Siege of Tortosa (1148) 1148
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 | 1148 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Spain | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Second Crusade | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 40.8000, 0.5167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Tortosa (1 July – 30 December 1148) was a military action of the Second Crusade (1147–49) in Spain. A multinational force under the command of Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona besieged the city of Tortosa (Arabic Ṭurṭūsha), then a part of the Almoravid Emirate, for six months before the garrison surrendered.
The campaign originated in an agreement between Barcelona and the Italian city-state of Genoa in 1146, following a Genoese raid on Almoravid territory. At the same time, the Genoese also agreed to aid the Castilians in an expedition against Almoravid Almería. Papal approval, which connected the two Spanish endeavours to the call for a second crusade to the Holy Land, was obtained the next year. Participants in the siege of Tortosa were called "pilgrims" (peregrini), the same term used for those en route to the Holy Land.
The siege itself was a hard-fought battle. Siege engines were employed on both sides. Even after the outer walls were breached, the defenders fought in the streets to prevent the crusaders from advancing on the citadel. Eventually the citadel itself came under direct attack and the defenders asked for and received a truce of forty days before surrendering.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Tortosa (1148) (revision 1370745889), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Ibera 215 BC · 0 km
- Siege of Tortosa (1810–1811) 1810 · 1 km
- Siege of Tortosa (1708) 1708 · 1 km
- Siege of Gandesa (1938) 1938 · 29 km
- Battle of Gandesa 1938 · 29 km
- Battle of Ebro River 217 BC · 31 km
Other battles of the Second Crusade
- Battle of Bosra (1147) 1147
- Battle of Dorylaeum (1147) 1147
- Battle of Ephesus (1147) 1147
- Siege of Lisbon 1147
- Battle of Mount Cadmus 1148
- Siege of Damascus (1148) 1148
All 7 battles of the Second Crusade →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · Medieval battles