Battle of Ponta Delgada

Date	26 July 1582
Location	Off São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Result	Decisive Habsburg victory

Battle of Ponta Delgada
	Part of the Portuguese succession crisis
	; The landing of the Spanish Tercios at Terceira.
Date	26 July 1582
Location	Off São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Result	Decisive Habsburg victory
Belligerents
Portuguese independentists; French, English, Dutch, Italian adventurers	Portuguese loyal to Philip I of Portugal; Spain
Commanders
Filippo di Piero Strozzi †	Marquis de Santa Cruz
Strength
60 warships	28 warships
Casualties and losses
1,500 dead; 1.500 wounded, missing or captured; 4 ships sunk; 2 ships burned; 4 ships captured	224 dead; 550 wounded

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The naval Battle of Ponta Delgada, also called the Battle of Vila Franca, also called the Battle of São Miguel, took place on July 26, 1582, in the sea near the Azores, off São Miguel Island, as part of the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis. This battle resulted in the defeat of a fleet manned by Portuguese exiles and French adventurers under António, Prior of Crato (Portuguese claimant to the Portuguese throne against Spanish Habsburg King Philip) and Filippo di Piero Strozzi, a Florentine exile in the service of France, by a Portuguese and Spanish fleet under Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz.

The fleet of António was not only utterly defeated on this day, but his supporters were also defeated in the following year at what is usually called the Battle of Terceira near Terceira Island on July 27, 1583.

These battles, included in the War of the Portuguese Succession, marked the end of the Philip II's problems with António, Prior of Crato, and the full establishment of the Iberian Union, which would last until 1640.

Upon Álvaro de Bazan's victory in 1582 at São Miguel, he ordered the beheading of all captured French nobles in one of two scaffolds he had erected on the island. The common French soldiers, who had been captured, were hanged. More than 100 French were executed.