The Seige of Moncao

Day 279 / 365

In ancient times, when an army wanted to capture a city or a fortress, they used to besiege it. This was done mostly when the city couldn’t be conquered quickly by force, and they refused to surrender. What they actually did is created a military blockade, by surrounding the city and preventing the movement of people and supplies in and out of the city. This would mean that the city people would starve, and after a few days or weeks will finally have to surrender.

One such incident when the Spanish forces decided to besiege the Portugal city Moncao. This happened in 1368. After a few days, the people were starving, as they couldn’t get any food supplies in.

Just in the nick of time, a resident of Moncao named Deu-la-Deu had an idea. He went from door to door to collect any leftover flour from the hungry inhabitants. He used this to make loaves of bread and then threw them across the walls to the soldiers, shouting “If you want more let us know!”. This was basically a big bluff, he wanted the soldiers to think that they still had plenty of food left.

And it actually worked! The soldiers lost faith and thought the blockade was a waste of time. So they just left.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Always Be Closing