Roderic made several expeditions against the invaders before he was deserted by his troops and killed in battle in 711 or 712. The "Chronicle of 754" claims that some of the nobles who had accompanied Roderic on his last expedition did so out of "ambition for the kingdom", perhaps intending to allow him to die in battle so that they could secure the throne for one of themselves. Whatever their intentions, most of them seem to have died in the battle as well.