In 1415, the Christian Kingdom of Portugal launched a surprise attack and seized Ceuta, the first of a series of incursions by expansionary Portugal into Morocco that would mark much of the next century. Although effectively independent under Hintata emirs, Marrakesh is known to have participated in campaigns led by the sultans of Fez against the Portuguese invaders at Ceuta (1419) and Tangier (1437). Following the failure to recover Ceuta, the Marinid emir was assassinated in 1420 and Morocco fragmented again. The Wattasids, a related noble family, seized power in Fez and ruled as regents and viziers on behalf of the Marinid child-sultan Abd al-Haqq II, but their authority did not really extend much beyond Fez, and Marrakesh remained virtually independent (certainly after 1430) in the hands of Hintata emirs.