Battle of Ourique

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Battle of Ourique

"The Miracle of Ourique" by Domingos Sequeira (1793)

Date	July 25, 1139
Location	Ourique in Alentejo (southern Portugal)
Result	Portuguese victory

Combatants

Portuguese Christian Army

Andalusian Muslims of the Almoravids

Commanders

Afonso Henriques

Ali ibn Yusuf

Strength

Unknown

Casualties

Unknown

Reconquista
Covadonga – Roncevaux Pass – Simancas – Atapuerca – Graus – Az-Zallaqah – Ucles – Ourique – Lisbon – Alarcos – Las Navas de Tolosa – Jerez – Granada

The Battle of Ourique (pron. IPA [o'ɾik(ɨ)]) took place in July 25 (St. James day) 1139, probably in the countryside outside the town of Ourique, present-day Alentejo (southern Portugal), but there is no certainty about its exact location. In this battle, the forces of Portuguese Prince Afonso Henriques (of the House of Burgundy) clashed against the Almoravid Moors lead by Ali ibn Yusuf.

Despite the fact that the Christian Portuguese forces were strongly outnumbered, the Muslim armies were weakened by internal leadership problems, and the victory for Afonso Henriques was such that he proclaimed himself King of the Portuguese as Afonso I with the overwhelming support of his troops, having vanquished and slain, so legend says, five Moorish kings.

Immediately after the battle, King Afonso I of Portugal called for the first assembly of the estates-general of Portugal at Lamego, where he was given the Crown from the Bishop of Braga, to confirm the independence from the Kingdom of León and Castile.

Some years later, the idea of a miraculous intervention in the battle by Saint James the Great in favour of the Portuguese sprung up. St. James was widely venerated in Iberia (with a main center of veneration in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, where his tomb is supposed to be located), being generally seen as the Matamouros ("Moor-slayer"). In the process of Portuguese independence this legend changed with time, due to the need to make distance with Spanish devotional practices and beliefs. In a first stage St. James was replaced by Saint George, and, in a second stage, by Christ himself. The legend of the miracle of the Battle of Ourique served thus as a political instrument to defend Portuguese independence as divine will.

Primitive Portuguese Coat-of-Arms

It is said that, in commemoration of the Battle of Ourique, the Portuguese coat-of-arms bears five small shields (representing the five defeated Moorish kings), though this interpretation has been challenged by many authors.