Siege of Mazagan (1562)
The Great Siege of Mazagan from 18 February to 7 May 1562 — the Saadian attempt by Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi with 85,000–120,000 men and 24 cannon against 2,800 Portuguese under Rui de Sousa de Carvalho; a Portuguese victory that preserved the star fortress and tested its 69 embrasures and wet moat.
Siege of Mazagan (1562)
The Great Siege of Mazagan (1562) — fought 18 February to 7 May 1562 — was the most famous of the nine sieges the Portuguese star fortress endured and the severest test of Benedetto da Ravenna’s 1541–48 trace.
After Morocco’s unification under Mohammed al-Shaykh (1549) and his son Abdallah al-Ghalib (from 1557), the Saadi Sultanate targeted Mazagan, the anchor of Portugal’s southern Morocco. Through 1560–61 Governor Álvaro de Carvalho was in Lisbon; his deputy Rui de Sousa de Carvalho sent a spy to Fez, then a distress brig to Regent Dona Catarina. On 18 February 1562 the qaid of Azemmour arrived with an alfaqueque demanding surrender. Rui de Sousa de Carvalho replied: “May he come as fast as he can, because I had been waiting for him in this fortress with plenty of quinces, pears and pomegranates and other such fruits which were not lacking in this fortress.”
Quick Facts
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 18 February – 7 May 1562 (≈2½ months) |
| Location | Mazagan (33°14′N 8°30′W), Atlantic Morocco |
| Belligerents | Kingdom of Portugal vs. Saadi Sultanate |
| Commanders | Rui de Sousa de Carvalho (deputy), Álvaro de Carvalho (governor in Lisbon) vs. Abu Abdallah Mohammed II Saadi (Muley Hamet) |
| Strength | ~2,800 Portuguese vs. 85,000–120,000 men, 24 cannon (Portuguese estimates higher) |
| Defenses | 69 gun embrasures, wet moat with buxas kept full at low tide, five bastions |
| Result | Portuguese victory — besiegers withdrew 1 May, siege lifted 7 May |
| Casualties | Portuguese: 117 killed, 270 wounded; Moroccan: >25,000 killed (per contemporary/Wikipedia synthesis) |
Prelude
Saadian preparations ran through 1560–61 after the fall of Santa Cruz do Cabo Guer (1541) and the evacuations of Safim and Azamor (Oct 1541) had left Mazagan as Portugal’s sole southern square. The 1541–42 superfortress — 275 × 200 m rectangle, five bastions, 12 m thick scarps and buxas-fed ditch — was now a decade old and fully manned. Portuguese intelligence from Fez confirmed the coming mhalla.
The Siege
The Saadian host invested the land front, entrenching before the Governor’s Bastion and the south curtain and bringing 24 cannon to batter the scarps. Assaults concentrated on the Governor’s and Santo António bastions and the Traitor’s Gate (D) antechamber. Relief — a patriotic wave of volunteers from Portugal, including fidalgos who paid their own passage — entered via the Sea Gate (Porta da Ribeira, L) and the calheta harbour between the Angel bastion and the sea curtain, keeping the 2,800 inside supplied.
The 69 embrasures and the seawater moat (20 m × 3 m, ~2 m held at low tide by the S/T buxas) did their work: frontal fire from curtains and grazing (rasante) fire from orillon-protected flanks swept the ditch, while the covered way (Q) and the Revelim (P) before the Porta da Vila (A) broke the first column. After roughly ten weeks the besiegers, thinned by disease and Portuguese artillery, withdrew 1 May; the formal lifting is dated 7 May 1562.
Roque Gameiro, “Defesa de Mazagão” in História de Portugal, Popular e Ilustrada, vol.4 (public domain, Wikimedia Commons).
Aftermath
The victory — nine sieges in 255 years, the 1562 the hardest-fought — confirmed the Renaissance bastioned system’s value and was celebrated in Lisbon as a patriotic triumph. The fortress was repaired, its ditch cleared (the 1611 Codex Cadaval plan records a later cleaning), and the garrison rotated under Álvaro de Carvalho de novo and Rui de Sousa de Carvalho de novo (1562, then 1564–72). The Saadians turned to internecine struggle; Mazagão would hold until the final siege of 1769.
Related Entries
Locations
- Mazagan Fortress — the star fortress that withstood the siege
Characters
- Rui de Sousa de Carvalho — deputy defender in 1562
- Alvaro de Carvalho — titular governor
Sources
- Wikipedia, Siege of Mazagan (1562) — strengths, dates, commanders and casualties as cited;
- Histórias de Portugal em Marrocos, Mazagão, de Castelo a Cidadela (2025) — 1541–42 construction and firing schemes;
- Codex Cadaval PT/TT/CCDV/29 (1611), Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo — ditch and legend A–Z;
- Roque Gameiro, História de Portugal, Popular e Ilustrada, vol.4 — contemporary illustration.