The Siege of Lisbon occurred from 1 July to 25 October 1147 during the Reconquista, when the Portuguese king Afonso Henriques - aided by the knights of the Second Crusade - conquered the major city of Lisbon (al-Ushbuna) from the Almoravid Moors. The city fell after a siege of almost four months, and its population of over 154,000 men (plus women and children) was massacred and the city pillaged; afterwards, most of the Crusaders went on to settle in the city, which became the capital of Portugal in 1255.
History[]
In western Iberia, victory over the Almoravids at the Battle of Ourique in 1139 allowed Afonso Henriques to become the first King of Portugal. In 1147, he persuaded a fleet of German, Flemish, and English crusaders on their way to the Holy Land to stop off and help him conquer the Muslim city of Lisbon. The crusaders landed outside the city on 28 June and, after a series of skirmishes, occupied the suburbs on 1 July. At first the siege went badly: five mangonels (catapults) used to batter the walls were destroyed and a siege tower got stuck in waterlogged ground. The Germans and Flemish dug mines under the city walls, opening a breach on 16 October, but the defenders repulsed an assault. On 19 October, however, the English completed a second siege tower. As teh tower was rolled toward the walls, the Muslims agreed to surrender the city in return for an undertaking that it would not be sacked. When the crusaders entered Lisbon under truce on 24 October, they nonetheless engaged in massacre and pillage.