Battle of Ourique

Coordinates: 39°10′12″N 8°45′36″W / 39.1700°N 8.7600°W / 39.1700; -8.7600
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Battle of Ourique
Part of the
Ourique in Alentejo (southern Portugal)
39°10′12″N 8°45′36″W / 39.1700°N 8.7600°W / 39.1700; -8.7600
Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents County of Portugal AlmoravidsCommanders and leaders

Afonso Henriques

  • Royal ensign Garcia Mendes de Sousa
  • Mem Moniz
  • Diogo Gonçalves de Cete †
  • alcaide of Coimbra Gonçalo Dias de Góis
Muhammad Az-Zubayr Ibn UmarStrength Unknown UnknownCasualties and losses Unknown Unknown

The Battle of Ourique (

Afonso Henriques (of the House of Burgundy) defeated those led by the Almoravid governor of Córdoba
, Muhammad Az-Zubayr Ibn Umar, identified as "King Ismar" in Christian chronicles.

Background

Learning that during his

Trancoso.[1] Afonso Henriques's anxiety at this incursion at his southern frontier hastened his negotiations with Alfonso VII of León, leading to the Treaty of Zamora and freeing Afonso Henriques's troops to deal with the Muslim attack.[2]

Battle

Banner of arms of the count of Portugal

Historians are divided as to the location of this battle. At the time, the name "Ourique" designated a large area south of

Santarém.[5]

However, incursions by Christian armies deep in Muslim territory were not unheard of.

Gharb, and then, while retreating, was intercepted by a sizable Almoravid force intending to crush his army and recover the spoils taken by the Portuguese.[6]

Before the battle, Count Afonso was hailed as rex (king) by his men in the Germanic fashion, by being lifted atop his shield by the leading nobles of Portugal.

Despite the fact that the

King of the Portuguese, as Afonso I, with the support from his troops, vanquishing and slaying, so legend says, five Muslim kings.[7][8][9]

The earliest accounts provide little detail. In one account the Muslim forces are led by five kings (Life of St. Theotonius), while in another, they are under the command of one king, Ismar (Chronicles).

Abu Zakariya, the governor of Santarém, as the protagonist.[5] It is also likely that the numbers were inflated by the chroniclers from a large-scale raid to grand assault by Muslim forces.[5]

Aftermath

Shortly after the battle, Afonso Henriques is said to have called for the first assembly of the estates-general (

Monastery of Alcobaça to perpetuate the myth and justify the legitimacy of the Portuguese crown in the 17th century. The author of this falsification was Oliveira Marques, and even in 1632[11] there were misgivings about the validity of the chronicler's account or the existence of the Cortes of Lamego[12] The account continued to support the notion that a meeting of the Cortes occurred in the Church of Santa Maria de Almacave, in Lamego, in 1143.[10] During this meeting, after being acclaimed by estates-general, Afonso Henriques accepted a group of laws on royal succession and excluded the Castilian line of kings from the Portuguese throne, made provisions for the nobility on justice and the independence of Portugal.[10] However, even as Spanish jurists and diplomats later demonstrated that the document was not creditable, the Portuguese defended the authenticity of the account.[13] Alexandre Herculano later recounted the patriotic re-imagining in his História de Portugal, which caused its own controversy, and was later perpetuated by the writings of Alfredo Pimenta (who defended the existence of the Cortes of Lamego).[13]

In commemoration of the Battle of Ourique, the first Portuguese coat-of-arms appeared that included five small shields, to represent the five defeated Muslim kings (from one interpretation), which was later challenged by many authors.

Legend

Guardian Angel of Portugal
during the Battle of Ourique (1139)

Some years later, the idea of a

Jesus Christ.[citation needed
]

In the legend, Henriques was visited before the battle by an old man who saw in a dream that Henriques would be victorious because God would intervene in his favour.[4] He advised the nobleman to leave the encampment alone when he heard the bell of the local chapel.[4] Riding off he was surprised by a ray of light that showed him (in one interpretation) the sign of the cross and Jesus Christ on a crucifix.[4] Henriques knelt in its presence and heard the voice of Christ, who told him he would defeat the Almoravids, which he, through courage and his faith, succeeded the following day.[4]

The legend of the miracle of the Battle of Ourique served thus as a political instrument to defend Portuguese independence as divine will. Yet, the legend, possibly earlier, knows its first known record[

Crónica de Portugal de 1419 and was accepted as fact until Alexandre Herculano reexamined the event, judging it a "pious fraud", in his investigation in the middle of the 19th century.[4][15]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ISBN 978-0-8122-3452-7
  2. ISBN 978-0230583139
    . Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. ^ Mattoso 2006, p. 117.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira 2010, p. 24.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Livermore 1947, p. 65.
  6. ^ Mattoso 2006, p. 118.
  7. ^ Rabb 2008, p. 325.
  8. ^ Ungewitter 2009, p. 67.
  9. ^ Vincent 2006, p. xi.
  10. ^ a b c Ferreira 2010, p. 27.
  11. ^ Brandão, friar António, Crónica de D. Afonso Henriques, Monarquia Lusitana, vol. third.
  12. ^ Ferreira 2010, pp. 27–28.
  13. ^ a b Ferreira 2010, p. 28.
  14. ISBN 978-9729450389
  15. ^ Smith 1996, p. 63.

Sources

External links
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