Battle of Alcântara (1580)
| Battle of Alcântara | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Alcântara (Lisbon), Portugal | |
| Result | Victory for Philip II[1][2] |
Supporters of António Prior of Crato 
Supporters of Philip II Prior of Crato Count of Vimioso500 cavalry[4]
30 guns
1,800 cavalry
22 guns
The Battle of Alcântara took place on 25 August 1580, near the brook of
Background
In Portugal, the death of King
Two years earlier, the Portuguese army had a major defeat at the
Battle
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2016) |
The Duke of Alba met little resistance and in July landed his forces at Cascais, 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 António, Prior of Crato (a grandson of King Manuel I of Portugal who had proclaimed himself King as António I) and his lieutenant Francisco de Portugal, 3rd Count of Vimioso.
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
Aftermath
The decimated Antonian army fled towards Porto 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.[17] At the end of 1580, most of the Portuguese territory was in Spanish hands. Two more battles (1582 and 1583) over the succession were fought in the Azores.
Spain and Portugal would remain united in a personal union of the crowns (remaining formally independent and with autonomous administrations) for the next 60 years, until 1640. This period is called the Iberian Union.
 |
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba |
See also
- War of the Portuguese Succession
- Capture of Porto
- Battle of Ponta Delgada
- Conquest of the Azores
- Timeline of Portuguese history
Notes
- ^ Geoffrey Parker p. 35
- ^ Henry Kamen The Duke of Alba pp. x + 204
- ^ Newton de Macedo p. 96
- ^ Newton de Macedo p. 96
- ^ Newton de Macedo p. 96
- ^ Dauril Alden p. 90
- ^ Jeremy Black p. 119
- ^ Thomas Henry Dyer p. 287
- ^ David S. Katz p. 51
- ^ David Eggenberger p. 10
- ^ Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer p. 296
- ^ Tony Jaques p. 25
- ^ Cathal J. Nolan p. 10
- ^ David Eggenberger p. 10
- ^ History of Portugal: pamphlet collection p. 267
- ^ Newton de Macedo p. 96
- ^ Espasa. Vol 6. p. 1297
References
- Geoffrey Parker, The Army of Flanders and the Spanish road, London, 1972 ISBN 0-521-08462-8
- 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) ISBN 989-554-109-0
- 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)
