The Battle of Manila (1574) (Spanish: Batalla de Manila de 1574; Filipino: Labanan sa Maynila ng 1574) was a battle between Chinese and Japanese pirates led by Limahong and Spanish colonial forces with their native allies that took place on 29 November 1574 near Manila, mainly in the location of what is now Parañaque, in the Philippines. It marked the first time the Spanish directly clashed with the Japanese, the latter of whom had occasionally tried to colonize the Philippines and claim sovereignty.
Limahong's fleet landed at Parañaque and from there began to assault the fortifications of Intramuros. Initially, the inhabitants were disorganized and Limahong's forces gained the advantage. Furthermore, the Chinese killed the maestre de campo of the Spanish, Martin de Goiti. This caused them to delay their assault on Manila as Martin de Goiti's house was an obstacle in their march. Limahong's forces laid siege to Manila, being by their fortifications and defenders under Governor Guido de Lavezaris and later reinforced by fifty Spanish arquebusiers led by Juan de Salcedo.
Having been defeated at Manila, Limahong retreated and abandoned his plans to invade Manila and instead settled in Pangasinan. The following year, a Hispanic fleet led by Salcedo pursued Limahong, who escaped with part of his own. This led the Viceroy of Fukien to travel to the Philippines for the return of Limahong to China, but ultimately established diplomatic relations between China and the Spanish Philippines.
Background
The first Spanish expedition arrived in the region in 1565, but the city was not founded until 1571. Once established, Manila became a central center of commerce with multiple nations from South Asia as well as China and Japan which traded porcelain, silk, and wood. Manila's fame as a prosperous city spread quickly around southern Asia, attracting the interest of pirates and marauders.
In 1574, Chinese warlord Limahong had just been expelled from China by the imperial fleet in a battle in Guangdong. He was looking to move his headquarters to the Philippine islands, where he could obtain more significant gains with less difficulty. After capturing a Chinese trader ship that carried Spanish sailors, he found out Manila only had a garrison of around 200 Spanish soldiers available, so he judged it would be easy to capture the city in a surprise attack. In November, guided by the Spanish prisoners, Limahong arrived in Luzón with a fleet to expel the Spaniards and take the city. He only left a small part in the island of Batán, where he had taken refuge from the Chinese imperial fleet.
Opposing forces
According to Spanish records, both sides were matched in weapons and equipment, with the key difference in the battle being the seemingly superior experience and training of the Spanish soldiers, their defensive positions, the opportune arrivals of reinforcements, as well as other tactical considerations. Both armies employed arquebuses and artillery pieces, as well as swords, daggers and polearms. Among protective equipment were steel armor, mail, and cloth gambesons.
Spanish
The garrison of Manila was composed of 200 Spanish soldiers. Half of them were Iberian, while the other half were of Mesoamerican stock, including both mestizos and indios amigos. The city was completely unprepared due to the long period of peace, with the old fort built by Miguel López de Legazpi being badly maintained. While journeying to Manila, Salcedo recruited 200 Ilocano warriors.
Sino-Japanese
Limahong's fleet was composed of 60-72 junks, and comprised 2,000 soldiers, 2,000 sailors, and 1,500 colonists, including entire families, ransom women captured in China and Japan, farmers, carpenters, artisans, doctors, and all goods necessary to establish a settlement. A fleet of this size had probably been assembled from multiple ports around the sea, where their members lurking disguised as peaceful merchantmen while waiting for orders to rendezvous.
Although Limahong was a Chinese, his pirate armada was a mix of Chinese and Japanese, along with other Asian ethnicities. According to historian Kenji Igawa, Chinese records show he acted in alliance with factions of wokou. Limahong's very lieutenant was a Japanese, called Sioco in Spanish sources, which Yosaburō Takekoshi identified as a corruption of the Japanese name Shogo. Spanish sources also describe the invaders as wielding catanes, a corruption of the Japanese word katana, along with more traditional Chinese weapons, along with scimitars, sabers and daggers It is also apparent he had a Portuguese translator in his fleet.
Spanish chronicles describe in detail the arms and armor of Shogo's contingent, which historian Stephen Turnbull identifies clearly as period Japanese military gear. The pirates are described as carrying battle standards fastened to their bearers' shoulders like sashimono, cutlasses and daggers tucked into their belts in a manner evoking daishō, straight spears like yari, and long-bladed polearms (described as being "enough by themselves to undo the thickest hauberks") probably referring to naginata. The pirates also used a great quantity of gunpowder hand grenades and incendiary artifacts, which Turnbull identifies as the Japanese grenade called horokubiya.
Battle
Limahong's armada was spotted by Spanish posts of Villa Fernandina in northern Luzón, commanded by Juan de Salcedo and Francisco de Saavedra. Alarmed by the size of the fleet, Salcedo believed it was a Portuguese fleet come to attack Manila, so he gathered fifty arquebusiers in seven oared vessels to reinforce Manila. He also recruited 200 Ilocano warriors upon reaching Bauang. Meanwhile, he sent three messengers by sea to warn the city, but lack of wind caused the pirate fleet to catch up with them, forcing the Spaniards to abandon the boats and continue on foot by land. Consequently, it was impossible to send the message in time.
On November 30, Limahong anchored in Isla del Corregidor and deployed Shogo to perform a night raid with 400-600 pirates and capture the unaware city by surprise. However, bad luck hit equally the pirate fleet. Limahong had ordered the execution of the Spanish prisoners upon arriving at the beach; as the pirates did not have the prisoners' knowledge of the whereabouts anymore, Shogo's expedition fell in dangerous currents, losing three boats and being drifted by mistake towards Parañaque instead of Manila. Shogo continued on foot to Manila while towing the launches with ropes.
Attack on Goiti's house
The pirates were spotted after several attacks on Manila locals, who mistakenly believed that Shogo and his group were Muslim bandits from Borneo. Governor Martín de Goiti was informed in his house, near the old San Agustin Church, but he dismissed it. He only sent ten guards to find out what was happening without informing the garrison. The pirates quickly killed the guards and besieged the house, where Goiti's wife, Lucía del Corral, taunted them from the window. Infuriated by the insults, which were translated to him by the Portuguese, Shogo ordered the house to be set in fire, checking it was well fortified.
Finally understanding the dire situation, Goiti and the few men inside sallied out against the pirates in a suicide attack. The governor was elderly and convalescing of an illness at the time, but he jumped from a low window in his rush to engage his enemies. They were all killed, with the pirates cutting their nose and ears human war trophies, as Limahon had put up a bounty for every dead Spaniard. Del Corral was stripped and left for dead with a wound in the throat, while another woman in the house died before giving herself. The house was destroyed, the only survivors being Del Corral and the soldier and pilot Francisco de Astigarribia.
Attack on Manila
With Goiti dead, Shogo resumed his march towards Manila, dividing his force into three columns. However, although the governor' house was located far away, Lavezaris was warned by the blaze and gunshots, allowing him to raise the alarm in time for Manila to prepare. Shogo's force was met outside the walls by a nearby team of twenty arquebusiers commanded by Lorenzo Chachón, who harassed them into stopping. However, their numerical advantage allowed the pirates to encircle Chacón and press on them, killing eight before the rest could cut their way toward the city. The Chinese pirates gave pursuit, but another company of 20 Spanish soldiers under Alonso Velázquez attacked them from the flank. Shogo, likely fearing the intervention of more Spanish reinforcements, called for a retreat to Cavite, where they had agreed to reunite with Limahong after the victory.
Shogo hid his failure before reembarking, ordering his wounded to remain ashore and claiming to Limahong he had aborted the attack due to the long walk caused by their detour. He promised to take the city in a second attack, but Limahong advised to wait for two days to let their men rest. For his part, Lavezaris, correctly predicting a second assault, ordered to built improvised fortifications, gather all of his artillery and summon all the nearby soldiers to Manila, eventually counting 150 of them. Many in Manila still believed the pirates worked for the Raja of Borneo, so Lavezaris arrested two local Muslim chieftains, Numanatay and Rajabago, suspecting they might be enemy insiders. The truth is unknown, although the two later were revealed to have been strangled in their cells.
While approaching Manila by night, Salcedo realized the city had been attacked. He put his soldiers, warriors and servants to play a deception, marching in loose formation with many lights while playing loud marching music in the dark, in order to make any observer believe a great relief army was approaching. He reached safely the city, where Lavezaris promoted him to the maestre de campo title vacated by Goiti, leaving Salcedo's command to Gaspar Ramírez, Velázquez's ensign. Lavezaris then ordered to distribute all their weapons among their citizens and further fortify the city.
Arrival of the pirate fleet
On the night of December 2, Limahong's fleet was spotted arriving in Manila. The first artillery exchanges happened at daybreak when the fleet anchored down and deployed 1,500 pirates commanded again by Shogo, who had sworn on his own life to take the city. Their launches were sent back to the ships so they would be properly motivated to fight without any possible retreat.
After setting fire to many coastal houses with incendiary grenades, including the San Agustín Church, Shogo ordered his troops to divide into three contingents, advancing from the seaside, the city's main street and the Pasig river, hoping to attract the Spaniards outside, where they could envelop them from three sides. However, Lavezaris predicted his strategy and ordered his soldiers not to leave the walls, not even when the Chinese fleet moved to find better shooting positions, as the Spanish defensive positions would allow them greater safety to return fire and inflict damage. The first and second columns converged in front of the city's plaza, still uncontested, but at that point the Spanish opened fire with their artillery and arquebuses. Surprised by the heavy fire, Shogo's hand was forced, and he gave the order to assault the walls, hurling more firebombs and leaving his third company in the rearguard.
The citizens initially repulsed all attacks, but one of the Spanish commanders of alabarderos, Ensign Sancho Ortiz, was overwhelmed and shot down, resulting in his bulwark becoming open to the Chinese pirates. The pirates entered the fortifications and engaged the forces of Salcedo and Francisco de León, Manila's mayor. At the same time, Spanish artillery overpowered the Chinese fleet and pushed it out of the harbor. The main battle moved to the streets, where pirates killed León, but Lavezaris came to their positions at the head of a squad of pikemen. Eventually, with the force of their assault broken by the local resistance, the pirates were finally expelled from the walls and routed.
While the battle raged, turbulence took place behind the Spanish lines. Assuming the Spaniards would be defeated, groups of natives capitalized on the battle to sack empty houses, and a mass of slaves broke out intending to escape. They stole launches and tried to flee through the Pasig, but they did so with such haste that several boats were overturned and many slaves drowned; they were also attacked by slaves natives, who saw the chance to take revenge for previous servitudes and enmities. There were also riots in Tondo and Mindoro, where the locals, including chieftain Lakandula, sacked Christian churches and took hostages among the clergy members to offer to Limahong as tributes in case of his victory.