| Siege of Silves (1191) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Portuguese Reconquista and Almohad campaign against Portugal (1190–1191) | |||||||
 Silves Castle | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Portugal |  Almohad Caliphate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Yaqub al-Mansur | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Heavy 3,000 captured | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Silves in 1191 was a successful operation by the Almohads to recapture the city of Silves from the Portuguese whom they held from 1189.
In 1189, the Christians of Castile and Portugal took advantage of the internal turmoil happening in Al-Andalus and launched attacks into Muslim territory. The Portuguese king, Sancho, convinced a Crusader fleet that arrived in Lisbon in July 1189 to assist him in his attack against Silves. Sancho and the Crusaders marched south while the Crusader fleet sailed plundering the outskirts of Silves. The combined Christian armies captured Silves on September 1. The Almohad response came on June 5, 1190. They besieged the city, but Silves resisted against a strong siege, forcing the Almohads to raise the siege and retreat. [1]
In the summer of 1190, the Almohads made a truce with Castile and Leon, allowing them to retaliate against Portugal. After wintering in Seville, the Almohads launched another campaign. The Almohads successfully captured Alcácer do Sal. [2] They also captured Castle of Palmela and Almada. Now they headed towards their main target, Silves. [3]
The Almohads arrived in Silves on 27 June 1191. They surrounded the city with strong forces, began filling the trenches that surrounded it, and erected trebuchets which they used to bombard the walls severely. After 13 days of siege and bombardment, at the dawn of night, the Almohads were awake, watching for any chance to capture the city. The garrison and the inhabitants were tired and sleepy. They did not expect any assault by them during this time. On the contrary, seeing the garrison was at rest, one of the Almohad guides came forward from the walls and told them of a gap that could allow them to enter. Seeing their chance, the guide was followed by a group of men. They began raising their banners on the walls and beating the drums, the Almohads then assaulted the city and the garrison woke up only after the Muslims took control of the city. They began massacring the Portuguese. [4] The shocked survivors retreated to Kasbah where they were besieged. [5] The Portuguese capitulated on 23 July. [6] The Portuguese were allowed to send a message to the king asking him for permission to surrender which the king accepted. [7] The Almohad Caliph gave them 10 days to evacuate Silves. [8]
The Christian accounts do not provide many details regarding the siege, it mentions that the Almohads bombarded the walls non-stop until the garrison surrendered and were allowed to leave with their properties. [9] The campaign in Silves resulted in the capture of 3,000 slaves. [10]
The reconquest of Silves by the Almohads marked the end of their campaign against Portugal. The victory pushed the frontier back to the Tagus River, except for Évora. [11]
Silves is a city and municipality in the Portuguese region of Algarve, in southern Portugal. The population of the entire municipality of Silves in 2011 was 37,126, in an area of 680.06 km2. The urbanized area of the city proper has approximately 11,000 inhabitants. Silves is the former capital of the Kingdom of the Algarve (1249–1910), a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal (1139–1910), and is of great historical importance.
The Kingdom of the Algarve, after 1471, Kingdom of the Algarves, was a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal, located in the southernmost region of continental Portugal, until the end of the monarchy in 1910.
This is a timeline of notable events during the period of Muslim presence in Iberia, starting with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.
This is a historical timeline of Portugal.
De itinere navali is an anonymous Latin account of the siege and capture of Silves in 1189, one of the expeditions of the Third Crusade. It was written by an eyewitness shortly after the events it records. It is known from a single copy made a few decades later. It has been translated into English three times.
The Almohad Caliphate launched a major offensive against the Kingdom of Portugal in the spring of 1190 that lasted into the summer of 1191. The Caliph Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr crossed over from Africa to take personal command of his forces. The campaign of 1190 was underwhelming because of assistance Portugal received from passing armies of the Third Crusade. The sieges of Tomar, Santarém and Silves had to be abandoned, but the caliph overwintered in Seville. The campaign of 1191 reversed Portugal's recent reconquests, captured Silves after a second siege and pushed the frontier north to the Tagus.
The Alvor massacre took place in June 1189 during the Third Crusade, when a fleet of crusaders from the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark and the County of Flanders stormed the castle of Alvor in the Algarve, then part of the Almohad Caliphate, and massacred 5,600 people. The place of the conquest and massacre of Alvor in the Portuguese Reconquista is unclear, but there are grounds for thinking that it was part of the strategy of King Sancho I, who launched a siege of Silves a month later.
The siege of Silves in 1190 was a military confrontation of the Reconquista, occurring during the sixth Almohad invasion of Portugal. The city of Silves, conquered by King Sancho I of Portugal the previous year, was besieged by a Muslim army, but the Portuguese resisted the attack.
The siege of Silves was an action of the Third Crusade and the Portuguese Reconquista in 1189. The city of Silves in the Almohad Caliphate was besieged from 21 July until 3 September by the forces of Portugal and a group of crusaders from northern Europe on their way to the siege of Acre. The defenders capitulated on terms, the city was handed over to Portugal and the crusaders took a portion of the spoils.
Nicholas was the bishop of Silves (1189–1191) and bishop of Viseu (1192–1213) during the Portuguese Reconquista.
The siege of Badajoz (1169) was a military engagement between the Portuguese, led by King Afonso I of Portugal, and the Almohad garrison of Badajoz, allied with the Kingdom of León. The allied forces inflicted a severe defeat on the Portuguese.
The siege of Tomar was a military engagement that took place in 1190 between the Almohad caliphate who attacked the town of Tomar in Portugal, and the Templar Order, who owned the settlement and successfully defended it from the Muslim attack.
The Portuguese conquest of the Algarve, the southern-most region in modern-day Portugal, occurred between 1238, when the castle of Estômbar was captured by the Order of Santiago, and 1249, when king Afonso III of Portugal captured Faro, Loulé, Aljezur, Porches and Albufeira.
Portuguese participation in the Reconquista occurred from when the County of Portugal was founded in 868 and continued for 381 years until the last cities still in Muslim control in the Algarve were captured in 1249. Portugal was created during this prolonged process and largely owes its geographic form to it.
The Spanish Christian–Muslim War of 1172–1212 was fought between the Spanish Christian kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal and the Almohad Caliphate during the Reconquista. It began when the Almohad caliph Yusuf I attacked Castile from Cuenca in 1172 and ended after the Christian victory at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 but small skirmishes still occurred after the battle.
The Capture of Juromenha was a successful operation by the Almohad Caliphate against the Portuguese fortress of Gerald the Fearless. The Castle was captured by the Almohads, ousting Gerald from his base.
The Battle of Calatrava was a military engagement between the Castilian and the Almohad army near Calatrava. The Almohads achieved a resounding victory against their enemy.
The siege of Almeria was a successful attempt by the Almohads to capture the city of Almeria from the Christians in 1157, who had captured the city a decade ago. The Almohads expelled the Leonese and Genoese garrison and repelled a Castilian attempt to relieve it.
In 1191, the Almohads besieged the city of Alcácer do Sal which the Portuguese held. The siege was part of the Almohad campaign against Portugal in 1191. The Almohads succeeded in capturing the city.
The raid on Silves was an attack by the German Crusade on the Almohad city of Silves in 1197.