Battle of Alcácer Quibir Overview

Fifteen eighty, there was a battle in Morocco

and the Portuguese king, Sebastian

or Sebastian, uh,

uh, the Portuguese king was killed.

It's, it's, it's, uh, the battle of, um,

uh...

I'll give the Arabic of it.

Uh, Al Qasr al Kabir, the Battle of the Big Fortress.

Uh, it's, you know, in Spanish and Port-Portuguese and so forth, it's,

has

bizarre spellings that I, uh, not sure how they pronounce it.

But Al Qasr al Kabir in Arabic, and it's also known as the Battle of the

Three

Kings because you had two contenders for

the, uh, for the sultanate in Morocco, a man and his

uncle. The uncle held the position.

He was being challenged by the nephew, and the Portuguese supported the nephew.

So King Sebastian, uh, with his Portuguese

army went to Morocco.

A significant contingent of the army was made up of English.

So you had a combined Portuguese and English and Moroccan army versus

a Moroccan army that was, uh, to some degree, supported by the Ottomans.

They fought a battle. Um, the-- none of the three kings, uh,

survived.

Uh, and, uh, Sebastian, uh,

his remains were never found.

But because of the marriage alliances within the

Portuguese ruling family, after some dispute and claims

by various other family members, Portugal became united to the

crown of Spain, and that was the end of Portugal

as an independent kingdom.