The Battle Where 3 Kings Died in a Single Day

Added: 2026-05-28

On August 4, 1578, at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, three kings died in a single day: King Sebastian of Portugal (24 years old), who led 23,000 men in a crusade to seize a Muslim kingdom and was cut down in the chaos with his body never found; the exiled sultan Abu Abdallah Mohammed, who had begged for Portuguese help, drowned in the Makhazen River alongside thousands of Portuguese soldiers; and the reigning sultan Abd al-Malik, who was already suffering from a fatal illness, collapsed from his horse as his troops routed the enemy and died that same night.