Belt · Contested ground · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Alentejo frontier

Since the Almohad campaigns of 1190-1191 the land between the Tagus and Sorraia line and the Almohad fortresses of Alcácer do Sal, Beja, Moura, Juromenha and Elvas is a raiding zone that neither side can farm or hold. Évora stands inside it as a Portuguese island; Coruche and Benavente on the Sorraia, Palmela, Almada and Sesimbra on the Setúbal peninsula, and the Templar and Hospitaller castles on the Tagus are the Portuguese edge.

Montemor-o-Novo, Arraiolos, Estremoz, Avis and the rest are empty or abandoned (Montemor's foral is of 1203, Avis's of 1211).

Who holds it

Title
No holder: a raiding belt
Confidence
high

How things stand that morning

Raided ground. The truce of 1191 has lapsed; no truce in force is pinned.

Sides

  • portugal
  • almohad

Who raids whom

Almohad garrisons and Andalusi frontier men from Alcácer do Sal (a caliphal garrison since 10 June 1191), Beja, Serpa, Moura, Juromenha, Elvas and Badajoz raid north against Évora, the Sorraia, the Setúbal peninsula and across the Tagus. Portuguese raiders (the knights of Évora, the concelhos of Évora, Santarém and Lisbon, the Templars and the Hospital) strike south toward Alcácer and Beja. Spring to autumn is the raiding season.

Castles portugal

  • Évora (isolated; townsmen and the knights of Évora)
  • Coruche (knights of Évora)
  • Benavente (being settled; foral 25 March 1200)
  • Palmela and Almada (razed 1191, reoccupied after 1195)
  • Sesimbra (Frankish settlers before 1199)
  • Montalvo do Sor (given to Franks in 1199)
  • Abrantes, Belver (Hospital, building since 1194), Almourol (Templar)

Castles almohad

  • Alcácer do Sal
  • Beja
  • Serpa
  • Moura
  • Juromenha
  • Elvas
  • Badajoz
  • Mértola
  • Silves

Last campaign

1191: al-Mansur's second campaign (Alcácer, Palmela, Almada, Sesimbra, Silves). A truce of five years (four in another account) followed. Alarcos (1195) turned the caliph's effort against Castile. No campaign on this front between 1192 and 1200 is pinned in the sources checked.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 25 March 1200Benavente's foral: the Évora knights push settlement onto the lower Sorraia.Depends on: No raid that spring. Stopped by: An Almohad raid.
  2. 1200-1203Slow Portuguese resettlement at the edges: Sesimbra (foral 1201), Montemor-o-Novo (foral 1203).Depends on: The caliph's attention staying on Ifriqiya and Castile. Stopped by: A new caliphal campaign.

Where the sources disagree

  • Beja was retaken by Portugal in 1189 and lost in 1191 (pt.wikipedia Conquista do Alentejo); it is Almohad on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: The losses of 1191 and Évora's isolation are firm; the state of individual places inside the belt in 1200 is not pinned.

On the map: A rough outline: the Portuguese edge follows the Sorraia and the Tagus south bank; the Almohad edge stops short of the fortresses themselves, which belong to the Andalusi provinces.

Sources and studies

  1. Almohad campaign against Portugal (1190-1191) (en.wikipedia)
  2. Conquista do Alentejo (pt.wikipedia)
  3. 'Sesimbra, sobre a costa do mar (séculos XII-XIII)' (FCSH digital humanities lab)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.