Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 07:06, 24 December 2024

Siege of Lisbon
Part of the Portuguese Reconquista and the Second Crusade
The Conquest of Lisbon painting by Alfredo Roque Gameiro (1917)
Date 1 July – 25 October 1147 Location Lisbon, Portugal Result Portuguese-Crusader victory
Belligerents
Portugal Crusaders	Almoravid dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Afonso I of Portugal Hervey de Glanvill Arnout IV, Count of Aarschot Christian of Ghistelles Simon of Dover Andrew of London Saher of Archelle William Longsword	Muhammad ibn Hakam
Strength
20,000 7,400 Portuguese 6,400 English 5,400 Germans 2,400 Flemings	~15,000

The siege of Lisbon, from 1 July to 25 October 1147, was the military action against the Almoravid dynasty that brought the city of Lisbon under the definitive control of the new Christian power, the Kingdom of Portugal.

The siege of Lisbon was one of the few Christian victories of the Second Crusade—it was "the only success of the universal operation undertaken by the pilgrim army", i.e., the Second Crusade, according to the near contemporary historian Helmold, although others have questioned whether it was really part of that crusade. It is seen as a pivotal battle of the wider Reconquista.

The fall of Edessa in 1144 led to a call for a new crusade by Pope Eugene III in 1145 and 1146. In the spring of 1147, the Pope authorized the crusade in the Iberian Peninsula. He also authorized Alfonso VII of León and Castile to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade. In May 1147, a contingent of crusaders left from Dartmouth, Devon in the Kingdom of England. They had intended to sail directly to the Holy Land, but weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast at the northern city of Porto on 16 June 1147. There they were convinced to meet with Afonso I of Portugal, who had in 1139 declared himself king of the new Kingdom of Portugal.

The crusaders agreed to help the King attack Lisbon, with a solemn agreement that offered to the crusaders the pillage of the city's goods and the ransom money for expected prisoners. The siege began on 1 July. The city of Lisbon at the time of arrival consisted of sixty thousand families, including the refugees who had fled Christian onslaught from neighbouring cities of Santarém and others. Also reported by the De expugnatione Lyxbonensi is that the citadel was holding 154,000 men, not counting women and children; as the medieval account put it, after 17 weeks of siege "the inhabitants were despoiled and the city cleansed".

The rulers of Lisbon agreed to surrender on 24 October, four months later, primarily because of hunger within the city. Most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, but some of the crusaders set sail and continued to the Holy Land. Lisbon eventually became the capital city of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1255.

Second Crusade

The traditional start of the Reconquista is identified with the defeat of the Muslims in the Battle of Covadonga in 722. After the First Crusade in 1095–1099, Pope Paschal II urged Iberian crusaders (Portuguese, Castilians, Leonese, Aragonese, and others) to remain at home, where their own warfare was considered just as worthy as that of crusaders travelling to Jerusalem.

In 1142, during the siege of Lisbon (1142), Afonso Henriques, taking advantage of the passage of a group of Anglo-Norman crusaders on their way to the Holy Land, attempted to use them to take the Muslim-ruled city of Lisbon. Although this attempt ultimately failed leaving some distrust among the crusader forces, it showed the Portuguese monarch the usefulness of such force in future attempts.

The fall of Edessa in 1144 led to a call for a new crusade by Pope Eugene III in 1145 and 1146. In the spring of 1147, the Pope also authorized a crusade in the Iberian Peninsula, where "the war against the Moors had been going on for hundreds of years." Pope Eugene encouraged Marseilles, Pisa, Genoa, and other Mediterranean cities to fight in Iberia. He also authorized Alfonso VII of León and Castile to equate his campaigns against the Moors with the rest of the Second Crusade.

On 19 May 1147, a contingent of crusaders left from Dartmouth in England, consisting of crusaders from Flanders, Frisia, France, England, Scotland and some German polities who collectively considered themselves "Franks". No prince or king was in charge of the expedition, and its participants seem to have been largely made up of townsmen, who organised themselves using a sworn oath. Leadership was provided by Hervey de Glanvill, Constable of Suffolk. Other crusader captains included Arnout IV, Count of Aarschot leading the Rhinelanders, Christian of Gistel leading the Flemish and Boulogne forces, and the Anglo-Norman forces led by Simon of Dover, Andrew of London, and Saher of Archelle. Important decisions were made collectively by the commanders.

Redirected efforts

According to Odo of Deuil there were 164 ships bound for the Holy Land, and there may have been as many as 200 by the time they reached the Iberian shore. Bad weather forced the ships to stop on the Portuguese coast, at the northern city of Porto on 16 June 1147. There they were convinced by the bishop of Porto, Pedro II Pitões, to meet with King Afonso. The king, who had reached the Tagus and conquered Santarém on 15 March, had also been negotiating with the pope for the recognition of his title of King. He was notified of the arrival of a first party and hastened to meet them.

The undisciplined multi-national group agreed to help him there, with a solemn agreement that offered to the crusaders the pillage of the city's goods and the ransom money for expected prisoners. For the city, "they shall have it and hold it until it has been searched and despoiled, both of prisoners for ransom and of everything else. Then, when it has been as thoroughly searched as they wish, they shall turn it over to me..."

King Afonso promised to divide the conquered territories as fiefs among the leaders. He reserved the power of advocatus and released those who were at the siege and their heirs trading in Portugal from the commercial tax called the pedicata.

The English crusaders were at first unenthusiastic at this change of plan, but Hervey de Glanville convinced them to participate. Some led by William Viel and his brother, however, refused to take part on account on an earlier joint attempt to capture Lisbon 1142. Hostages were exchanged as sureties for the oaths.

Fall of Lisbon

The siege began on 1 July. The Christians soon captured the surrounding territories and besieged the walls of Lisbon itself. After four months, the rulers agreed to surrender on 21 October because the Crusaders' siege tower reached their wall (thus causing a one-day standstill) and because of hunger within the city, which was sheltering populations displaced from Santarém as well as "the leading citizens of Sintra, Almada, and Palmela."

After a brief riotous insurrection the Anglo-Norman chronicler attributes to "the men of Cologne and the Flemings", the city was entered by the Christian conquerors, on 25 October. The terms of the surrender indicated that the Muslim garrison of the city would be allowed to keep their lives and property, but as soon as the Christians entered the city these terms were broken. According to the De expugnatione Lyxbonensi,

The enemy, when they had been despoiled in the city, left the town through three gates continuously from Saturday morning until the following Wednesday. There was such a multitude of people that it seemed as if all of Hispania were mingled in the crowd.

Furthermore, according to the De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, the Flemish and those from Cologne were the ones who broke their oath but even according to this they were more concerned with plundering than killing any of the inhabitants:

They ran hither and yon. They plundered. They broke down doors. They rummaged through the interior of every house. They drove the citizens away and harassed them improperly and unjustly. They destroyed clothes and utensils. They treated virgins shamefully. They acted as if right and wrong were the same. They secretly took away everything which should have been common property. They even cut the throat of the elderly Bishop of the city, slaying him against all right and justice. … The Normans and the English, however, for whom faith and religion were of the greatest importance, contemplating what such actions might lead to, remained quietly in their assigned position, preferring to stay their hands from looting rather than to violate the obligations of their faith and their oathbound association.

Aftermath

Some of the crusaders set sail and continued on their journey around the Iberian Peninsula and were invited by Count Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona to help him capture the city of Tortosa on the Ebro. However, most of the crusaders settled in the newly captured city, thus boosting the number of Christian supporters in Iberia.

Gilbert of Hastings was elected bishop marking the beginning of the historic relationship between England and Portugal which would later form the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance.

In spite of the contractual nature of the city's surrender, a legend arose that the Portuguese warrior and nobleman, Martim Moniz, sacrificed himself in order to keep the city doors open to the conquering Christian armies.

Lisbon eventually became the capital city of the Kingdom of Portugal in 1255. The victory was a turning-point in the history of Portugal and the wider Reconquista, which would be completed in 1492.

See also

• Saint George's Castle
• Portugal in the Middle Ages
• Timeline of Portuguese history
• De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, a contemporary eye-witness account.
• The History of the Siege of Lisbon, a modern novel about the siege and of the unreliability of historical memory.

Notes

1. Lowney, Christopher (2012-12-04). A Vanished World: Medieval Spain's Golden Age of Enlightenment. Simon and Schuster. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-7432-8261-1.
2. ^ H. V. Livermore (2 January 1966). A New History of Portugal. Cambridge University Press Archive. p. 57. GGKEY:RFTURZQG9XA.
3. C. W. David, "The Authorship of the De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi", Speculum, 7:1 (1932), 50, citing Helmold's Chronica Slavorum in MGH, Scriptores, 11, 58: Hoc solum prospere cessit de universo opere, quod peregrinus patravit exercitus.
4. ^ West, 2013
5. see Riley-Smith (1990) p. 32.
6. Helen J. Nicholson, The Crusades (2004) "After the First Crusade (1095–99) Pope Paschal II decided that those who fought the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula should have their penance remitted, just as if they had gone to Jerusalem." p. 26
7. Villegas (2013), p. 19
8. Douglas L. Wheeler, Walter C. Opello (2010) "In 1147, after a long, bloody siege, Muslim-occupied Lisbon fell to Afonso Henrique's army. Lisbon was the greatest prize of the 500-year war." p. 7
9. Riley-Smith (1990) p. 48
10. Cologne was allied with London in the incipient wool trade: see Steelyard.
11. Jonathan Phillips (2008). The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom. Yale University Press. p. xiv. ISBN 978-0-300-16836-5.
12. Avner Falk (2010). Franks and Saracens: Reality and Fantasy in the Crusades. Karnac Books. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-1-85575-733-2.
13. Olivia Remie Constable; Damian Zurro, eds. (2012). Medieval Iberia: Readings from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Sources (2nd ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-8122-2168-8.
14. This is the expression consistently used in the eye-witness chronicle of the siege, De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, attributed in the sixteenth century to "Osbernus". The ms, titled "Historia Osberni" by a sixteenth-century annotator, is in the form of a letter, with a superscription "Osb. de Baldr. R salutem" that C. R. Cheney read as to "Osberto de Baldreseie" i.e. Bawdsley, Suffolk, from a certain "R."; see Cheney, C. R. (1932). "The Authorship of the De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi". Speculum. 7 (3): 395–397. doi:10.2307/2846677. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2846677. S2CID 162571944.
15. ^ Runciman (1951), p. 258.
16. Henry was a kinsman of Ranulf de Glanvill of Suffolk, Chief Justiciar of England under Henry II; the Norman name derives from Glanville, near Lisieux (DNB, s.v. "Ranulf de Glanvill").
17. Phillips (2007), p. 143.
18. ^ Brundage (1962) pp. 97–104
19. The prominence of Hervey de Glanvill has suggested to some readers that Osbernus was an Anglo-Norman cleric with special attachment to him and his house.
20. Osbernus, who adds "As a result, the basest element from every part of the world had gathered there, like the bilge water of a ship, a breeding ground for every kind of lust and impurity."
21. Attributed to Osbernus, probably written by Raol, a Norman-French priest and crusader; translated by Charles Wendell David (1936). De expugnatione Lyxbonensi.The conquest of Lisbon. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 177. Retrieved 16 April 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
22. "Internet History Sourcebooks Project". sourcebooks.fordham.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
23. Paul Buck, Lisbon: a cultural and literary companion (2002) "At its base is the Martim Moniz (in tribute to the soldier who held the city gate open at the cost of his life during the siege)..." p. 118
24. Riley-Smith (1990) p. 126.

Sources

• L. Wheeler, C. Opello, Douglas, Walter (2010). Historical Dictionary of Portugal. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6088-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Runciman, Steven (1952). A History of the Crusades, vol. II: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Brundage, James (1962). The Crusades: A Documentary History. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press.
• Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1990). The Atlas of the Crusades. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-0-8160-2186-4.
• Phillips, Jonathan (2007). The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11274-0.
• Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas, "Norman and Anglo-Norman Participation in the Iberian Reconquista", Ph.D Thesis, Nottingham, 2007, pp. 146–85.
• Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas, "Revisiting the Anglo-Norman Crusaders' Failed Attempt to Conquer Lisbon c. 1142", Portuguese Studies 29:1 (2013), pp. 7–20.
• West, Charles (2013), "All in the same boat? East Anglia, the North Sea world and the 1147 expedition to Lisbon", in D. Bates and R. Liddiard (eds.) East Anglia and its North Sea World in the Middle Ages, pp. 287–300, ISBN 9781843838463

Further reading

• Odo of Deuil. De profectione Ludovici VII in orientem. Edited and translated by Virginia Gingerick Berry. Columbia University Press, 1948.
• Kenneth Setton, ed. A History of the Crusades, vol. I. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958.
• Osbernus De expugnatione Lyxbonensi or The Capture of Lisbon On-line excerpt, in English.
• Wilson, Jonathan (2016): "Enigma of the De Expugnatione Lyxbonensi",
• Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, doi:10.1080/17546559.2016.1166257

38°42′N 9°11′W / 38.700°N 9.183°W / 38.700; -9.183

v t e Lisbon topics
Main topics	Climate Flag District Metro area Mayors History Timeline People Tourism
Neighbourhoods	Alcântara Alfama Belém Bairro Alto Baixa Chiado Parque das Nações
Transportation	Lisbon Airport Carris Lisbon Metro Transtejo & Soflusa

v t e Years in Portugal
12th-15th centuries 1139 1140s 1150s 1160s 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s 1220s 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s 1280s 1290s 1300s 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s 1360s 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s 1500
16th century 1501 1502 1503 1504 1505 1506 1507 1508 1509 1510 1511 1512 1513 1514 1515 1516 1517 1518 1519 1520 1521 1522 1523 1524 1525 1526 1527 1528 1529 1530 1531 1532 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538 1539 1540 1541 1542 1543 1544 1545 1546 1547 1548 1549 1550 1551 1552 1553 1554 1555 1556 1557 1558 1559 1560 1561 1562 1563 1564 1565 1566 1567 1568 1569 1570 1571 1572 1573 1574 1575 1576 1577 1578 1579 1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1595 1596 1597 1598 1599 1600
17th century 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1613 1614 1615 1616 1617 1618 1619 1620 1621 1622 1623 1624 1625 1626 1627 1628 1629 1630 1631 1632 1633 1634 1635 1636 1637 1638 1639 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700
18th century 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800
19th century 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

• 1147 in Europe
• 12th century in Portugal
• Sieges involving Portugal
• Sieges involving Al-Andalus
• Battles involving the Normans
• Sieges of the Reconquista
• Battles of the Second Crusade
• Military history of Lisbon
• Sieges of the Crusades
• Conflicts in 1147
• 12th century in al-Andalus