of looting mid-battle — was this an exception or structural?