Medieval Sourcebook:
Osbernus:
De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, 1147
[The Capture of Lisbon]
[Adapted from Brundage] The first groups to depart on the Second
Crusade were Anglo-Norman and Flemish sailors and troops who left
Dartmouth on May 19, 1147 bound for Spain. Their goal was to conquer
a number of position on the west coast of Iberia, among them the
city of Lisbon. Affonso I of Portugal was already in the field
there when the Anglo-Norman troops landed on the beaches in June
1147.
An account of the expedition survives, written by Osbernus.
The city of Lisbon at the time of our arrival consisted of sixty
thousand families paying taxes-this figure includes the suburbs
round about, except the free ones, which pay taxes to no one.
A circular wall there surrounds the top of the hill and, at the
left and right, the city walls descend to the banks of the Tagus
River. The suburbs, down below the city wall, are cut into the
banks of the river in such a way that each of them has a superbly
fortified citadel. The place is girded with pitfalls. The city
was populous beyond belief, for, as we learned from its alcayde,
or governor, after the capture of the city, it had one hundred
fifty-four thousand men, not counting women and children, but
including the citizens of Scantarem who had been expelled during
this year from their stronghold and who were living in Lisbon
as guests and immigrants. This number also included the leading
citizens of Cintra, Almada, and Palmela, and many merchants from
all parts of Spain and Africa. Although there were many citizens,
the city had only fifteen thousand lances and shields with which
to arm its men. They therefore came out in shifts, exchanging
their weapons with one another, as their prince decreed.
The city's buildings were jammed so closely together that it was
scarcely possible, save in the merchants' quarters, to find a
street more than eight feet wide. The reason for such a dense
population was that there was no established religion there. Each
man was a law unto himself. As a result the basest element from
every part of the world had gathered there, like the bilge water
of a ship, a breeding ground for every kind of lust and impurity
On the vigil of St. Peter the Apostle [June 30 1147] we arrived
there at the dinner hour. After the meal some of our men landed
from the ships on the shore next to the city. The Moors opposed
their landing, but they were unable to withstand our forces and
were driven back, not without losses, to the gate of the suburb.
Saher of Archelle, however, angered at the enemy's scheme, called
our men back from the attack and thanked God that, unlike those
who had previously attempted this task, we had had a different
experience at the outset. He convoked those who were there and
ordered that the tents be pitched atop the hills which overlooked
the town, barely a stick's throw away. He held that it would be
a shame to give ground after the first brush with the enemy, lest
we seem to be yielding to them. All those present favored his
stand. When the first watch of the night came, however, only two
tents - those of Hervey of Glanville and Saher of Archelle - had
been pitched, for all the others had gone back to the ships. Although
there were but a few of us - a mere thirty-nine -we kept watch,
not without fear, through the night and so celebrated the solemn
vigil of St. Peter with our hauberks on. In the morning everyone
pitched his tent as quickly as he could, as if they had not known
before about our situation. As bad previously been arranged, the
bishops who were with us went to the King to make him come out
to meet us. They returned with him in a short time, since he had
been in the vicinity for more than eight days awaiting our arrival.
He had heard of our coming from those of our men who had separated
from our expedition and had come in five ships after a five-day
sail from Dartmouth. This group had arrived eight days earlier
than we did. When the King arrived, therefore, almost all of us,
rich and poor, went out to meet him as usually happens in such
a mob. When the King inquired who were the chief men among us,
or whose advice carried most weight with us, or if we had entrusted
the charge of replying for the whole army to anyone, he was told
in short order that we had so-and-so as our chief men, that their
advice and actions carried the most weight, but that they had
not yet decided to whom they would entrust the office of spokesman....
Representatives were elected from among our leaders, together
with those of the men from Cologne and Flanders, so that they
could act on our behalf with the King and reach a definite agreement
between us and him. Later, the representatives together with the
King, the Archbishop and the bishops, the clergy, and the laity
caused the protocol of the confirmation of the agreements to be
published before everyone in these words:
"Let the terms of the agreement reached between me and the
Franks be known to all sons of the Church, both present and to
come. Namely that I, Affonso, King of the Portuguese, with the
consent of all my people, so that it may be remembered by future
generations, do provide by this protocol of confirmation that
the Franks who shall remain with me in the siege of the city of
Lisbon shall have and take into their power and possession the
goods of whatever kind belonging to the enemy and that I and my
men shall have no part whatever of them. The Franks shall freely
have the ransom money from the enemy prisoners who are taken alive
and who wish to be ransomed. The prisoners, moreover, they shall
release to me. If they should, perchance, take the city, they
shall have it and hold it until it has been searched and despoiled,
both of prisoners for ransom and of everything else. Then, when
it has been as thoroughly searched as they wish, they shall turn
it over to me. Afterwards, the city and the conquered territory
shall, under my direction, be divided among the Franks according
to ranks, as these are best known to me, to be held in accordance
with the most honorable customs and liberties of the Franks.
Over them there shall be reserved for me only the power of an advocatus. I release firmly and in good faith, moreover,
the ships and goods of the men who shall have been together with
me at the siege of Lisbon and their heirs from all of the commercial
tax which is commonly known as the pedatica from this time
onward in perpetuity throughout my whole land. . . ."
Twenty sure hostages, bishops and laymen, were given on oath and
warranty, on behalf of the King for the observance of this agreement.
The King swore, moreover, that he would observe the treaty and
agreement aforesaid. He further agreed that he would not desert
us unless he were stricken with a mortal sickness or unless his
lands were occupied by the enemy. . . . We also bound ourselves
likewise to uphold the agreement, took an oath, and gave twenty
hostages....
When morning came the constables and leaders of our side went
again to the King's court at about the ninth hour of the day in
order to turn over the hostages and to attend to the many things
necessary for the siege. Those of our boys who were carrying slings,
meanwhile, provoked the enemy into advancing onto the field with
the result that, being the more provoked by the slinging of stones
from a distance, the enemy ventured a major attack. As our men,
little by little, armed themselves, the enemy shut themselves
within the suburb. They threw stones from the roofs of the houses
which were enclosed by parapets, and thus they made it difficult
for our men to enter. Our men, who were looking for an opening
whereby they might get in, if there were such a thing, drove them
back into the middle of the suburb. There they put up a strong
resistance to us. Our men, little by little, increased in numbers
and made a fiercer attack. Many, meanwhile, were struck by arrows
and the missiles of the balistas and fell, for the volley of stones
made it impossible to approach closer. Thus a great part of the
day was spent. Finally, at sunset, our men got through some twisting
passages which were scarcely passable even for unarmed men and,
after a major encounter, occupied part of a hill....
The Moors , meanwhile, made frequent sorties against our men by
day because they held three gates against us. With two of these
gates on the side of the city and one on the sea, they bad an
easy way to get in and out. On the other hand, it was difficult
for our men to organize themselves. The sorties caused casualties
on both sides, but theirs were always greater than ours. While
we kept watch, meanwhile, under their walls through the days and
nights, they heaped derision and many insults upon us. They considered
us worthy of a thousand deaths, especially since they thought
that we spurned our own things as vile and lusted after others'
goods as precious. Nor did they recall doing us any injury, save
that if they had anything of the best quality in their possession
we might consider them unworthy of having it and judge it worthy
of our possession. They taunted us with the many children who
were going to be born at home while we were gone and said that
our wives would not be anxious about our deaths, since home was
well supplied with little bastards. They promised that any of
us who survived would go home miserable and poverty-stricken and
they mocked us and gnashed their teeth at us. They also continuously
attacked Blessed Mary, the mother of God, with insults and with
vile and abusive words, which infuriated us. They said that we
venerated the son of a poor woman with a worship equal to that
due to God, for we held that he was a God and the Son of God,
when it is apparent that there is only one God who began all things
that have begun and that he has no one coeval with him and no
partaker in his divinity.... They attacked us with these and similar
calumnies. They showed to us, moreover, with much derision the
symbol of the cross. They spat upon it and wiped the feces from
their posteriors with it. At last they urinated on it, as on some
despicable thing, and threw our cross at us....
[Finally, after the siege had lasted for nearly seventeen weeks,
on October 23 we] decided, when all had returned to the camp,
to enter the town at sword's point. The men of Cologne and the
Flemings, meanwhile, were indignant because the King seemed to
be favoring the hostages. They rushed armed out of their camp
to sieze the hostages violently from the King's camp and to take
vengeance on them. All around there was tumult and clashing of
arms. We were midway between the King's camp and theirs, still
talking and waiting, and we reported to the King what was being
prepared, The Flemings' leaders, Christian and the Count of Aerschot,
although they were barely armed, put a stop to the tumult among
their men as soon as they learned of it. When the tumult had been
quieted they went to pacify the King, assuring him that they were
not involved in this action. After he had taken surety from them
and had finally quieted the Flemings down, the King ordered them
to put down their arms, asserting roundly that he would put off
the siege until the next day. It was decided, therefore, on the
following day that all the followers of each of our leaders would
swear fealty to the King on behalf of themselves and their people,
to be kept so long as they remained in his land.
When these matters had been agreed upon by both sides, the arrangements
which the Moors had proposed on the previous day for the delivery
of the city, were accepted. It was decided among us that one hundred
and forty of our armed men and one hundred and sixty of the Flemish
and the Cologne contingents should enter the city before everyone
else and peacefully take over the fortifications of the upper
fortress so that the enemy might bring all of their money and
possessions there and give a guarantee by swearing before our
men. When all these things had been collected, the city was then
to be searched by our men. If any further possessions were found,
the man in whose house they were discovered was to pay for it
with his head. When everyone had thus been despoiled, they were
to be let go in peace outside of the city. When the gates had
been opened and those who were chosen were allowed to enter, the
men of Cologne and the Flemings thought up a sly method of deceiving
us: they requested our men to allow them to enter first for the
sake of their honor. When they had received permission and got
a chance to enter first, they slipped in more than two hundred
of their men, in addition to those who had been selected. These
were also in addition to others who had already slipped through
the ruined places in the walls which lay open to them, while none
of our men, except those selected, had presumed to enter.
The Archbishop and the other bishops went in front of us with
the Lord's cross and then our leaders entered together with the
King and those who had been selected. How everyone rejoiced! What
special glory for all! What great joy and what a great abundance
there was of pious tears when, to the praise and honor of God
and of the most Holy Virgin Mary the saving cross was placed atop
the highest tower to be seen by all as a symbol of the city's
subjection, while the Archbishop and bishops, together with the
clergy and everyone, intoned with wonderful rejoicing the Te
Deum, Laudamus and the Asperges me, together with devout
prayers.
The King, meanwhile, went around the strong walls of the fortress
on foot. The men of Cologne and the Flemings, when they saw in
the city so many spurs to their greed, did not observe their oaths
or their religious guarantees. They ran hither and yon. They plundered.
They broke down doors. They rummaged through the interior of every
house. They drove the citizens away and harassed thern improperly
and unjustly. They destroyed clothes and utensils. They treated
virgins shamefully. They acted as if right and wrong were the
same. They secretly took away everything which should have been
common property. They even cut the throat of the elderly Bishop
of the city, slaying him against all right and justice. . . .
The Normans and the English, however, for whom faith and religion
were of the greatest importance, contemplating what such actions
might lead to, remained quietly in their assigned position, preferring
to stay their hands from looting rather than to violate the obligations
of their faith and their oathbound association. This affair covered
the Count of Aerschot, Christian, and their leaders with very
great shame, for while their men had patently disregarded their
oath, ours, by staying out of it, made the greed of the others
plain. Finally they came to themselves and besought our men with
earnest prayers that we should occupy the remaining sections of
the city together with them so that, after the loot had been divided,
all the injuries and thefts might be discussed peacefully and
they would be prepared to make amends for the evils they had presumed
to commit. The enemy, when they had been despoiled in the city,
left the town through three gates continuously from Saturday morning
until the following Wednesday., There was such a multitude of
people that it seemed as if all of Spain were mingled in the crowd.
Thereafter a miracle worthy of great admiration was reported:
for fifteen days before the capture of the city, the enemy's food
supplies bad become inedible because of an intolerable stench.
Afterward we tasted them and found them pleasing and acceptable,
both to us and to the enemy. When the city was despoiled, there
was found in the cellars some eight thousand seams" of wheat
and barley and some twelve thousand pints9 of oil. . . . There
was discovered in their temple, which rises on seven ranks of
columns with arches atop them, nearly two hundred corpses as well
as more than eight hundred other people who were sick and remained
there in all their squalor and filth.
Source:
Osbernus, , De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, ed. William Stubbs,
, Chronicles and Memorials of the Reign of Richard, Rolls
series (London: Longmans, 1864), I, clv-clvi, clx-clxi, clxiv,
clxvi, clxxviii-clxxx, 20-23, translated by James Brundage, The
Crusades: A Documentary History, (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette
University Press, 1962), 97-104
Copyright note: Professor Brundage informed the Medieval
Sourcebook that copyright was not renewed on this work. Moreover
he gave permission for use of his translations.
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© Paul Halsall December 1997
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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