On June 25, 1578, King Sebastian assembled an army of 15,000 men at Lagos, and a fleet to convey the troops. This fleet sailed to the little port of Azaila, on the Atlantic coast, about twenty miles south of Tangier, and on July 29 the army landed and encamped on the ‘Sahel,’ or plain, six miles from Azaila.
Mulai Mohammed accompanied the army, having left his son at Lisbon as hostage and guarantee of his good faith. He had led King Sebastian to expect that a number of the Moorish tribes would join the Portuguese army, but these expectations were not realised.
Mulai Abdelmalek, Sultan of Fas, had assembled near the town of El Ksar an army of 40,000 cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and thirty-five cannon, besides an auxiliary force of wild tribes from the mountains of Beni Gorfet, Beni M’suar, &c. The Sultan was in bad health, and, being unable to mount his horse, was carried on a litter. He gave the command of the army to his brother, Mulai Ahmed.
On August 4 the Portuguese and Moorish forces met on the plain of Tamista. Mulai Ahmed, seeing the inferiority in numbers of the Portuguese forces, surrounded them, and began the attack on all sides. King Sebastian and his nobles behaved with great valour; and the King, though wounded at the commencement of the battle, charged amongst the hordes of Moorish cavalry, with the hope of rallying his troops scattered by the onslaught of the Moors. The King was slain, as also the nobles who had joined in the charge. Sultan Abdelmalek viewed from his litter the battle, and, though stricken with fever and in a very weak state, mounted his horse, notwithstanding the efforts made by his officers to dissuade him. The Sultan, who was then only thirty-five years of age, anxious to share the glory of victory, declared that he must perish either by the hand of the enemy or that of God. He died on the field of battle from over-exertion. His death was kept secret until victory was assured and proclaimed, and Mulai Ahmed did not hear of the death of his brother until after the defeat of the Portuguese.
Mulai Mohammed was drowned in the river ‘Mahazen’ during the flight of the Portuguese army, most of whom were slain or made prisoners. Don Sebastian was buried at El Ksar, whence, it is said, his body was exhumed at the request of the King of Spain and transferred to Ceuta. Mulai Ahmed was proclaimed Sultan of Fas.
João, a Portuguese gunsmith, was taken prisoner, together with two companions, during the battle. Mulai Ahmed, now Sultan, gave orders that the Christian prisoners, numbering about a thousand, should be put to death or sold as slaves. Amongst the latter João and two Portuguese soldiers fell to the lot of Sheikh Shashon, Chief of the mountainous district of Beni M’suar, who dwelt in the village of Tsemsalla, about fifteen miles from Tangier. In the battle a brother of the Sheikh of Beni M’suar had been slain, so the Sheikh vowed his Christian prisoners should die, and thus avenge the death of his brother—blood for blood.
Cords were bound round the necks of João and his fellow-captives, and, with their hands tied behind their backs, they were led barefooted for two days over mountain passes until they reached Beni M’suar. On arrival at the village of Tsemsalla, a crowd collected of men, women, and children, who hooted and spat on the ‘infidels’ as they limped wearily on; the children crying out the old rhyme of ‘E’ Nesára fi E’ Snara: El Yahúd fi E’ Sfud[43].’ (‘The Nazarenes to the hook: the Jews to the spit.’)
The Sheikh, to satisfy his feelings of revenge and those of his followers who had taken part in the great battle, decided to make the prisoners butts for shooting at with matchlocks, and notice was given to the villagers that on the following day the shooting would take place, so that every man who had lost a relative in the battle with the cursed Nazarene could have ‘blood for blood.’
João had a stout heart, but it quailed when he beheld the scowling countenances of the multitude who thronged around them, and he thought of the morrow. Having lived some time at Tangier, at that period in the possession of the Portuguese, he had picked up a smattering of Arabic from the inhabitants, and he heard the announcement of the cruel manner in which he was to meet his death, and felt that there would not be an eye amongst the hundreds who witnessed it to commiserate his cruel fate.
Iron fetters were fastened on João’s ankles, and locked with a key which the Sheikh took. There was no prison in the village, so two of the prisoners were cast, fettered, into a ‘matmor,’ or underground granary, closed by a large stone at the entrance, and a guard was placed near it; but João, whose appearance and manners showed he was of a better class, was imprisoned in a stable adjoining the Sheikh’s dwelling.