A truce between Castile and Córdoba had existed since the succession of Sancho García, but in 999 it was broken when the count refused to pay the annual tribute and came to the aid of his Christian neighbour, García Sánchez II of Pamplona, when Almanzor attacked him. On 21 June 1000 an army left Córdoba under Almanzor for a punitary expedition against Castile. The subsequent campaign is the most well-recorded of Almanzor's many wars after his Compostela campaign of 997. The primary historian is Ibn al-Khatib, who derived his Arabic account partially from Ibn Hayyan, himself relying on the eye-witness testimony of his father, Jalaf ibn Husayn ibn Hayyan, one of the combatants on the Muslim side and a secretary to Almanzor. Ibn al-Khatib records that the campaign was the most intense and dif