Raguaglio fedele, et breve del cavalier Ciro Spontone del fatto d'arme seguito nell'Africa tra D. Sebastiano Re di Portugallo, et Mulei Auda Malucco per riporre ne' Regni di Marocco, di Fetz, di Giafilet, et di Sus, Mehemet il Seriffo. Narrasi la morte de’ tre Rè: si riferiscono gli appariti prodigi non solamenre d'allhora; ma que’ di due mille anni, passati. Si racconta la favola dal principio fino ad hora, di colui, che sfacciatamente ancor hoggi si publica Re di Portugallo. Et si mostrano i disegni de’ sue esserciti; & della battaglia parimente.
In Bologna: presso Vittorio Benacci, 1601. Illustrated with two double-page engraved plates. Enriched with two recurring large woodcuts and woodcut and typographical head and tailpieces. First edition. In contemporary vellum. Coll: [𝜋]4; A–H4 ; [ 8], 64 p., and [2] engraved plates. Spine rubbed, ink lettering faded. Stains on the binding. Spine damaged at bands. Inside clean, large margins. Overall in very good condition.
One of the earliest reports of the decisive Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578, which, by the death of Sebastian I, led to the end of the Aviz Dynasty of Portugal and the establishment of the Iberian Union.
One of Ciro Spontone’s (1554 or 1556–1610) scarcest books, published in 1601, a year after his expedition to Hungary by the side of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, on his crusade against the Turks. Raguaglio fedele discusses the political and military aspects of the Battle of Alcácer Quibir, and is supplemented with astronomical assumptions. The detailed discussion of the battle is illustrated with two double-page engravings, representing accurately the positions of the armies and a later stage of the battle.
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir was the major battle of the ongoing Moroccan–Portuguese conflicts, and the Moroccan succession struggle, fought at Ksar-el-Kebir on 4 August 1578. The fight is also known as the Battle of Three Kings, as three rulers led the combatants and died during the conflict, on one side Sebastian, King of Portugal with his ally, the deposed Moroccan Sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed II, on the other, the new Sultan of Morocco (and uncle of Abu Abdallah) Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I. The four-hour battle resulted in the total defeat of the Portuguese and Abu Abdallah's army, Sebastian was killed, Abu Abdallah attempted to flee but was drowned in a river, and Abd Al-Malik died from natural causes during the battle.
The death of Sebastian was a catalyst for the Portuguese succession crisis. Sebastian’s successor, his great-uncle Henry died in 1580, and as neither of them had immediate heirs, ultimately Philip II of Spain gained control of the country, uniting the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns in the Iberian Union. This dynastic union between 1580 and 1640, brought the entire Iberian Peninsula, as well as Portuguese overseas possessions, under the Spanish Habsburg kings, and led to the decline of the Portuguese Empire.
Scarce, no record on Rarebookhub within the last sixty years. USCT lists 8 copies in the UK (2), France (3), and Italy (3).
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Price: €12,000.00