The Battle of Alcácer Quibir (also known as "Battle of Three Kings" (Arabic: معركة الملوك الثلاثة) or "Battle of Wadi al-Makhazin" (Arabic: معركة وادي المخازن) in Morocco) was fought in northern Morocco, near the town of Ksar-el-Kebir (variant spellings: Ksar El Kebir, Alcácer-Quivir, Alcazarquivir, Alcassar, etc.) and Larache, on 4 August 1578.
A Moroccan victory, the battle has been described as "the greatest military disaster the Portuguese ever suffered in the course of their overseas expansion." It marked an end to Portuguese attempts to reconquer territories it had lost in Morocco.
The Christian king Sebastian I had planned a crusade after Abu Abdallah asked him to help recover his throne. Abu Abdallah's uncle, Abd Al-Malik, had taken it from him with Ottoman support. The defeat of Portugal and disappearance of the childless Sebastian led to the end of the Aviz dynasty, and the integration of the country in the Iberian Union for 60 years under the Philippine dynasty in a dynastic union with Spain.
Sebastian, who would later be known in Portugal as the Desired, was the son of the Infante Dom John (son of John III of Portugal) and Joanna, daughter of the Emperor Charles V. His father died before he was born, and he became king at the age of three after the death of his grandfather in 1557. He was educated almost entirely by Jesuits, by his guardian and tutor Aleixo de Meneses and by Catherine of Austria, sister of Charles V and wife of King John III. Some, judging him after his defeat, alleged that under these influences his youthful idealism soon mutated into religious fanaticism, although he never joined the Holy League.
The Portuguese Cortes asked Sebastian several times to go to Morocco and stop the turmoil of the advancing Turkish military presence, because the Ottomans would be a threat to the security of the Portuguese coasts and to the commerce with Guinea, Brazil, and the Atlantic Islands, like the Azores and Madeira. But it was only when Abu Abdallah Mohammed II al-Mutawakkil went to Portugal and asked for Sebastian's help in recovering his throne from his uncle that Sebastian decided to mount a military effort. Sebastian felt driven to revive lost glories by intervening in North Africa, influenced by the events such as the defense of Mazagan in 1562 from a Moroccan siege. Accordingly, in 1568, the kingdom began to prepare for intervention in Morocco.
This policy was not only supported by the mercantile bourgeoisie as it would benefit commerce in this area (primarily, gold, cattle, wheat, and sugar), but also by the nobility. Up to that time Portuguese military action in Africa had been confined to small expeditions and raids; Portugal had built its vast maritime empire from Brazil to the East Indies by a combination of trade, sea exploration, and technological superiority, with Christian conversion of subject peoples being one, but by no means the only, end in view. Sebastian proposed to change this strategy entirely.
In 1574 Sebastian visited some of the Portuguese bases in North Africa and led a successful raid on Muslim territory beyond the then Portuguese city of Tangier, engaging in several skirmishes and in a confrontation of greater magnitude on 21 October. Although in numerical inferiority but with a heavy contingent of cavalry, he was successful, which encouraged him to grander designs against the new Saadian ruler of Morocco. He gave his support to Al-Mutawakkil, who was engaged in a civil war to recover the throne of Morocco from his uncle, the Emir Abd Al-Malik—who was aided by the Ottomans. Despite the admonitions of his mother and his uncle Philip II of Spain (who had become very cautious after the Battle of Djerba), Sebastian was determined to wage a military campaign, and he used much of Portugal's imperial wealth to equip a large fleet and gather an army which included soldiers of several nationalities: 2,000 volunteers from Spain (Castile), 3,000 mercenaries from Flanders and Germany, and 600 Italians initially recruited to aid in an invasion of Ireland under the leadership of the English adventurer, Thomas Stukley. It is said that the expeditionary force numbered 500 ships, and the army in total numbered about 18,000 men, including the flower of the Portuguese nobility.
Sultan Abd al-Malik of Morocco
Morocco, meanwhile, was under the rule of the Saadi (or Saadian) dynasty, a Moroccan Sharifian dynasty. Their rise to power began as a resistance to the Portuguese presence in Agadir and by the 1550s they controlled most of present-day Morocco and had supplanted the earlier Wattasid dynasty. Upon the death of Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib in 1574 his son Muhammad II al-Mutawakkil inherited the throne, but two years later he was overthrown by his uncle Abd al-Malik. Abd al-Malik had travelled to Istanbul in 1574 and secured Ottoman support from the Sultan there himself. The beylerbey of Algiers provided him with troops and with these Abd al-Malik was able to depose his nephew after winning a decisive victory near Fez. Once on the throne, as an Ottoman vassal he had the Friday prayers and the khutba in mosques delivered in the Ottoman sultan's name (Murad III), adopted Ottoman clothing, and organized his army along Ottoman lines with the help of Turkish officers. After this, the Saadi army, whose bulk was recruited from guich troops ("military tribes" mobilized to serve as regular levies), combined mounted arquebusiers, infantry armed with rifles, large numbers of light cavalry, and a detachment of artillery; most of which were newly trained in Ottoman tactics. In addition to his local guich troops and Berber contingents, many of the soldiers were recruited from Andalusis previously expelled from the Iberian Peninsula (or descended from those refugees), Berber tribes from the east such as the Zwawa, and from the Turks and ex-Ottoman soldiers in the region.
Indications of the presence of an Ottoman force accompanying the Moroccans to the battlefield vary between sources. Historian Stephen Cory, in reviewing relations between the Saadians and Ottomans in this period, states that the battle was won by the Saadians "without direct Ottoman assistance." Abderrahmane El Moudden, in a large study of Ottoman-Saadian diplomacy in this period, notes that some modern Turkish sources attribute the 1578 victory to Ottoman forces led by Ramazan Pasha on the field—though he also notes that some of these sources are liable to exaggerate Turkish military history.
In an encyclopedic entry about King Sebastian, historian Allen Fromherz indicates the presence of Ottoman forces at the battle, including Janissaries. Historian R. G. Grant states that Abd al-Malik's army was "partly supplied by the Ottoman Turks" and that it combined "Moroccan cavalry with Ottoman musket-armed infantry and cannon". Professor of Islamic Studies, Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, states that the Turks "could not take over the affairs of Morocco after [the Battle of Alcácer's] victory to which they contributed much". He also mentions that Abd al-Malik's army included Turkish troops, that its officers were Turks and so was the commander of his army, who is alleged to have had Abd al-Malik poisoned in order to secure total Ottoman control over Morocco.
Campaign
After haranguing his troops from the windows of the Church of Santa Maria in Lagos, Sebastian departed that port in his armada on 24 June 1578.
He landed at Arzila, in Portuguese Morocco, where Abu Abdallah joined him with an additional 6,000 Moorish allied troops, and marched into the interior.
Abd al-Malik I, who was gravely ill, had meanwhile collected a large army, rallying his countrymen to jihad against the Portuguese invaders. The two armies approached each other near Ksar-el-Kebir, camping on opposite sides of the Loukkos River.
Battle
A scene of the battle. 19th-century depiction
On 4 August 1578, the Portuguese and Moorish allied troops were drawn up in battle array, and Sebastian rode around encouraging the ranks. But the Moroccans advanced on a broad front, planning to encircle his army.
The Sultan had 10,000 cavalry on the wings, and in the center had placed Moors who had been driven out of Spain and thus bore a special grudge against Christians. Despite his illness, the Sultan left his litter and led his forces on horseback.
The battle started as both sides exchanged several volleys of gunfire from musketry and artillery. Stukley, commanding the Portuguese center, was killed by a cannonball early in the battle. The Moroccan cavalry advanced and began to encircle the Portuguese army. Both armies soon became fully engaged in a melee.
The flanks of the Portuguese army began to give way to the Moorish cavalry, and eventually the center became threatened as well. Seeing the flanks compromised, and having lost its commander early in battle, the Portuguese center lost heart and was overcome.
The battle ended after nearly four hours of heavy fighting and resulted in the total defeat of the Portuguese and Abu Abdallah's army with 8,000 dead, including the slaughter of almost the whole of Portugal's nobility. 15,000 were captured and sold into slavery, and around 100 survivors escaped to the coast. The body of King Sebastian, who led a charge into the midst of the enemy and was then cut off, was never found.
The Sultan Abd Al-Malik died during the battle from natural causes (the effort of riding was too much for him), but the news was concealed from his troops until total victory had been secured. Abu Abdallah attempted to flee but drowned in the river. Because of the deaths during the fighting of Sebastian, Abu Abdallah, and Abd Al-Malik, the battle became known in Morocco as the Battle of the Three Kings.
Abd Al-Malik was succeeded as Sultan by his brother Ahmad al-Mansur, also known as Ahmed Addahbi, who conquered Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne after defeating the Songhai Empire. The Moroccan army which invaded Songhai in 1590–91 was made up mostly of European captives, including a number of Portuguese taken prisoner at the battle of Alcácer Quibir.
For Portugal, the battle was an unmitigated disaster. Sebastian died on the battlefield along with most of the Portuguese nobility. The captive nobles were ransomed, nearly bankrupting Portugal. Despite the lack of a body, Sebastian was presumed dead, at the age of 24. In his piety, he had remained unmarried and had sired no heir. His aged, childless uncle Henry of Portugal, a cardinal of the Roman church, succeeded to the throne as closest legitimate relative. His brief reign (1578–1580) was devoted to attempting to raise the crippling financial reparations demanded by the disastrous Morocco venture. After his death, legitimate claimants to the throne of the House of Aviz, which had ruled Portugal for 200 years, were defeated by a Castilian military invasion. Philip II of Spain, a maternal grandson of Manuel I of Portugal, and nearest male claimant (being an uncle of Sebastian I), invaded with an army of 40,000 men, defeating the troops of Anthony, Prior of Crato at the Battle of Alcântara and was crowned Philip I of Portugal by the Cortes of Tomar in 1581.
Later, at the beginning of his reign, Philip II ordered that the mutilated remains said to be Sebastian's (and so recognized after the battle by some of his close companions), and still in North Africa, be returned to Portugal, where they were buried at the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon. Portugal and its Empire were not de jure incorporated into the Spanish Empire, and remained as a separate realm of the Spanish Habsburgs until 1640 when it broke away through the Portuguese Restoration War.
Partly in reaction to the national trauma of this disastrous defeat, a cult of 'Sebastianism' which portrayed the lost monarch in terms similar to King Arthur arose. The legend of Portugal's "Once and Future King" who would some day return to save his nation has ebbed and flowed in Portuguese life ever since.
The battle is represented in the 2020 video game Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition as a historical battle mission under the name "The Battle of the Three Kings".
The battle is mentioned in the story "Among the Hairy Earthmen" by R. A. Lafferty, where it is depicted as one of a series of Renaissance battles provoked by extraterrestrial juvenile delinquents inhabiting human bodies.
^Sebastian disappeared in the battle and was later presumed dead. This would lead to Sebastianism, a myth based on the belief that he would reappear and return to Portugal at some critical point in the future.
^ Spencer 2009, p. 534, Sebastian spends considerable sums to equip a large fleet of some 500 ships and gather a force of 23,000 men. They then march into the interior, where the sultan has collected a large force of at least 60,000 and perhaps as many as 100,000 men.
^ Lyle N. McAlister, p. 292
^ Colección de documentos inéditos para la historia de España, vol. 100
^O minuto vitorioso de Alcácer Quibir – José de Esaguy
^C. Tucker. Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi had sought the assistance of Sebastian to recover his throne, which his uncle had seized with Ottoman assistance. Sebastian saw this not only as a Christian Crusade but as necessary to keep the Ottomans from the southern Iberian Peninsula and to protect Portuguese trade. p. 534
^Cory, Stephen (2016). Reviving the Islamic caliphate in early modern Morocco. Routledge. p. 63. ISBN9781317063421. The situation was different with Mūlāy Aḥmad. His signature victory, the Battle of Wādī al-Makhāzin, was won without direct Ottoman assistance. In fact, al-Manṣūr had reason to suspect that the Ottomans were trying to eliminate him as sultan of Morocco.
^El Moudden, Abderrahmane (1992). Sharifs and Padishahs: Moroccan-Ottoman relations from the 16th through the 18th centuries. Contribution to the study of a diplomatic culture. Princeton University (PhD dissertation). pp. 89, 102 (see footnotes).
^Fromherz, Allen (2012). "Sebastian of Portugal". In Gates, Henry Louis; Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Niven, Steven J. (eds.). Dictionary of African Biography. Oxford University Press. p. 313. ISBN978-0-19-538207-5. The battle of the Three Kings, named after the king of Portugal and the two claimants to the Saadian sultanate, took place at Ksar el Kebir, a city between Tangier and Fez, on 4 August 1578. The Saadian claimant 'Abd al-Malik used not only Ottoman Janissaries but a contingent of Andalusi Muslims who had been expelled from Iberia and who, it was often reported, attacked the Spanish and Portuguese with a special vengeance. The Ottomans and Saadians were also supplied with advanced artillery.
^Peters, The emir also possessed a secret weapon – a wing recruited from Moors whose families had been driven from Spain and who viewed the coming battle as a grudge fight. p. 25
^Pick, T.M. (2001). "The myth of the trauma/the trauma of the myth: Myths as mediators of some long-term effects of war trauma". Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. 7 (3): 201–226. doi:10.1207/S15327949PAC0703b_2.
E. W. Bovill, The Battle of Alcazar (London: The Batchworth Press, 1952).
Mary Elizabeth Brooks, A King for Portugal. The Madrigal conspiracy, 1594–95. On the impersonation of King Sebastian by Gabriel de Espinosa. With plates, including portraits (Madison and Milwaukee: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1964), Chapter 1.
Marshall Cavendish: World and Its Peoples (2009)
Lyle N. McAlister, Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492–1700, Volume 3 (1984)
Spencer, C. Tucker (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO. ISBN978-185109-672-5.
Ralph Peters, Endless War: Middle-Eastern Islam Vs. Western Civilization (2011) ISBN978-0-81170-823-4
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