The Reconquest as Crusade in the Anonymous De expugnatione Lyxbonensi

Abstract

De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, an intriguing account of the Christian capture of Lisbon in 1147 by a mixed force of visiting Crusaders and local Portuguese troops, offers the modern reader a unique insight into the reality of twelfth-century religious militancy. Because the anonymous author was himself one of the Crusaders, his impressions of the Portuguese are particularly illuminating. The rapid escalation of sectarian hostility throughout the Iberian peninsula during this period has generally been interpreted as a manifestation of external cultural influences. Events in Lisbon, however, present a different picture. Although the Portuguese attempted to accommodate their northern allies' religious fervour, they themselves sought to justify their aggression by claiming the far older right of reconquest. Yet beneath such protestations of religious sanction or legal legitimacy lay the more pragmatic aim of territorial expansion.