Portugal in Morocco – Tavira’s role

Following the reconquest of the Algarve, the Christian kings of Portugal looked over the sea towards North Africa. In particular, the great southward exploratory effort energised by Infante D Henrique (Henry the Navigator) was based partly on the successful conquest of Ceuta by the expedition commanded by his father D João I in 1415.

On its return to Portugal, this force landed at Tavira, where D João and his sons attended mass at the Church of Santa Maria do Castelo, and the king there created dukedoms for his sons Pedro and Henrique.

The ancients understood that the sea currents from the Strait of Gibraltar brought shipping westwards along the Algarve coast, and Tavira was the natural first port of call. Similarly, the Azores Current and the northern trade winds naturally took Portuguese shipping down the west coast of Morocco.

Records of the 1400s and 1500s show that Tavira had an active port with strong trading and fishing fleets taking advantage of these natural phenomena. Particularly during the 1500s, Tavira was numbered among the most populous and important towns of the kingdom with customs dues making up approximately 68% of the total in the Algarve.

The conquest and retention of Ceuta became an expensive mistake, since the Moroccans refused to have anything more to do with the city while it was occupied by the Portuguese.

The Portuguese at Ceuta survived only on support by sea from Portugal for both supplies and reinforcements. From 1416, Duke Henrique was charged with supplying Ceuta, and he was very keen to expand Portuguese influence and possessions in Morocco.

After the death of D João in 1433, Henrique persuaded the new king, his brother Duarte, to permit an expedition to conquer Tangier. Henrique’s expedition proved an unmitigated disaster, and he was allowed to re-embark his army on the condition that Portugal return Ceuta to Moroccan rule. He also had to leave his brother Fernando as a guarantee of his good faith, but Henrique went back on his word, and Portugal retained Ceuta while abandoning D Fernando to his fate.

In about 1425, a hostel was opened in Tavira, and it was soon transformed into a hospital – Hospital do Espírito Santo – for both locals and those returning injured from Morocco. A chapel was added which became the Church of São José do Hospital (or Church of Espírito Santo). King D Afonso granted a series of privileges to the hospital to further its work in caring for war-wounded from Morocco. The Hospital do Espírito Santo served the town until the new health centre was built in 1995 and the former hospital now functions as an international school.

D Afonso, nicknamed O Africano because of his Moroccan policy, attacked and occupied Alcácer-Ceguer, one of the three ports on the southern shore of the Strait. With information provided by spies sent from Tavira to Arzila, D Afonso went on to capture first Arzila and then Tangier.  The king re-dedicated the Hospital to the wounded from the North Africa campaigns.

The next king, D João II, sent a fleet to build the Graciosa fortress, on the northwest coast of Morocco, as a first step in their plan to attack Fez. For three months, the king and his court lodged at Tavira, where he could receive daily reports on the expedition’s progress, but his forces failed in their objective. During their stay, Queen D Leonor was impressed by the Tavira hospital and, in 1498, she founded in Lisbon the Misericórdia, possibly based on the experience she had at Tavira.

D Manuel I considered himself chosen by God to complete the conquest of Morocco. In 1506, he visited Tavira and prohibited the construction of houses on the riverbank – the space was needed for shipbuilding.

In 1508, Arzila was besieged by a Moroccan army, and making his way immediately from Évora, D Manuel ordered a relief force to gather at Tavira. In a short time, 25,000 men assembled on the Atalaia plain. As the siege was raised, this force was not needed, but Manuel showed his gratitude by founding a convent in Tavira, the Mosteiro das Bernardas,afemale house which became the biggest of the 25 religious houses in the Algarve.

He then presented Tavira with a charter to raise its status, declaring that “Tavira is always growing, with many noblemen present, and other worthy people, all always equipped to serve us with arms, men, horses and ships”.  Tavira was “one of the principal towns of our kingdom”.

As well as being the main port serving the Portuguese fortresses in Morocco, Tavira was also a centre for the manufacture of arms (swords, lances, armour, arquebuses, guns) for use in Morocco.  As six more Portuguese bases were established on the Moroccan coast, Tavira merchants were given permission to trade as far south as Cabo de Gué (modern Agadir).

Soon after D Manuel died, his son sought papal permission to abandon some of these strongholds. The Portuguese effort in Morocco had proven both expensive and unproductive.

The now-united Moroccans declared a jihad against the Christian invaders. The Portuguese abandoned Azamor in 1541, and its Augustine religious house was repatriated. Arriving in Tavira, the brothers decided to build a new house in the recently vacated judiaria.  Their Convento da Graça became the third religious house in Tavira and is now the town’s pousada (inn). Similarly, when the dowry of Catherine of Bragança included the town of Tangier, many of its Portuguese inhabitants returned to their ancestral town of Tavira.

With the decline of Portuguese interest in Morocco, and the silting of the river Gilão, Tavira began a long period of decline. But the built environment of Tavira benefitted from the Mosteiro das Bernardas, Convento da Graça, Hospital do Espírito Santo, Church of São José, and the idea that the hospital was the seed for the foundation of Portugal’s national Misericórdia.

For the town, the Moroccan Wars had been transformational, and once they were over, Tavira lost its importance.

Read more from Peter Booker about Portugal’s history: The Military Dictatorship or The end of the First Republic or Portugal and the Great War