Battle of Ourique - Battle

Battle

Historians are divided as to the location of this battle. At the time, the name "Ourique" designated a large area south of Beja. Since 12th century chroniclers where unfamiliar with the region where the battle took place, they might have decided to call the location "camp of Ourique" for lack of a more precise term. Nonetheless, the great distance that separated Ourique from the Christian lines farther north as led some historians to suggest various localities in central Portugal, abandoning the traditional idea that the combat occurred in Ourique in the Alentejo. It would have been difficult for the then Count of Portugal, with a realm little beyond the Mondego River, to go all the way south to battle five Moorish Kings. One plausible alternative is Vila Chã de Ourique, located some ten miles from Santarém.

However, incursions by Christian armies deep in Muslim territory were not unheard-of. Alfonso VII had directed expeditions that had reached Cordoba and Sevilla, well beyond the limits of Castillian dominions, and in 1147 he managed to conquer the Mediterrenean port of Almería, south of Granada. This was possible because the largest Almoravid armies were positioned at the frontier, while armies stationed in small towns would rather retreat into their castles than face a strong enemy force. Its not at all unfeasible that Afonso lead a raid into the Gharb, and then, while retreating, was intercepted by sizable Almoravid troops intending to crush his army.

Despite the fact that the Christian Portuguese forces were strongly outnumbered, the Muslim armies were weakened by internal leadership problems, which led to Afonso Henrique's victory and subsequently his proclamation as King of the Portuguese, as Afonso I, with the support from his troops, vanquishing and slaying, so legend says, five Moorish kings.

The earliest accounts provide little detail. In one account the Moorish forces are led by five Kings (Life of St. Theotonius), while in another, the Muslim forces are under the command of one King, Ismar (Chronicles). In the more detailed Chronicle of the Goths, Ismar waited until Henriques penetrated into Moslem territory, then systematically sent his troops from Seville, Badajoz, Elvas, Évora and Beja against the Portuguese count. Further, the Portuguese forces were surrounded on the hilltop where they encamped, Ismar hosted knights, who were executed later by Henriques, and that the Moorish king escaped in defeat. Arab and Spanish accounts do not clarify the circumstances, and confuse the issue, identifying the Ismar as, alternatively, Ismar Abuzicri or Ismar and Abuzicri, with later historians identifying Abu Zakariya, the governor of Santarém, as the protagonist. It is also likely that the numbers were inflated by the chroniclers from a large-scale raid to grand assault by Muslim forces. Further, the defeat of Moorish forces is disproved the following year, when Ismar returned to attack Leiria with troops from Santarém, Évora and Badajoz.