Portuguese Restoration War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Portuguese Restoration War (Portuguese: guerras da restauração) is the war between Portugal and Spain after the revolt of December 1640.

It consisted mainly of small skirmishes near the border, and 5 major battles. These most significant battles being

• the Battle of Montijo on May 26, 1644,
• the Battle of the Lines of Elvas on January 14, 1659,
• the Battle of Ameixial on June 8, 1663,
• the Battle of Castelo Rodrigo on July 7, 1664,
• the Battle of Montes Claros on June 17, 1665;

The Portuguese were victorious in all of these battles. The peace was concluded in the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668.

• 1640 December 1: a small group of conspirators storms the Palace in Lisbon and deposes the Spanish Governor, the Duchess of Mantua. The Duke of Bragança, head of the senior family of the Portuguese nobility (and descended from a bastard of Joao I), accepts the throne as Dom João IV of Portugal. His entire reign will be dominated by the struggle to establish and maintain independence from Spain. A first counter-revolution mounted by the inquisition fails, quelled by Francisco de Lucena, who has the ringleaders executed, but it initiates a 28-year-long war of independence against Spain punctuated by frequent internal threats to the stability of the new regime.

• 1644 - Elvas withstands a nine-day siege by Spanish troops.
• 1654 - Anglo-Portuguese treaty between Joao IV and Oliver Cromwell signed at Westminster. Joao agrees to prevent the molestation of the traders of the English Protector; they are allowed to use their own bible and bury their dead according to Protestant rites on Catholic soil.
• 1656 - Death of Joao IV after a reign of 15 years. His Queen now reigns as Regent for their son, Afonso VI of Portugal. She seeks an accommodation with Spain.
• 1659 - The Treaty of the Pyrenees ends Spain’s long war with France, and Spanish troops are freed once more to suppress the Portuguese ‘rebellion’. The Spaniards besiege Elvas and are driven off by António Luís de Meneses.
• 1660 - On the restoration of Charles II in Britain, the Queen-Regent re-negotiates the treaty of 1654. Portugal is allowed to recruit soldiers and horses in England for the fight against Spain; and to seek out 4,000 fighting men in Scotland and Ireland and charter 24 English ships to carry them. The expeditionary force is to be issued with English weapons on arrival in Portugal and guaranteed religious freedom of worship.
• 1661 - Castelho Melhor initiates the final, successful phase of the Portuguese war of liberation with the aid of the Franco-German Marshal Schomberg, who brilliantly commands an international mercenary army against the tired Spanish forces.
• 1665 - 17 June, Portugal is finally victorious at the Battle of Montes Claros, in which Schomberg defeats the Spanish army under the Marquis of Caracena; Spain ceases to make war, but peace will not be signed for another three years.
• 1668 - Peace Treaty of Lisbon with Spain ends nearly 30 years of war. Spain restores to Portugal all her former possessions and territory with the exception of Ceuta in Africa.