Battle of Ourique
The
Battle of Ourique (
pron. IPA []) 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 Emir
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 Portugal 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.
*
Timeline of Portuguese history **
Second County of Portugal (11th to 12th Century)**
First Dynasty: Burgundy (12th to 14th Century)
