OK, after a long time, I've decided to posto my first TL. Thanks to Seleucus VII for helping me with the translation. I hope you enjoy.
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Chapter 1
The Ksar-el-Kebir disaster
From “History of the Portuguese Kings”, by João Guimarães Castro (1953)
...When John of Austria won the battle of Lepanto, in 1571, the king Sebastian felt himself stimulated to follow the glories of his Spanish uncle. He accepted an invitation from the Pope to join the Holy Alliance in a crusade against the Turks. Afterwards, he sent a message to the Venetian Republic to help him, and, also, wrote to the Persian Shah to attack the Ottomans through the eastern side while the Christians would do it from the west.
With the crusader idea abandoned, due to the Ottoman recovering and also due to the allies’ internal disagreements, Sebastian decided to fight in India, but this idea was soon given up. Then, he wanted to fight in Morocco, again dissuaded by his court.
Obsessed with the idea of making military glories against the infidels, in August of 1574 the king sailed to Morocco, returning some time later, not because he decided to follow his councilors advices, but because he didn’t find in Ceuta nor in Tangier a good occasion of fighting. The Moroccans, when heard about his arrival, retreated, supposing that Sebastian had a large army behind him, and did not tried to fight. The king, bored, regressed to Portugal, yet still decided to return in a more opportune moment to make a “true war”.
The moment he was waiting for came in 1576, when Prince Abdul Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, Moroccan ruler, was deposed by his uncle, Abd al-Malik, who left his Algerian exile and was conquering the country. To defeat his uncle, Abdul went to Spain in 1577, trying to convince Phillip II helping him in this adventure. However, Abdul didn’t know that the Spanish king had already agreed upon a non-aggression pact with Abd al-Malik. Phillip answered that his troops were busy in Flanders, but suggested the deposed sultan to go to Portugal instead, to deal with his nephew, king Sebastian I. Abdul went then to Lisbon, where he required Portuguese help, exchanging it for more territories. And the first proof of his willing was the order to surrender Arsilah, where the garrison was still loyal to him, to the Portuguese, what was done in 1577 yet.
Sebastian was exalted with this possibility at hands. However, his State Council vehemently declared that it would not support the King’s action, but again the king didn’t care to what the councilors were thinking. Also useless were the contrary advices from his grandmother, Queen Catarina, from Cardinal Henrique, the senate chamber of Lisbon and Philip’s ambassador. Abd al-Malik himself offered honorable conditions to keep peace, all of them refused...
…The national treasure was almost completely emptied due to the invasion’s preparatives. A fleet was formed, and mercenaries from Spain, the HRE, Italy and Ireland were hired. Including the recruited within the kingdom, Sebastian’s army had over 24 thousand men [1]…
…Before leaving Lisbon, Sebastian ordered to bring to him from the Santa Cruz Monastery, in Coimbra, the sword that was owned by Dom Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. The fleet set sail in June 25, 1578, passing by Lagos, Cadiz, Tanger, and reaching Asilah. There, they were joined by Abdul Abdallah’s men, and started the march in direction to Larache, a port that Sebastian had looked forward to conquer.
In August 04, after a long march under the Moroccan summer sun, they reached Suaken, a village on the bank of Makhazin River, near to the city of Ksar-el-Kebir. There, they finally met the 87,000 men of Abd al-Malik’s army…
... Abd al-Malik, even being ill during the battle, was able to command the army very well, surrounding the Portuguese with his troops. In the center of his battle line he put moors expelled from Spain, who fought with much more anger against the Christians. At the same time, his 10 thousand horsemen were attacking the Portuguese flanks...
The effort of the struggle was too much for the old prince. Abd al-Malik died while leading a charge against the Portuguese. The news was hidden from the rest of the army, to keep the troops’ morale high. At the same time, Adbul Adballan, realizing that the fight was over, tried to flee from the battlefield. However, while he was crossing the river, he was drowned…
...When Sebastian finally understood that the fight was lost, he said to his men that would be better to die as a warrior saint than to live as a prisoner, and ordered them to be prepared to a last charge in the midst of the enemy. His knights tried to convince him to give up. The Prior of Crato, on foot an covered with blood, pointed to an empty space in the flank of the Moroccan army were the king could escape from the Muslims, but Sebastian didn’t listen to him.[2] As a desperate action, Dom Cristóvão of Távora, ordered to an allied moor to take the sword from the king’s hand. The moor surprised the king, grabbing him by the arm. Trying to release himself, the king fell from his horse, hitting his head on the ground, where he remained unconscious.
The king’s knights made a defensive circle, trying to protect the king. But, after some time, they surrendered to the Moroccans. In the end, more than 8,000 men on the Portuguese army were dead, and 12,000 were made prisoners, with the king among them.
1) The real number of combatants in Ksar-el-Kebir it’s still polemic, with sources ranging from 15 to 25 thousand on the Portuguese side, and from 60 to 100 thousand on the Moroccan. The author of this book decided to go with the number shown above.
2) The details from the battle are not clear also, but as the POD is here, I’ve decided to use some “literary liberties”, to make the text more interesting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1
The Ksar-el-Kebir disaster
From “History of the Portuguese Kings”, by João Guimarães Castro (1953)
...When John of Austria won the battle of Lepanto, in 1571, the king Sebastian felt himself stimulated to follow the glories of his Spanish uncle. He accepted an invitation from the Pope to join the Holy Alliance in a crusade against the Turks. Afterwards, he sent a message to the Venetian Republic to help him, and, also, wrote to the Persian Shah to attack the Ottomans through the eastern side while the Christians would do it from the west.
With the crusader idea abandoned, due to the Ottoman recovering and also due to the allies’ internal disagreements, Sebastian decided to fight in India, but this idea was soon given up. Then, he wanted to fight in Morocco, again dissuaded by his court.
Obsessed with the idea of making military glories against the infidels, in August of 1574 the king sailed to Morocco, returning some time later, not because he decided to follow his councilors advices, but because he didn’t find in Ceuta nor in Tangier a good occasion of fighting. The Moroccans, when heard about his arrival, retreated, supposing that Sebastian had a large army behind him, and did not tried to fight. The king, bored, regressed to Portugal, yet still decided to return in a more opportune moment to make a “true war”.
The moment he was waiting for came in 1576, when Prince Abdul Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi, Moroccan ruler, was deposed by his uncle, Abd al-Malik, who left his Algerian exile and was conquering the country. To defeat his uncle, Abdul went to Spain in 1577, trying to convince Phillip II helping him in this adventure. However, Abdul didn’t know that the Spanish king had already agreed upon a non-aggression pact with Abd al-Malik. Phillip answered that his troops were busy in Flanders, but suggested the deposed sultan to go to Portugal instead, to deal with his nephew, king Sebastian I. Abdul went then to Lisbon, where he required Portuguese help, exchanging it for more territories. And the first proof of his willing was the order to surrender Arsilah, where the garrison was still loyal to him, to the Portuguese, what was done in 1577 yet.
Sebastian was exalted with this possibility at hands. However, his State Council vehemently declared that it would not support the King’s action, but again the king didn’t care to what the councilors were thinking. Also useless were the contrary advices from his grandmother, Queen Catarina, from Cardinal Henrique, the senate chamber of Lisbon and Philip’s ambassador. Abd al-Malik himself offered honorable conditions to keep peace, all of them refused...
…The national treasure was almost completely emptied due to the invasion’s preparatives. A fleet was formed, and mercenaries from Spain, the HRE, Italy and Ireland were hired. Including the recruited within the kingdom, Sebastian’s army had over 24 thousand men [1]…
…Before leaving Lisbon, Sebastian ordered to bring to him from the Santa Cruz Monastery, in Coimbra, the sword that was owned by Dom Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal. The fleet set sail in June 25, 1578, passing by Lagos, Cadiz, Tanger, and reaching Asilah. There, they were joined by Abdul Abdallah’s men, and started the march in direction to Larache, a port that Sebastian had looked forward to conquer.
In August 04, after a long march under the Moroccan summer sun, they reached Suaken, a village on the bank of Makhazin River, near to the city of Ksar-el-Kebir. There, they finally met the 87,000 men of Abd al-Malik’s army…
... Abd al-Malik, even being ill during the battle, was able to command the army very well, surrounding the Portuguese with his troops. In the center of his battle line he put moors expelled from Spain, who fought with much more anger against the Christians. At the same time, his 10 thousand horsemen were attacking the Portuguese flanks...
The effort of the struggle was too much for the old prince. Abd al-Malik died while leading a charge against the Portuguese. The news was hidden from the rest of the army, to keep the troops’ morale high. At the same time, Adbul Adballan, realizing that the fight was over, tried to flee from the battlefield. However, while he was crossing the river, he was drowned…
...When Sebastian finally understood that the fight was lost, he said to his men that would be better to die as a warrior saint than to live as a prisoner, and ordered them to be prepared to a last charge in the midst of the enemy. His knights tried to convince him to give up. The Prior of Crato, on foot an covered with blood, pointed to an empty space in the flank of the Moroccan army were the king could escape from the Muslims, but Sebastian didn’t listen to him.[2] As a desperate action, Dom Cristóvão of Távora, ordered to an allied moor to take the sword from the king’s hand. The moor surprised the king, grabbing him by the arm. Trying to release himself, the king fell from his horse, hitting his head on the ground, where he remained unconscious.
The king’s knights made a defensive circle, trying to protect the king. But, after some time, they surrendered to the Moroccans. In the end, more than 8,000 men on the Portuguese army were dead, and 12,000 were made prisoners, with the king among them.
1) The real number of combatants in Ksar-el-Kebir it’s still polemic, with sources ranging from 15 to 25 thousand on the Portuguese side, and from 60 to 100 thousand on the Moroccan. The author of this book decided to go with the number shown above.
2) The details from the battle are not clear also, but as the POD is here, I’ve decided to use some “literary liberties”, to make the text more interesting.
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