Battle of Tangier ( 1437 ) The 1437 Battle of Tangier , sometimes referred to as the Siege of Tangiers , refers to the attempt by a Portuguese expeditionary force to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier , and their subsequent defeat by the armies of the Marinid sultanate of Morocco . The Portuguese expeditionary force , led by Prince Henry the Navigator , Duke of Viseu , set out from Portugal in August , 1437 , intending to seize a series of Moroccan coastal citadels . The Portuguese laid siege to Tangier in mid - September . After a few failed assaults on the city , the Portuguese force was attacked and defeated by a large Moroccan relief army led by vizier Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi of Fez . The Moroccans subsequently encircled the Portuguese siege camp and starved it to submission . To preserve his army from destruction , Henry negotiated a treaty promising to return the citadel of Ceuta ( captured earlier in 1415 ) to Morocco , in return for being allowed to withdraw his troops . As it turns out , the terms of the treaty were never fulfilled , the Portuguese decided to hold on to Ceuta and allowed the Portuguese hostage , the king ' s own brother Ferdinand the Holy Prince , to remain in Moroccan captivity , where he perished in 1443 . The Tangiers fiasco was a tremendous setback for the prestige and reputation of Henry the Navigator , who had personally conceived , promoted and led the expedition . Simultaneously , it was an enormous boon to the political fortunes of the vizier Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi , who was transformed overnight from an unpopular regent to a national hero , allowing him to consolidate his power over Morocco . This was the first of four attempts by the Portuguese to seize the city of Tangier in the 15th century . Background . The Moroccan citadel of Ceuta , on the southern side of the Straits of Gibraltar , had been seized in 1415 in a surprise attack by the Kingdom of Portugal . ( See Battle of Ceuta ) . The Marinid rulers of Morocco had tried to recover it in a 1418 - 19 , but failed . The assassination of the Marinid sultan in 1420 sent Morocco reeling into political chaos and internal disorder for the next few years , giving the Portuguese time to entrench themselves in Ceuta . Whatever its original objectives , the capture of Ceuta had profited the Portuguese little . The Moroccans had cut off all of Ceuta ' s trade and supplies from the landward side . Ceuta became little more than a large empty , windswept fortress - city , with an expensive Portuguese garrison that had to be continually re - supplied from across the sea . There had been no follow - up Portuguese campaigns in North Africa , with the result that the Ceuta garrison had little to do , beyond sitting tight and eating through the king ' s treasury . There were growing calls in the Portuguese court to simply withdraw the troops and abandon Ceuta . Henry ' s Proposal . In 1416 , King John I of Portugal placed his son , the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator , Duke of Viseu , in charge of supplying and provisioning Ceuta . As a result , Henry was disinclined to abandoning the city , and instead urged an expansion of Portuguese holdings in Morocco . In 1432 , Henry the Navigator proposed to his father King John I of Portugal an ambitious project to allow him to lead of war of conquest of Marinid Morocco , or at least carve out a wider regional enclave in the north . The king called on the royal council , including the rest of his sons - the " Ínclita Geração " - for consultation . Henry ' s brothers , the princes Edward of Portugal , Peter of Coimbra , John of Reguengos , their half - brother Afonso of Barcelos and Afonso ' s grown sons , Ferdinand of Arraiolos and Afonso of Ourém almost unanimously pronounced themselves against the project . They cited the lack of Portuguese manpower , the huge expense of conquering and holding such a large area and questioned the purpose and legal basis of the conquest . Moreover , they subtly expressed doubts about Henry ' s ability to lead such an expedition , and suggested that if Henry was intent on military glory or crusade , then he perhaps ought to enter the service of the Crown of Castile and campaign on the Granadan frontier instead . ( Indeed , such a proposal was submitted to Castile a month later ( July 1432 ) by a Portuguese emissary , but was rejected out of hand by the Castilian strongman Álvaro de Luna . ) In defense of the project , Henry pointed out the Marinid kingdom of Morocco was deeply fractured among rebellious lords and the leadership in Fez was embroiled in political crisis . The young Marinid sultan Abd al - Haqq II was coming of age , but his unpopular Wattasid vizier ( and regent since 1420 ) , Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi , refused to yield power . Henry calculated the divided and distracted Marinids would not be able to organize much of a defense , that the time was opportune to take another bite out of Morocco . Henry also believed the manpower concerns were exaggerated , that it would be sufficient to seize and hold the critical ports of Tangier , Ksar es - Seghir and Asilah , to exert Portuguese dominance over all of northern Morocco , and that should the pope give the campaign the privileges of a Crusade , soldiers from all over Portugal and Christian Europe would rally to enlist and fill in the gap . King John I himself seemed inclined towards towards the project , but died in 1433 before any further steps were taken . His oldest son and successor , Edward of Portugal set the project aside , but Henry continued lobbying for it . Henry soon obtained a critical ally , his youngest brother Prince Ferdinand , who was dissatisfied with his meager estates in Portugal and eager to seek out his fortune overseas . In 1435 , Henry and Ferdinand jointly informed Edward that they intended to campaign in Morocco on their own if need be , with their own resources , taking their Military Orders with them - Henry his Order of Christ and Ferdinand his Order of Aviz . Edward , backed by his other brothers , tried to dissuade them , and urged Henry and Ferdinand to go on campaign for Castile instead . This time , however , Henry seemed to have roped in an unlikely ally , Edward ' s wife , Eleanor of Aragon . Being the sister of the rebellious ' Infantes of Aragon ' , Eleanor had no desire to see Portuguese arms used to assist the Crown of Castile , and so she nudged her husband towards authorizing the Moroccan expedition . What probably finally won Edward over was the bachelor Henry ' s promise to adopt Edward ' s younger son , Infante Ferdinand ( future Duke of Viseu ) , as the sole heir to all his seigneurial estates , thus relieving the king from having to provide for his inheritance . Henry wrote out his will in his nephew ' s favor in March 1436 , and that very month , Edward launched preparations for the expedition . Preparations . In March , 1436 , Edward and Henry laid out the first plans for a campaign to capture Tangier , Ksar es - Seghir and Asilah . The total force envisaged was 14 , 000 - 4 , 000 horse and 10 , 000 foot . ( Or , more precisely in Pina ' s breakdown : 3 , 500 knights , 500 mounted archers , 7000 infantry , 2500 foot archers and 500 servants . Contractors were sent out immediately for the ports of England , Castile , Flanders and northern Germany to contract additional transport ships and supplies . In mid - April 1436 , King Edward of Portugal assembled the Portuguese Cortes in Evora to raise funds for the expedition . The proposal met a skeptical response . The burghers were largely opposed to the expedition . Nonetheless , the Cortes voted for a modest subsidy , not without complaint . According to chronicler Ruy de Pina , Edward ' forgot ' to summon the dissenting brothers - Peter of Coimbra , John of Reguengos and Afonso of Barcelos - to the Evora parliament . So the three were invited to the king ' s court in Leiria in August , 1436 to submit their votes . Although they were warned by the king that their vote was immaterial , that the project was going forward regardless , all three nonetheless insisted on registering their vote against it . Papal Bulls . In the meantime , Henry the Navigator had been busy lobbying the pope to endorse the expedition . This bore fruit in September 1436 , when Pope Eugenius IV issued the bull " Rex Regnum " blessing the Tangiers enterprise with the privileges of a crusade . However this was not issued without misgivings . Pope Eugenius IV requested learned opinions on the legality of Henry ' s war of conquest in Muslim Morocco . The legal opinions , delivered between August and October 1436 , notably the reports by Bologna jurists Antonio Minucci da Pratoveccio and Antonio de Rosellis , deeply doubted the " jus bellum " foundations of the expedition . But another of Henry ' s side - projects nearly sunk the whole enterprise . That same month ( September 1436 ) , Pope Eugenius IV issued another bull at Henry ' s request , " Romanus Pontifex " , granting Portugal the right to subjugate the unconquered part of the Canary Islands . This bold intrusion roused the Crown of Castile , who had long laid claim to the islands , and was still in the process of conquering them . The Castilian prelate Alfonso de Cartagena , Bishop of Burgos , then attending the Council of Basel , launched a legal offensive , supplying volumes of documents proving that all of the Canaries rightfully belonged to Castile . Recognizing that he had been misled by Henry , Pope Eugenius IV withdrew the Canaries bull that November . But Alfonso de Cartagena was not done . Eager to punish Henry for his impertinence , the Castilian diplomat submitted more claims - urging the Pope to restore several Portuguese bishoprics back under Compostela ' s jurisdiction , to revoke the autonomy of the Portuguese military orders ( and fold them under the Castilian orders ) , to revoke the Tangier bull in light of Castile ' s ' right of conquest ' over Morocco and even demanding the handover of Ceuta as rightfully Castilian ( a point that had never been raised before ) . While it is probable that Cartagena was only half - serious , and sought merely to rattle Henry , the sudden splurge of Castilian claims nearly sank the Tangier expedition , and even opened alarm at the prospect of a new war between Portugal and Castile . But the diplomatic quarrel eventually calmed down and petered out by the early Summer of 1437 . Departure . In the late Summer of 1437 , after a year of preparation , the Portuguese expeditionary force was finally ready to set out . The levies had been disappointing . Pina reports only some 6 , 000 Portuguese soldiers in all ( 3 , 000 knights , 2 , 000 infantry , 1 , 000 archers ) - that is , less than half of the 14 , 000 force anticipated Álvares reports higher numbers - 7 , 000 out of Lisbon , plus additions from Porto and Ceuta . Nonetheless , the turnout was much lower than expected , in good part due on the unpopularity of the expedition . But there were also problems with contracting transports abroad . The transport ships that showed up ( mostly English and Basque ) were hardly enough to ferry even this reduced force . It is reported that some of the levies ( as much as a quarter ) had to be left behind in Lisbon . Nonetheless , it was decided to press forward , assuming the remainder would be eventually ferried when the missing transports arrived . By King Edward ' s order , Prince Henry the Navigator was assigned overall command of the expedition , and was to sail out with the troops from Lisbon . His experienced nephew Ferdinand ( Count of Arraiolos ) ( who had earlier pronounced himself against the expedition ) was appointed constable of the nobles and sent to Porto , to organize the embarcation of troops from northern Portugal . Among the other nobles participating in the enterprise were Henry ' s brother Ferdinand the Holy Prince ( naturally ) , the marshal of the kingdom Vasco Fernandes Coutinho ( future Count of Marialva ) and the admiral of the sail fleet ( " capitão - mor da frota " ) Álvaro Vaz de Almada ( future Count of Avranches ) . The prelate D . Álvaro de Abreu ( Bishop of Evora ) would go as papal legate . The knights of Henry ' s Order of Christ and Ferdinand ' s Order of Aviz were ordered to follow their masters to North Africa . D . Fernando de Castro , governor of Henry ' s household , would lead the Henry ' s household knights and squires , while his relative and namesake D . Fernando de Castro ' o Cegonho ' , governor of Infante Ferdinand ' s household , led the latter ' s household knights . On August 17 , 1437 , there was a solemn ceremony at the Lisbon Cathedral , where Henry the Navigator received King Edward ' s royal standard . After receiving their final instructions , the Lisbon fleet finally left the harbor of Belém on August 22 . Morocco ' s Defenses . Unlike at Ceuta in 1415 , the Portuguese did not enjoy the element of surprise . The noisy diplomacy and lengthy preparations had given Moroccans , despite their political divisions , ample time to prepare the defenses of the targeted citadels . Fortifications were improved , garrisons were reinforced and the mountain passes around Ceuta were sealed off . Seeing this already in motion in 1436 , the Ceuta commander D . Pedro de Menezes ( Count of Vila Real ) dispatched a detachment of his garrison under his son Duarte de Menezes to raid the Moroccan city of Tétouan to the south , to prevent it from becoming a threat to future Portuguese operations . But this did not seem to affect the strengthening of Moroccan defenses elsewhere . Tangier was under the command of the Marinid governor Salah ibn Salah ( called " Çallabençalla " by the Portuguese chronicles ) , the very same man who had been governor of Ceuta back in 1415 , now probably quite advanced in years , and probably eager for revenge . ( Salah ibn Salah was a Marinid vassal whose original dominions ranged along the northern ooast , including Asilah , Tangier and Ceuta ) . Salah ibn Salah counted on a garrison of about 7 , 000 men , including a contingent of crack sharpshooters imported from the Emirate of Granada . In the Marinid capital of Fez , the strongman Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi ( called " Lazeraque " by the Portuguese chroniclers ) , the unpopular vizier of the young Marinid sultan Abd al - Haqq II ( called " Abdelac " in the chronicles ) , launched an appeal for national unity and Holy War to expel the Portuguese intruders . Although , for the past fifteen years . Morocco had fragmented into virtually autonomous statelets ruled by rival regional governors , paying only lip service ( if any ) to the Marinid sultan , the governors answered Abu Zakariya ' s call . Troops from all corners of Morocco were set into motion , ready to place themselves at Fez ' s disposal to relieve Tangier and expel the infidel invaders . Portuguese Siege of Tangiers . March from Ceuta . Henry ' s Lisbon fleet arrived in Ceuta on August 27 , 1437 , where they were greeted by the Ceuta garrison commander D . Pedro de Menezes ( Count of Vila Real ) . The Porto fleet of Ferdinand of Arraiolos had arrived shortly before . A muster was held and commands assigned . Rather than wait for new transports to bring the troops that were left behind , Henry determined to continue with what the ones he had . The original plan was probably to proceed along the coast and seize Ksar es - Seghir , then Tangier and then Asilah in sequence . But this was quickly shelved . A scouting force sent out to examine the road to Ksar es - Seghir found strong resistance in the mountain passes leading to the city . As a result , Henry and his war council decided to side - step Ksar es - Seghir and aim for Tangier first . The army was split - part of it would go by ship with Prince Ferdinand , while the bulk would march overland , under Henry ' s personal command . The overland column was to take a long circuitous loop , through the south , via the ruins of Tétouan , then across the mountains and back up to Tangier . Henry ' s overland column left Ceuta on September 9 in nearly processional array . The vanguard was led by Ferdinand of Arraiolos . The right wing was led by D . Fernando de Castro ( head of Henry ' s household ) , the left wing by his relative and namesake D . Fernando de Castro ' o Cegonho ' ( head of Ferdinand ' s household ) . Henry himself led the center . D . Duarte de Menezes carried the royal standard in his father ' s place ( Ceuta governor D . Pedro de Menezes was the " alferes - mor " , or official standard bearer of the realm , but had fallen ill at this time and was forced to remain behind . ) Henry ' s personal standard was carried by Rui de Mello da Cunha . To inspire the troops , religious banners were unfurled bearing the images of the Virgin Mary , Christ as Crusader , the late King John I and the late beatified constable Nuno Álvares Pereira . The papal legate D . Álvaro de Abreu , Bishop of Evora , carried a piece of the True Cross , lent by Pope Eugenius IV for the occasion . The overland column did not meet any significant incidents , and arrived in the outskirts of Tangier on September 13 . Ferdinand had already disembarked on a nearby beach ( around Punta de los Judios ) . According to eyewitness Frei João Álvares , Henry launched the first assault on Tangier on the very day he arrived . But chronicler Ruy de Pina reports the first assault was not launched until a week later . ( For this article , the dating and events largely follows Pina ' s account . The alternative timeline of Álvares will be summarized later . ) According to Pina , the Portuguese spent about a week raising a fortified siege camp on a hill west of Tangier . In a decision that was later to prove fateful , Henry ordered that the palisade protecting the Portuguese siege camp encircle the camp completely . This went against King Edward ' s advice to ensure the palisade extended down to the beach , to offer the Portuguese besiegers protected access to the anchored ships . But given the unpopularity of the expedition , Henry probably calculated it was necessary to deprive the reluctant Portuguese levies of the temptation for an easy retreat back to the ships . Before departure , King Edward had given Henry explicit instructions to take the city by assault within the first week , and that if Tangier had not fallen after one week , the Portuguese expeditionary force was to withdraw and winter in Ceuta and wait until the Spring for further orders . These instructions were probably given in light of the news of the mobilization of the Moroccan armies , knowing that the expeditionary force was inadequate to take on such an army in the field . There were also concerns about the lingering anchored fleet braving the worsening weather in the Straits of Gibraltar at this time of year . Henry would ignore these instructions . First Assault ( Sep 20 ) . On September 20 ( according to Ruy de Pina ) , Henry finally ordered the first assault on the city , attacking five points at the same time , Henry personally leading one of the assault teams himself . But it quickly failed - the scaling ladders were too few and , as it turns out , too short , to reach the top of the walls . The assaulters had to withdraw . Portuguese casualties amounted to some 20 dead and 500 wounded . The artillery had also proven too weak to do much damage . In the wake of the assault , Henry ordered larger ordnance cannon to be shipped in from Ceuta . It would take at least another week before they arrived , eating up precious time that the Portuguese could ill - afford . Back in Ceuta , the illness of governor Pedro de Menezes had taken a turn for the worse . With Henry ' s permission , Duarte de Menezes rushed back to receive his father ' s blessing on his deathbed before he expired on September 22 . It was probably Duarte de Menezes who organized the forwarding of the artillery and supplies to Tangier , and was himself back at the siege shortly after . First Relief Army ( Sep 30 ) . Soon after the first assault , the first Moroccan relief troops arrived in Tangiers . A column of 300 elite Portuguese knights was sent to intercept them , but they were swiftly swept aside . Some fifty Portuguese knights were cut down , and the rest barely escaped . The death of several leading nobles caused some consternation in the Portuguese camp . On September 30 , a larger Moroccan army appeared over the hills of Tangier . The Portuguese chroniclers , with probable exaggeration , claim it was composed of 10 , 000 horsemen and 90 , 000 foot Henry moved his army to a hillside , offering battle , but the Moroccans just held their position in the valley . After three motionless hours , Henry ordered the Portuguese to march against them and force the issue , but the Moroccans just retreated back up the hills , evidently wishing to hold the higher ground . Seeing their motion , Henry called off the attack , and returned with his troops back to the siege lines . The next day ( October 1 ) , much the same maneouvers were repeated , with the same results . On October 3 , the dance changed slightly : the Moroccan army began a threatening march towards the siege lines . Henry quickly arrayed his troops in two lines . The Moroccans then suddenly halted . Henry seized the initiative and sent his stronger left wing , under Alvaro Vaz de Almada and Duarte de Menezes , to take a height on the Moroccan flank , and ordered his first line forward . Seeing the flanking maneouver , the Moroccans began to retreat . At that moment , the Tangier garrison burst out in a sortie against the siege camp , which was being held by a reserve force under Diogo Lopes de Sousa . Evidently , the Moroccans had hoped Henry ' s line would break back to rescue the camp , but Sousa ' s reserves successfully repelled the sally by themselves . The height taken and the Portuguese line advancing unabated , the Moroccans called a retreat and broke the engagement . The Portuguese counted this encounter as a victory . Soldiers reported seeing the vision of a white cross appear in the sky that very evening . Second Assault ( Oct 5 ) . Their morale restored , the Portuguese decided to proceed with a new assault on the city . Their scaling ladders were now extended , a new siege tower had been built and the two larger ordnance cannons shipped in from Ceuta was finally doing serious damage on the gates and walls of the city . On October 5 , Henry ordered the second assault . Henry led the assault force himself , leaving the rest of the troops under Ferdinand the Holy , Ferdinand of Arraiolos and Bishop Álvaro of Evora , to defend their flanks and keep the Moroccan relief army at bay . But the second assault failed as badly as the first . The city ' s defenders rushed to the critical points , and poured on rapid and heavy missile fire . The Portuguese assaulters were prevented from even reaching the walls ( only one ladder managed to be set up - and was promptly destroyed ) . Moroccan Turn - around . Second Relief Army ( Oct 9 ) . On October 9 , Henry was preparing his third assault when a new massive Moroccan army - reported ( with doubtless exaggeration ) to be some 60 , 000 horse and 700 , 000 foot . This massive army was personally led by Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi ( " Lazeraque " ) , the vizier of the Marinid sultan Abd al - Haqq II of Fez ( whom the chroniclers suggest was also present ) . The chroniclers report the army was composed of " many kings " ( Fez , Marrakesh , Sijilmassa , Velez , etc . ) . The Tangier relief campaign was probably the first time since 1419 that a unified army from all of Morocco had been assembled . Prince Henry realized the Portuguese were hopelessy outnumbered , that the siege was lost and the best they could do was to fight an orderly rearguard action back to the ships . All the seamen were ordered to prepare sail , while the army was arrayed to defend a retreat of the assault force back to the fortified siege camp lines . The marshal Coutinho was given command of the artillery , the admiral Almada would take the infantry , while Henry himself took command of the cavalry . The arriving Moroccan army did not pause but attacked at once . The Portuguese advance posts were quickly overwhelmed and the way to the city cleared . The Moroccans then charged the Portuguese forces . The artillery batteries were quickly overrun and taken . The Moroccan charge then turned on Henry ' s cavalry - which quickly broke and beat a retreat back to the siege camp line . Henry ' s own horse was killed from under him , effectively disabling his ability to survey the field and organize the retreat . It is said that Henry was alone on foot for a while , surrounded by Moroccan cavalry , and saved only by the heroics and personal sacrifice of Fernão Alvares Cabral and a group of his guards who rushed in to extract him . The retreat nearly turned into a rout when about one thousand of the Portuguese soldiers , nobles among them , abandoned the siege line and fled in panic all the way down to the beach to make for the ships . It was only by the furious fighting of those remainder on the palisade that the Moroccan army did not manage to overwhelm and take the siege camp that very day . The battle was broken off by evening . The Moroccan army encircled and settled down to a siege of the Portuguese siege camp . Siege of the Portuguese Camp . Overnight , the Portuguese besiegers - now besieged - set about repairing and strengthening the defenses of the siege camp . The next day , the Moroccans launched another assault on the siege camp , but were repelled after a heavy four - hour fight . Chronicler Frei João Álvares reports that at this point , the Portuguese expeditionary force in the siege camp was a mere 3 , 000 , implying that of the original 7 , 000 who arrived at Tangier , 4 , 000 or so had already died or deserted by now . The Portuguese camp was certainly in a desperate situation , with only a day or so worth of food left . When these ran out , Henry resolved on a night operation to breach the Moroccan lines and force his army ' s passage to the beach and the idling ships . But this operation was detected before it even began ( Pina says it was revealed by the treason of Henry ' s own chaplain , Martim Vieira , who had turned over to the Marinids ) . The Moroccans reinforced the posts guarding the paths to the sea , cutting off all hope of escape for the Portuguese army . Truce and Negotiations ( Oct 12 ) . What happened next is a bit more contested . Chronicler Ruy de Pina reports that , on October 12 , having taken many casualties , Abu Zakariya called off further assaults on the camp and decided to open communications to the Portuguese defenders , offering to make peace in return for Ceuta . But Frei João Álvares contradicts this , and reports it was the Portuguese who initiated the offer through secret emissaries already on the first day . Álvares reports this offer made no impression on the Moroccans at first . It is true the assaults were suspended on October 11 , but that was also a Friday , the Muslim holy day ( " jumu ' ah " ) . It was only during this interlude that Abu Zakariya decided to consider the Portuguese offer , and a truce was called for Saturday , October 12 . The talks were personally conducted by Portuguese emissary Rui Gomes da Silva , alcaide of Campo Maior , and for the Moroccan side , by Salah ibn Salah , emir of Tangier . There was dissent on what terms to offer . Pina suggests that some of the Moroccan commanders , upset at how the negotiations were being conducted on their behalf , withdrew from the truce . The renegades launched an assault on the Portuguese siege camp that Saturday that lasted a full seven hours . After that assault , Henry took account of the desperate conditions in the Portuguese camp . The army was starving , horses and beasts of burden were eaten . Thirst also began taking its deadly toll - the siege camp contained but a single small well , sufficient to slake only about one hundred men per day . With so many wounded and weakened , Henry did not have enough men to garrison the full length of the stockade . With the tacit permission of the Moroccan leaders , in an overnight operation on Saturday evening , Henry had his men reduce the circumference of the siege camp ( and shift it slightly closer to the sea ) , allowing the Portuguese to defend themselves more effectively against renegade skirmishers . There were no more assaults on the Portuguese siege camp . The truce was observed from Sunday , October 13 onwards . The Treaty ( Oct 16 - 17 ) . The treaty was finally concluded on Wednesday , October 16 , 1437 , and signed the next day ( October 17 ) by Prince Henry and Salah ibn Salah . The Moroccans would allow the Portuguese army to withdraw to their ships unmolested , but they were to leave behind all artillery , weapons , baggage , tents and horses . The Portuguese soldiers were to go empty - handed , taking only the clothes they were wearing . Most crucially , Henry promised to deliver Ceuta to the Marinids - to withdraw the Portuguese garrison and leave behind any and all Moroccan prisoners that were held there . He also committed Portugal to one hundred years of peace with Morocco and other Muslim states in North Africa . To ensure the safe evacution of Portuguese soldiers to their ships , hostages were swapped - the Tangier governor Salah ibn Salah handed over his own son to the Portuguese , in return for a group of four noble Portuguese hostages ( identified as Pedro de Ataíde , João Gomes de Avelar , Aires da Cunha and Gomes da Cunha ) . As security for the final fulfilment of the treaty terms , Henry ' s own brother , Ferdinand the Holy Prince , was to remain behind in Morocco , as a hostage of Salah ibn Salah , until Ceuta was delivered . Pina claims that Henry refused this condition , and offered himself in his brother ' s place , but that the others in his council would not allow it . Upon being delivered to Salah ibn Salah , the noble hostage Prince Ferdinand the Holy and his small entourage of servants , which included the secretary Frei João Álvares , was immediately dispatched under Salah ibn Salah ' s guard to Asilah . Portuguese chroniclers report that at the very final stage , some renegade Moroccans attacked the embarking Portuguese on the beach - killing an additional forty . But the skirmish was probably provoked by Portuguese soldiers trying to smuggle some of the forbidden weapons with them . Nonetheless , this beach skirmish would later provide the excuse that the Moroccans had ' broken the treaty ' first , thus rendering it void . By October 19 , the troops were all aboard and the ships set sail . It is said that the honor of being the last men to leave the beach was shared between the admiral Álvaro Vaz de Almada and the marshal Vasco Fernandes Coutinho . After the embarcation was complete , Henry decided not to release Salah ibn Salah ' s son ( as he was supposed to ) . As a result , Salah ibn Salah also held on to his four noble hostages , and dispatched them under arms to Asilah . In all , the siege of Tangiers lasted 37 days - 25 days with the Portuguese besieging Tangiers , 12 days with the Moroccans besieging the Portuguese camp . It is said that Portuguese casualties numbered 500 dead and unknown number injured . Moroccan casualties are unknown . Alternative timeline . The timeline and events proposed above follows that reported by royal chronicler Ruy de Pina . However , Frei João Álvares , who was an eyewitness to the battle , places the dates and events on a somewhat different timeline . Álvares reports that Tangier was assaulted immediately on the first day the expeditionary force arrived ( September 13 ) , a second assault within a couple of days ( 14th or 15th ) . The first attack by a Moroccan relief army is placed on the 16th , another the next day ( 17th ) , before the larger set piece encounter in the valley and the sally by the Tangier garrison ( September 19 ) . Álvares reports a third failed assault ( Pina ' s second ) on Tangier on September 20 . The arrival of Abu Zakariya ' s army and the battle of Tangiers is dated on September 25 . The second Moroccan assault on the siege camp on Sep . 26th , and the first emissaries sent by the Portuguese to the Marinid camp right after . The 7 - hour assault of the siege camp is dated Sep . 28 , with the opening of talks in the aftermath . Two more Moroccan assaults ( Oct 1 and Oct 3 ) are reported , before the truce finally holds . The finalization of the agreement and swapping of the hostages occurs on October 16 and signing of treaty on October 17 . It is worth remarking that both chroniclers seem to agree that one week elapsed between Abu Zakariya ' s arrival and the truce and opening of talks . Where Álvares differs most significantly is in suggesting that talks dragged out for another two weeks . Unless the Moroccans allowed the entry of supplies into the siege camp during that interlude , the conditions in the Portuguese siege camp at the end must have been quite dire . Aftermath . Prince Henry the Navigator did not return to Lisbon to report to his brother , King Edward of Portugal , but rather sailed directly to Ceuta . Henry assigned D . Fernando de Castro the duty of bringing his troops home and giving the account of the expedition and its defeat . In Ceuta , Henry barricaded himself in his lodgings for several weeks , with hardly a word to anyone - evidently , Henry had fallen into a deep depression . The new Portuguese governor of Ceuta , Fernando de Noronha , who had been appointed to succeed his father - in - law , the late Pedro de Menezes , arrived in Ceuta around this time . He must have been surprised to hear that a treaty had been signed to evacuate the garrison he had just been appointed to command . With Henry esconsed in his room , not speaking to anyone , Noronha was not sure how to proceed . News soon reached Portugal . A little earlier , sometime in September , the constable John of Reguengos had travelled to the southern province of the Algarve to raise more troops and organize the dispatch of reinforcements and supplies to Henry in Tangier . Being in the south , John was among the first people in the country to hear of the turn - around in Tangier , and the encirclement of the Portuguese camp . John of Reguengos immediately set sail for Africa with all the ships , men and supplies he had at hand . However , strong contrary winds prevented John ' s flotilla from reaching Tangier . At length , hearing of the capitulation of the Portuguese camp , John changed direction and headed to the Moroccan port of Asilah . There , John entered into frantic negotiations with Salah ibn Salah ' s officials , hoping to secure the release of his younger brother Ferdinand , but to no avail . John returned to Portugal empty - handed . King Edward of Portugal received the news of the turn - around on October 19 , at his residence in Santarém . Peter of Coimbra , then in Lisbon , received the news around the same time , and immediately set about assembling an armada to rescue his brothers . But Peter was still in Lisbon when the advance ships of the returning fleet arrived in Lisbon harbor with the news of the Portuguese capitulation and treaty . After the initial shock , the question of what to do was posed immediately . The quandary would become the anvil of the " Ínclita Geração " . The princely brothers had been made knights when their father captured Ceuta back in 1415 . And they now looked to be undone by it . Peter of Coimbra and John of Reguengos , who had both long argued for abandoning Ceuta , had no doubt on what the course of action should be : fulfill the treaty and evacuate Ceuta . King Edward had enough powers to order it , but was caught in indecision . After a prolonged silence , Henry eventually dispatched a letter from Ceuta to Edward , arguing against fulfilling the treaty he had himself signed . Henry noted that the skirmish on the beach exempted the Portuguese from fulfilling the agreement , and proposed instead that perhaps they could swap Salah ibn Salah ' s son ( still being held by Henry ) for Prince Ferdinand . But Edward himself received a note from the captive Ferdinand at the same time , reporting that the Marinids would accept nothing less than Ceuta , and wondering why it had not been evacuated yet . It is clear from these letters , that , contrary to later legend ( propagated by Henry himself ) , Ferdinand did not seek out a martyr ' s fate , that he expected the treaty to be fulfilled and to be swiftly released . Cortes of Leiria . Uncertain of what to do , King Edward of Portugal summoned the Portuguese Cortes to Leiria in January , 1438 for consultation . Henry did not attend the summons , but remained in Ceuta . The Cortes of Leiria opened on January 25 , 1438 . Before the Cortes , King Edward ( via a spokesman ) openly blamed Henry ' s neglect of his military instructions for the debacle at Tangier . But there was no getting away from the fact that Edward had authorized the expedition himself , against the advice of others , including the Cortes itself . A letter from the captive Ferdinand was read before the Cortes . The letter urged the fulfillment of the treaty , expressing Ferdinand ' s desire to be released and outlining why holding on to Ceuta served Portugal little purpose . Once again , Pedro of Coimbra and John of Reguengos , who had opposed the expedition from the start , urged the Cortes to ratify the treaty and surrender Ceuta immediately . The prelate s agreed - although the Archbishop of Braga added that the Pope ' s approval should also be sought . Most of the burghers also agreed - save for those of the major commercial port cities of Lisbon , Porto and Lagos , who felt that the release of a prince was too small a reward for so important a city , and that perhaps the treaty could be renegotiated . Ultimately , it was the noble magnates that sank the proposal . Rallied by Ferdinand of Arraiolos , the constable who had led the nobles at Tangier ( although he earlier opposed the expedition ) , the Portuguese nobles opposed the swap altogether . Arraiolos argued fervently that reneging the treaty was no dishonor , as it had been signed under duress . The Cortes was dissolved without a decision being made . In June 1438 , no longer able to resist his brother ' s summons , Prince Henry finally left Ceuta and returned to Portugal , although he requested exemption from presenting himself in the king ' s court in Evora . King Edward went out to meet in him at a private conference in Portel . It was probably there that the decision to hold on to Ceuta was definitively made . Henry proposed alternative schemes to secure Ferdinand ' s release - ransoming for money , persuading Castile and Aragon to join in a mass release of Muslim prisoners , raising a new army and invading Morocco again , etc . Henry proposed a myriad of schemes to release Ferdinand , but delivering Ceuta was not one of them . In May 1438 , citing six months of foot - dragging , Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi , vizier of the Marinid palace in Fez , took charge of the noble hostage from Salah ibn Salah , and ordered Ferdinand transferred from his comfortable quarters in Asilah to a common jail in Fez . There , Ferdinand ' s status was downgraded , and he was subjected to humiliating ordeals by his captors , including being kept in chains for prolonged periods . According to the chronicler Frei João Álvares ( who was there with him ) , Ferdinand bore the humiliations with stoic resilience . Castro Mission , 1440 - 41 . King Edward of Portugal died in August 1438 ( of pestilence , said his doctors ; of heartbreak over the hapless fate of Ferdinand , said popular lore ) . Edward ' s death provoked an internal conflict in Portugal over the regency for his young son , the new king Afonso V of Portugal , and the kingdom became distracted . At length , the upper hand was gained by Edward ' s brother , Peter of Coimbra , who finally became regent of Portugal in 1439 . The fulfillment of the treaty was among the new regent ' s first orders of business . Peter of Coimbra immediately dispatched two emissaries , Martim Tavora and Gomes Eanes , to Asilah to negotiate the logistics of the swap of Ceuta for Ferdinand . In theory , Ferdinand was Salah ibn Salah ' s hostage , even though he was de facto in Fez , in the custody of Abu Zakariya . Salah had recently died and his brother ( whom the chroniclers call " Muley Buquer " - Abu Bakr ? ) had succeeded him as governor of Tangier and Asilah ( Salah ' s own son was then still in Portuguese captivity ) . It was ' Muley Buquer ' who put the preliminary conditions for the swap - firstly , that the Ceuta governor Fernando de Noronha must be relieved from office ( his reputation was such that the Moroccans believed he would contrive to prevent the swap ) , and that upon fulfillment of that , Muley Buquer would request from Abu Zakariya the transfer of Ferdinand from Fez back to Asilah . How exactly it would proceed from there is unclear , but presumably the swap would follow . Receiving the report , Peter of Coimbra appointed D . Fernando de Castro ( the head of Henry ' s household and an experienced diplomat ) in charge of the operation . In April 1440 ( sometimes dated as 1441 ) , Castro set out with a Portuguese flotilla to Ceuta , to take over the city from the governor Fernando de Noronha , and begin the evacuation of the Portuguese garrison and the handover to the Marinids . In the meantime , the embassy of Martim de Tavora and Gomes Eanes was to return to Asilah to receive the released Prince Ferdinand from the Moroccans . The operation started out inauspiciously . The flotilla went out in a celebratory mood - the ambitious Fernando de Castro openly fantasized that the released Infante Ferdinand might be persuaded to marry his own daughter on the spot , and prepared a rich and well - stocked expedition , packing the ships with banquet finery , an entourage of notables , and a bodyguard of some 1200 troops . But on the outward journey , around Cape Saint Vincent , the Portuguese flotilla was ambushed by Genoese pirates . The lead ship was boarded and Fernando de Castro killed , before the other ships could reach him . The pirates scampered away ( suspicions that Noronha may have had a hand in directing the Genoese pirates to sabotage the mission have not been ruled out ) . Hearing the news , Peter of Coimbra hurriedly dispatched instructions to Castro ' s son , Álvaro de Castro , to take over his father ' s credentials and fulfill the mission . In the meantime , Tavora and Eanes arrived in Asilah . The elder Castro ' s death led to a little confusion , but once it was clarified that Noronha was indeed officially relieved , the transfer request was forwarded by Muley Buquer to Fez . Tavora and Eanes sent their own representative , a Portuguese Jew known only as ' Mestre José ' ( Master Joseph ) , to accompany the request and presumably escort Ferdinand back to Asilah . Arriving in Fez in May , the emissaries presented the vizier Abu Zakariya with sealed letters from Peter of Coimbra confirming Noronha ' s dismissal and a copy of the royal instructions given to Castro to evacuate Ceuta . But Abu Zakariya refused to assent to the transfer request . Instead , the vizier replied that Ferdinand would remain in Fez and that he would fulfill the swap himself once Ceuta was evacuated . What followed is a bit murky . Master Joseph was accused ( and confessed to ) being part of a scheme to help Ferdinand escape , and was himself arrested and thrown into a cell . The detention of Master Joseph ( which lasted until September ) gave Abu Zakariya time to assemble a Moroccan army for a triumphal march to Ceuta , intending to garrison the citadel as soon as it was evacuated . Abu Zakariaya set out in processional array from Fez , taking Ferdinand along with him , promising to hand him over as soon as he took possession of the city . Master Joseph was released and sent back to Asilah to report the change of plans to Tavora and Eanes . It is uncertain what else the emissary reported about Abu Zakariya ' s intentions , but the Portuguese ambassadors rejected the offer , arguing they were not prepared to " hock Ceuta for paper promises " , that they needed to have some sort of hold on Ferdinand ' s person . Abu Zakariya called off the march and returned to Fez . Negotiations resumed , this time swirling around potential hostage - swapping and material guarantees to supplement verbal promises . But there was little trust between the parties . The Portuguese failure to fulfill the treaty promptly in 1437 , and Henry ' s failure to return Salah ibn Salah ' s son after the evacution from the beach , essentially undermined any new Portuguese offers . Abu Zakariya knew that Ferdinand was his only trump , that he was the only reason the Portuguese negotiators were there ( and barely so ) . Abu Zakariya would not , could not , release Ferdinand until Ceuta was safely in his hands . On the other hand , back in Ceuta , the young and inexperienced Álvaro de Castro , surrounded by suspicious captains and veteran soldiers , could not simply hand over the entire city to the Marinids for anything less than Ferdinand . In late October - early November , the Nasrid sultan Muhammad IX of Granada stepped in and offered to break the impasse . He proposed that Ferdinand be placed in the hands of a group of Genoese merchants under his protection , giving his solemn promise to Abu Zakariya he would not allow them to hand Ferdinand over to the Portuguese until the evacuation of the city was confirmed . The Portuguese did not give an immediate reply to Granada ' s offer , and an outbreak of pestilence in Morocco delayed matters further . Three of the noble beach hostages , then being held in Asilah ( separately from Ferdinand in Fez ) , João Gomes de Avelar , Pedro de Ataíde and Aires da Cunha , died of the plague at this time . By September , disappointing news arrived of the breakdown of Granada ' s offer and Ferdinand was once again chained . Death of the Prince . Whatever hope remained for a peaceful solution was dashed in March 1442 . According to Álvares , that month , a certain Moroccan noble ( identified by Álvares as " Faquyamar " , a tutor of a Marinid prince ) was arrested by Abu Zakariya ' s men , and on his person were found several Portuguese letters , originating from Queen Eleanor ' s council , outlining a hare - brained scheme to break Ferdinand out of jail . The Moroccan noble was brutally flogged and executed in Ferdinand ' s presence , and Ferdinand himself moved to isolation in a dank dungeon in Fez . It was now clear to Abu Zakariya that the Portuguese had no intention to yield Ceuta , that nothing remained to do with Ferdinand but to extract the largest cash ransom that he could get . But nothing came of this . After fifteen months of captivity in the worst conditions yet , Ferdinand died on June 5 , 1443 , aged 41 . Several of the remaining members of Ferdinand ' s entourage , including the secretary Frei João Álvares , were eventually ransomed back to Portugal in subsequent years . In his official chronicle , Ruy de Pina makes no mention of the noble or the escape plan , and suggests the negotiations broke down simply because Abu Zakariya had little interest in actually recovering Ceuta , that the Portuguese presence in Ceuta served Abu Zakariya as a useful political distraction for the Moroccan population , allowing the Wattasid vizier to consolidate his power domestically . Legacy . Portugal . The debacle at Tangier and the captivity and death of Prince Ferdinand have loomed large in popular Portuguese memory , albeit inconsistently . It was a tremendous blow to the reputation of Prince Henry the Navigator . However , Henry managed to deflect attention from his role by encouraging the popular saintly cult of Ferdinand as a national martyr , a ' Saint Prince ' or ' Holy Prince ' ( " Infante Santo " , although he was never actually beatified by the Catholic Church ) who ' voluntarily ' submitted to scourge and death for Portugal ' s imperial mission , rather than a victim of Henry ' s military pretensions and blunders . Henry commissioned Frei João Álvares to compose the chronicle of Ferdinand ' s imprisonment as a piece of Christian hagiography ( although Álvares does not quite endorse the Henrican interpretation of events ) . Nonetheless , Henry ' s interpretation gained currency in later years , particularly as Henry ' s own reputation ascended retrospectively with the glorification of the Age of Discovery , and the blemish of Tangier needed to be scrubbed away . At the time , however , Henry did not get off that easily . It was known , from the Leiria Cortes , where blame for the debacle at Tangier lay , and what Ferdinand ' s hopes that been . Henry ' s opposition to the fulfillment of the treaty was also well - known . Henry ' s dubious role in the 1438 regency crisis and the later 1449 Battle of Alfarrobeira fostered a significant popular feeling in Portugal at the time that Henry was something of a dynastic traitor , with a pattern of betraying his brothers for personal gain , for which Tangier and its aftermath were cited as early examples . The Saint Vincent Panels , painted by Nuno Gonçalves around this time , is believed by some art historians to represent such a political statement , a funerary homage to Ferdinand the Holy Prince , pointing an accusatory finger at Henry the Navigator . Morocco . The victory of Tangier dramatically changed the political fortunes of the unpopular Abu Zakariya Yahya al - Wattasi , vizier of the Marinid palace of Fez and regent for sultan Abd al - Haqq II . Hailed as a national hero , Abu Zakariya was quick to milk the victory for all it was worth . Any question of surrendering the regency was set aside , regional governors returned to the fold . The chaos and disorder of the last two decades came to an abrupt end , and Morocco enjoyed a bit of a springtime in the aftermath . The very year of his victory , Abu Zakariya launched the construction of the Zaouia Moulay Idriss II in Fez , a magnificent mausoleum for the recently discovered uncorrupted remains of the Idris II ( the sultan who founded the Idrisid dynasty back in 807 ) . But the mausoleum also served unmistakably as a monument to Abu Zakariya and his triumph in Tangier . Although Abu Zakariya did not ultimately recover Ceuta , the victory at Tangier was instrumental in the ascent of the Wattasid viziers and their eventual eclipse of the Marinid sultans in whose name they ruled . Later Campaigns . Whatever the attitude towards Henry or the objective merits of remaining in Ceuta , the death of Ferdinand certainly sealed Portugal ' s hold on the city . A high price had been paid for it , and the question of abandoning Ceuta was permanently shelved away . In fact , it gave an impetus to new Portuguese expansionism in Morocco , now tinged with an element of revenge . The memory of the Holy Prince was cited by King Afonso V of Portugal in launching the 1458 expedition to seize Tangier - although it was deviated , and ended up seizing Ksar es - Seghir ( " Alcácer - Ceguer " ) instead . A third attempt to take Tangier was launched in late 1463 , which also failed . Finally , on the fourth attempt , Tangier fell to the Portuguese in August 1471 . Sources . Almost all accounts of the Battle of Tangier rely heavily on two Portuguese chronicle s : the official " Chronica d ' el Rey D . Duarte " , written by Ruy de Pina in the 1510s ( probably on the basis of drafts originally prepared by Gomes Eanes de Zurara ) , and the " Chronica do Infante Santo D . Fernando " written c . 1460 by Frei João Álvares , who personally accompanied the 1437 expedition . Chronicles : Secondary :