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On August 29th of 1350, the Battle of Winchelsea, known also as the Battle of Les Espagnols Sur Mer , was fought off the southern coast England between the fleets of King Edward III of England (b.1312-1377) and the Castilian (Spanish) prince Don Carlos de la Cerda (b.1327-1354). The Channel was and is still today the gateway to south England and during the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) it was the site of the oft forgotten Battle of Winchelsea. The Battle of Sluys 1340 as depicted in an illumination from Froissart's Chronicles Battle of Winchelsea in 1450 An aggressive English naval strategy from 1340-1429 during the Hundred Years' Wars often led to the piracy of any and all ships crossing or returning from the Channel into the North Atlantic. A greater English strategy protected both the major channel ports and the western Irish sea ports, the English always wary of any French, Scottish, and/or Spanish vessels looking for easy plunder along the coast just as the Vikings of the

On the 4th of August in the year 1578, the Battle of Ksar el Kebir was fought between the Sultan of Morocco Abu Abd al-Malik and the invading “crusader” expeditionary army led by the Portuguese King Sebastian I (b.1554-1578). One of the largest battles fought in North Africa in pre-modern times, 1400-1700, the battle is most famous for causing the death of the twenty-four year old Sebastian who was killed in one of the last great battles of the 16th century. In Portuguese, this epic confrontation is called the Battle of Alcácer Quibir and is also popularly referred to as ‘The Battle of the Three Kings’ because three rulers fought and died in the battle and yet another would be crowned following the battle’s conclusion. Heroic contemporary painting and portrait of King Sebastian I (b.1554-1578), depicting the young crusader king, killed leading at the  Battle of Ksar El Kebir, August 4th, 1578. A prominent theme when examining the bellicose attitude taken towards Morocco by the Portugue