page_title: Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of Viana
section_title: Alcácer-Ceguer
hierarchical_section_title: Duarte de Menezes, 3rd Count of Viana / Alcácer-Ceguer
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of region around Tangier, Morocco
context_page_description: Dom Duarte de Menezes, was a 15th-century Portuguese nobleman and military figure. Duarte de Menezes was the 3rd Count of Viana do Alentejo, 2nd Count of Viana, Lord of Caminha and the first Portuguese captain of Alcácer-Ceguer.
context_section_description: In October 1458, King Afonso V of Portugal launched a new operation against Morocco, the first since the disaster at Tangier in 1437.  The Marinid sultan Abd al-Haqq II, then laying siege to Tlemcen, heard the news of the massive Portuguese expeditionary force and presuming it was another attempt at Tangier, sent the bulk of his forces to that city.  Instead, the Portuguese fleet swooped down on Ksar es-Seghir (Port: Alcácer-Ceguer), seizing the city in a two-day assault on October 23–24, 1458. Afonso V appointed Duarte de Menezes as the first captain and governor of Alcácer-Ceguer.
  Duarte de Menezes first order of business was to prepare the defenses of the citadel for the inevitable reaction by the Marinids.  The Moroccan army, led by Abd al-Haqq II, laid siege to the Alcácer-Ceguer in November 1458.  A Portuguese relief fleet was prevented from reaching the city, leaving Duarte de Menezes and the little garrison to hold out on their own against the Marinid siege for nearly two months.  Duarte de Menezes is said to have engaged in singular heroics, leading several bold sallies to break up Marinid assaults.  After 53 days, having taken enough damage from the sallies and the onset of disease, the Moroccan army lifted the siege on January 2, 1459.
  Six months later, the Marinid army returned and resumed the siege on July 2, 1459.  Once again, Duarte de Menezes rallied the defenses of Alcácer-Ceguer and held out. Oddly, Duarte sent for his family from Portugal, who somehow managed to penetrate the siege lines and reach the city.  The success of this venture helped lift the morale of the garrison.  At length, on August 24, 1459, Abd al-Haqq II called off the siege.
  In April 1460, having engaged in a few more skirmishes around the area, Duarte de Menezes felt the situation secure enough to return to Lisbon, leaving the garrison in the hands of his nephew, Afonso Teles. He was received with great pomp by Afonso V of Portugal, who promptly granted Duarte de Menezes the title of Count of Viana (da Foz do Lima) (title had been vacant since the death of its first holder back in 1384) and Lord of Caminha.  He also swapped the alcaideship of Beja for benefices in Redinha.
  Duarte de Menezes returned to Alcácer-Ceguer in 1461.  That very year, he is known to have led three raiding sorties to the outskirt of Tangier.  In August, 1462, Duarte de Menezes crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, to help the Castilians seize Gibraltar from the Emirate of Granada
caption: Topographic map of the region around Alcácer-Ceguer(1954 map)
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