The siege of Santarém lasted from June 1184 to July 1184.

Siege

In the spring of 1184,

Abu Yaqub Yusuf Abu Ya‘qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, whi ...

assembled an army, crossed the

straits of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...

and marched to

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. From there he marched towards

Badajoz Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portugal, Portuguese Portugal–Spain border, border, on the left bank of the river ...

and headed west to besiege

Santarém, Portugal Santarém () is a Portugal, Portuguese city and municipality located in the district of Santarém District, Santarém. The population of the historic Ribatejo capital in 2021 was 58,671,excluding the parish Pombalinho, that changed from the munic ...

, which was defended by

Afonso I of Portugal Dom Afonso IOr also ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin version), sometimes rendered in English as ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', depending on th ...

. Upon hearing of Abu Yusuf's attack,

Ferdinand II of León Ferdinand II ( 1137 – 22 January 1188), was a member of the Castilian House of Burgundy, Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and List of Leonese monarchs, King of León and kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1157 until his death. Life ...

marched his troops to Santarém to support his father-in-law, Afonso I. Abu Yusuf, believing he had sufficient troops to maintain the siege, sent orders for part of his army to march to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

and lay siege to that city too. The orders were misinterpreted and his army, seeing large contingents of men leaving the battle, became confused and started to retreat. Abu Yusuf, in an attempt to rally his troops, was wounded by a crossbow bolt and died on 29 July 1184.

Papal recognition

The victory at Santarém was a major achievement for Afonso I.

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

formally recognized him as ''rex Portugalensium''.O'Callaghan, 241.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siege of Santarem (1184) Santarém (1184) Santarém 1184 in Europe 12th century in Portugal Santarém Santarém Santarem 1184 12th century in the Kingdom of León 12th century in al-Andalus Santarém

Siege

Papal recognition

See also

References