The Battle of Algeciras was a

naval battle Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large la ...

which occurred on July 25, 1278. The battle pitted the fleets of the

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...

, commanded by the

Admiral of Castile Admiral of Castile was the representative of the King of Castile at the head of the Navy. It was a dignity created in 1247 that lasted until 1705. Admiral of Castile The title of Admiral of Castile was created by King Ferdinand III the Saint in ...

, Pedro Martínez de Fe, and the combined fleets of the

Marinid dynasty The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) a ...

and that of the

Emirate of Granada ) , common_languages = Official language: Classical ArabicOther languages: Andalusi Arabic, Mozarabic, Berber, Ladino , capital = Granada , religion = Majority religion: Sunni IslamMinority religions:R ...

, commanded by

Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr () (died 13 May 1307) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the son of Abu Yusuf Ya'qub, whom he succeeded in 1286. His mother was a sharifa, Lalla Oum'el'Iz bint Mohammed al-Alaoui. He was assassinated in 1307. ...

. The battle was fought in the context of the Moorish naval expeditions to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

. The battle, which took place in the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

, resulted in a Muslim victory. This battle coincided with a simultaneous

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

of the city of

Algeciras Algeciras ( , ) is a municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeci ...

which lasted from 1278–79 and was commanded by the Infante Sancho. The Castilian prince would abandon the siege later in 1279, marking the end of the first action of the long battle for the

History

In 1275, the

Marinid The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...

Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd Al-Haqq Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq () (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq, and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He was the son of Abd al-Haqq ...

disembarked on the peninsula commanding an army with the strategic objective to occupy the city of Tarifa. Along this route, he directly participated in various actions, including the Battle of Écija. By 1278, King

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Ger ...

, sent a large fleet from

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

with the goal of blockading that same city. The fleet, which was made up of more than 100 ships of different types, was commanded by the Order of Santa María de España, a military-religious Spanish order which was concentrated in naval warfare. The fleet was commanded by the Admiral of Castile, Pedro Martínez de Fe. The Marinid Sultan worked to gather his own fleet of 72 ships and was reinforced with a small fleet of 12 ships sent by the Sultan of Grenada, Muhammad II. Once these two fleets were united, the Muslim fleets recognized a tactical advantage seeing that the Castillian fleet was in poor condition as many of its crew members were afflicted by an attack of

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease, disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, ch ...

. They decided to attack on the 25th of July and the action took place off the coast of

and resulted in the practical destruction of the entire Castilian fleet.

Aftermath

A large portion of the responsibility for the destruction of the Castilian fleet fell on the infante Pedro who appropriated much of the fleets and the siege's tax funding and condemned it to serious supply problems. King Alfonso X however failed to punish his son and instead chose to blame the fleets failure on the Jewish tax collectors

Yishaq de la Maleha Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...

, ordering his arrest, appropriating all his assets and ordering his execution. The embarrassment following the battle led to the subsequent irrelevance of the Order of Santa María de España which was integrated with the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgri ...

in 1280 after that order's ranks were decimated in the Battle of Moclín. After the integration into the Order of Santiago, the Order of Santa María de España ceased to exist.

References

* The information on this page was translated from its Spanish equivalent. {{coord missing, Spain 1278 in Europe Algeciras 1278 13th century in Castile Algeciras (1278) Algeciras (1278) Algeciras 1278 Algeciras 1278 13th century in Al-Andalus Algeciras

History

Aftermath

See also

References