Fifth siege of Gibraltar 1349
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Year | 1349 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Gibraltar | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Moorish Gibraltar | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 36.1377, -5.3454 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The fifth siege of Gibraltar, mounted between August 1349 and March 1350, was a second attempt by King Alfonso XI of Castile to retake the fortified town of Gibraltar. It had been held by the Moors since 1333. The siege followed years of intermittent conflict between the Christian kingdoms of Spain and the Moorish Emirate of Granada, which was supported by the Marinid sultanate of Morocco. A series of Moorish defeats and reverses had left Gibraltar as a Moorish-held enclave within Castilian territory. Its geographical isolation was compensated for by the strength of its fortifications, which had been greatly improved since 1333. Alfonso brought an army of around 20,000 men, along with his mistress and their five illegitimate children, to dig in to the north of Gibraltar for a lengthy siege. In the New Year of 1350, however, bubonic plague – the Black Death – broke out in the Castilian camp. Alfonso refused to abandon the siege but fell victim to the plague on 27 March 1350, becoming the only monarch to die of the disease.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Fifth siege of Gibraltar (revision 1370618222), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Second siege of Gibraltar 1315 · 0 km
- Sixth siege of Gibraltar 1411 · 0 km
- First siege of Gibraltar 1309 · 0 km
- Seventh siege of Gibraltar 1436 · 0 km
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Browse more: battles in Gibraltar · Europe · Medieval battles