castilian forces counter-attacked by marching on jerez, a key garrison town, recapturing it in late 1264 (possibly on 9 october), after a siege. the rebel-held towns of vejer, medina-sidonia, rota, and sanlúcar de barrameda also fell to the royal forces. muslims in the retaken towns were expelled, the mosques in jerez were converted to churches, and the region was settled by christians from elsewhere. meanwhile, queen violant requested help from her father, king james i of aragon, who was initially reluctant to provide support but eventually agreed.