The Battle of Alcântara took place on 25 August 1580, near the brook of Alcântara, in the vicinity of

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, and was a victory of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

King

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

over the other pretender to the

Portuguese throne This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...

, Dom

António, Prior of Crato António, Prior of Crato (; 153126 August 1595; sometimes called ''The Determined'', ''The Fighter'', ''The Independentist'' or ''The Resistant''), was a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal who claimed the Portuguese throne during the 1580 d ...

Background

In Portugal, the death of King

Sebastian of Portugal Sebastian ( pt, Sebastião I ; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz. He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and hi ...

in 1578, with only an elderly childless great uncle to succeed him, plunged the country into a

succession crisis A succession crisis is a crisis that arises when an order of succession fails, for example when a king dies without an indisputable heir. It may result in a war of succession. Examples include (see List of wars of succession): *Multiple periods dur ...

. King Philip II of Spain was one of seven who laid claim to the Portuguese throne, and in June 1580 a Spanish army of about 40,000 men (about half of which were German and Italian mercenaries) invaded Portugal, under the command of Don

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

. Two years earlier, the Portuguese army had been decimated at the

Battle of Ksar El Kebir A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

(1578), causing the death and imprisonment of tens of thousands of Portuguese soldiers and nobles. Dom António also lacked support from what was left of the Portuguese nobility and high clergy, which chose to support Philip II instead. Dom António was therefore forced to recruit an irregular army composed mainly of local peasants and townspeople as well as 3,000 African

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

who fought for António in exchange for their freedom.

Battle

The Duke of Alba met little resistance and in July landed his forces at

Cascais Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...

, west of Lisbon. By mid-August, the Duke was only 10 kilometers from the city. West of the small brook Alcântara, the Spanish encountered a Portuguese force on the eastern side of it, commanded by

(a grandson of King

Manuel I of Portugal Manuel I (; 31 May 146913 December 1521), known as the Fortunate ( pt, O Venturoso), was King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521. A member of the House of Aviz, Manuel was Duke of Beja and Viseu prior to succeeding his cousin, John II of Portugal, a ...

who had proclaimed himself King as António I) and his lieutenant

Francisco de Portugal, 3rd Count of Vimioso Francisco de Portugal, also known as Francis II of Portugal, 3rd Count of Vimioso (c. 1550 – 1582), was the eldest son and heir of the 2nd Count of Vimioso, Afonso de Portugal (Alphonse of Portugal). He was one of the few high-ranking Portugues ...

. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Spanish army, both on land and sea. Two days later, the Duke of Alba captured Lisbon, and on March 25, 1581, Philip of Spain was crowned

King of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the n ...

as Philip I.

Aftermath

The decimated Antonian army fled towards

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

with the intention of reassembling his troops, but was completely destroyed at Porto by the Spanish forces under the command of Don

Sancho d'Avila Sancho d'Avila (21 September 1523 – 1583) was a Spanish general. Born at Ávila, he first served as the commander of the Duke of Alba's bodyguard. It was in this function that d'Avila arrested the Count of Egmont. When the Eighty Years' W ...

.Espasa. Vol 6. p.1297 At the end of 1580, most of the Portuguese territory was in Spanish hands. Two more

battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

(1582 and 1583) over the succession were fought in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

. Spain and Portugal would remain united in a

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

of the crowns (remaining formally independent and with autonomous administrations) for the next 60 years, until 1640. This period is called the

Iberian Union pt, União Ibérica , conventional_long_name =Iberian Union , common_name = , year_start = 1580 , date_start = 25 August , life_span = 1580–1640 , event_start = War of the Portuguese Succession , event_end = Portuguese Restoration War , ...

Notes

References

*Geoffrey Parker, ''The Army of Flanders and the Spanish road'', London, 1972 * Henry Kamen, ''The Duke of Alba'' (New Haven–London: Yale University Press, 2004). *David Eggenberger: ''An encyclopedia of battles: accounts of over 1,560 battles from 1479 B.C. to the present'' (1985) *''History of Portugal: pamphlet collection'' (197?) *Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer: ''The Encyclopedia of world history: ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged'' (2001) *Cathal J. Nolan: ''The age of wars of religion, 1000-1650: an encyclopedia of global warfare and civilization'' (2006) *Newton de Macedo: ''História de Portugal: Glória e Declínio do Império-de D.Manuel I ao Domínio dos Filipes'' (2004) *Jeremy Black: ''European warfare, 1494-1660'' (2002) *Tony Jaques: ''Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E'' (2007) *Thomas Henry Dyer: ''The history of modern Europe: from the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, to the war in the Crimea, Volume 2'' (1857) *David S. Katz: ''The Jews in the history of England, 1485-1850'' (1997) *Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada. Espasa. Volume 6 (1999). *Dauril Alden: ''The making of an enterprise: the Society of Jesus in Portugal, its empire, and beyond, 1540-1750'' (1996)

External links