Third siege of Gibraltar | |||||||||
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Part of the Battle of the Strait during the Reconquista | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Sultanate of Morocco | Kingdom of Castile | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman of Morocco Abd al-Malik Abd al-Wahid Muhammed IV of Granada |
Alfonso XI of Castile Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena Don Vasco Perez de Meira |
History of Gibraltar |
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Timeline |
Gibraltar portal |
The third siege of Gibraltar was mounted between February–June 1333 by a Moorish army under the prince Abd al-Malik Abd al-Wahid of Morocco. The fortified town of Gibraltar had been held by Castile since 1309, when it had been seized from the Moorish Emirate of Granada. The attack on Gibraltar was ordered by the recently crowned Marinid ruler Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman in response to an appeal by the Nasrid ruler Muhammed IV of Granada. The onset of the siege took the Castilians by surprise. The stocks of food in Gibraltar were heavily depleted at the time due to the thievery of the town's governor, Vasco Perez de Meira, who had looted the money that was meant to have been spent on food for the garrison and to pay for the upkeep of the castle and fortifications. After over four months of siege and bombardment by Moorish catapults, the garrison and townspeople were reduced to near-starvation and surrendered to Abd al-Malik.