In the discussions of which you have heard, and which took place in the King of Castile's royal council, so much of the day was wasted that it was approaching evening when the Castilians were completely ready and their battle formation drawn up. Indeed, that formation was so immense and striking to behold that, by contrast, the Portuguese resembled nothing more than the light of a feeble star in comparison with the full moon on the days it shines most brightly.

The Constable of Portugal rode his horse at the head of the vanguard and the two accompanying wings, bearing on his arm a shield to ward off the bolts that were raining in from certain quarters, not simply reaching that far but even crossing the lines and striking the men, boys and animals in the baggage train. This the constable was doing in order to check that every man was fully at the ready in the valiant and shrewd formation in which he had deployed them. He told them that they should all advance very slowly when the Castilians moved forward and that, at the joining of battle, they should calmly stand firm, holding their lances straight ahead, tightly gripped under their arms, yet extended forward as far as they could. He added that, when the enemy arrived, they should thrust their lances into them in such a way as to catch them and then push forward with all their might; as for those behind them who could not reach the enemy with their lances, they should push the others forward.

He praised and stimulated them with his courageous gallantry and cheerful countenance, encouraging them not to fear the enemy host, or the threats which they uttered with their hooting and whooping, for it all was just a bit of wind which would very soon have to cease. They should be strong and of good courage, placing great trust in God, in Whose service they had come, in order to defend a just cause on behalf of the realm and Holy Church. Besides, the Mother of God, Whose feast fell on the following day, would be their advocate, and the blessed martyr Saint George would be their captain and helper.

This incursion which the count launched into Castile has not been overlooked by the historians, but what persuaded him to do so immediately, with the victory in that mighty battle still so fresh and tender in men's eyes, is something about which they disagree. That is because some say that the king, considering that the Castilian fleet would already have left its anchorage off Lisbon, gave orders that the count and Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo, the Prior of the Order of the Hospitallers, and other accompanying knights, along with some 800 lances and 6,000 foot soldiers, should conduct this incursion into Castile. However, we should in no way approve of this viewpoint, because it is unbelievable that at this time the king would pile even more work on the count after the long period in which he had been so busy. Others relate that, since he was the officer of the marches for that region [the Alentejo], the king dispatched him there, and that, while the count was in Évora, he learned that a number of Castilians had furtively entered the country as a raiding party, as a result of which he decided to rectify matters, and that this was the reason for his incursion.

We, however, believe that a truer explanation was another objective that he is reported to have had, when they say that the count, being a man of wisdom and preparedness, an expert in the art of war, recognised the great turmoil and confusion in which the King of Castile and people of his realm found themselves at that time. He recognised that, for as long as their anguish at that great defeat lasted, some through having experienced it and others by hearsay, and for as long as they continued to be sadly disheartened and heedless about such a thing [as he intended], then he could meanwhile effect an incursion, much to his own honour, to the service of the realm and also to the benefit of his men. We believe that, when he left for Évora after taking his leave of the king, he went there with this immediate objective.

After the queen's departure and with the council's work completed, work immediately began on the construction of a great bridge of boats across the Douro at a place known as Barca da Régua, thus enabling troops from Beira to cross over without going via Oporto. The king posted no frontier garrison elsewhere in the kingdom, except between the Tagus and the Guadiana, where Vasco Martins de Melo was stationed with his sons Gonçalo Vasques and Martim Afonso, Martim Gonçalves, who was the Count's uncle, Gómez García de Hoyos and others, numbering all together 250 lances. As for the troops in the king's force, they came to 3,000 lances, 2,000 crossbowmen and more than 4,000 foot soldiers, apart from others who had at once come in answer to the general summons the king had made when besieging Coria.

If anyone were to query whether the king should take so many men with him, more indeed than he was obliged to by the treaty, and were to argue that the increased expense would be an unwelcome payment of wages, then he would be quite right to do so. However, the king took counsel first. Some said he should not assemble more troops than he was obliged to. Others asserted that it was unsafe for him to set forth without extra forces, for, if he invaded enemy territory in that fashion, the duke might strike a dishonourable deal with the King of Castile; on that account he ought to advance with the greatest possible strength, so that he could safely counter any adverse turn of events. Moreover, it showed that he had sufficient forces to assist the duke and had additional troops if they were needed. Therefore, he took with him the [extra] numbers that we have mentioned.

The duke took very few of his own troops, because many of them had died during the course of that winter he had spent in Galicia, including able captains, archers and other men-at-arms. Some relate that numbers of them died of the plague, and others from shortages of various kinds. Some of them were killed in the woods and on the heathland by those who found them out foraging for food, for, though some people in that region at first rallied to the duke, they later changed their minds and secretly inflicted much havoc on his troops.

After the Castilians had suffered the defeat of which you have heard in that great battle [at Aljubarrota], the King of Castile and all his kingdom felt great distress and pain. His people could not rest, but rather talked endlessly about the misfortunes that had befallen them, one after another, not only the lords and nobles, but also good squires and other middling folk. They boldly declared in public that good fortune was clearly against them at every turn, since they had lost so many troops who were dead, both through defeats in battle and other accidents ever since the beginning of the war. Indeed, it was true that there were far fewer men on their side, a shortage not only among common folk but even of nobles and able captains, which left them greatly deprived. For besides those who were mentioned when we spoke of that battle, many others who could be mentioned also died there, such as Pedro Boil and a son of his; Pedro Gómez de Porres and two of his sons; Ruy de Tovar, the brother of the admiral [Juan Fernández de Tovar]; the Grand Commander of [the order of] Calatrava; Gómez Gutiérrez de Sandoval; Álvaro Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; Lope Fernández de Padilla; Juan Fernández Mujica; Pedro Suárez de Toledo; Fernán Rodríguez and Álvaro Rodríguez de Escobar; Lope Rodríguez de Aza; Ruy Niño, Lope Niño and Juan Niño, three brothers; García González and Lope González de Quirós, brothers; Sancho Fernández de Tovar; Master Arnaud and Lemisan, Gascons; and others whom authors have not chosen to record.

Consequently, speaking of all this in many ways, these people came to express various opinions. Some of them, especially the foreigners, who were audacious in their presumption, said that it was very good for them to make an incursion into Portugal without any captain at all. Rather, acting on their own account and in good numbers, they would show their disdain for the constable, gaining thereby much honour, and could do so in complete safety.

This discussion and gathering took place in Jerez de Badajoz, 8 leagues from Olivença. Assembled were a good 300 lances, along with foot soldiers and crossbowmen; the greater part of them were Gascons.

Gonzalo Mariño arrived in Castile, reaching Córdoba, where the King of Castile was assembling as many forces as he could to effect his invasion. There he informed him that the town of Guimarães had been taken, and that Aires Gomes was being besieged and had been attacked with siege engines, towers and other appurtenant devices. The outcome was that he had entered into a truce for a number of days, thus enabling him to inform His Grace and Queen Beatriz, his wife, in whose names he held the town. He besought him to go to his aid or to send others to do so, or otherwise to release him from the pledge which he had assumed on behalf of the town, for he could no longer defend himself.

Having listened to these and other observations, the king stated that he already knew for sure that the Master of Avis, who called himself King of Portugal, had entered the town of Guimarães, and that Aires Gomes and those with him were in great difficulties as a result of the attacks which had been launched against them. Moreover, he considered that Aires Gomes and those who happened to be with him in the siege had rendered distinguished service both to him and to his wife the queen by dint of the tribulations which they had suffered there on their behalf. However, for the sake of such a town as Guimarães and its castle, even if it were of much greater importance, it was not his wish that a knight such as Aires Gomes, nor such noblemen as were with him, should be sacrificed.

Furthermore, the king said that Gonzalo Mariño could clearly see that he was amassing as many forces from his kingdom as he could, in order to invade Portugal to help Aires Gomes and the other noblemen who held towns and castles on behalf of himself and his wife Queen Beatriz. Besides that, he had already sent his fleet of naos and galleys to attack Lisbon and seize its port so as to prevent it from receiving any help either in provisions or in manpower.

Since one of the clauses granted by the king in these Cortes was that he should abolish the war tax and not levy the taille, because the people were promising to give him all that he needed to pursue the war, the town communities decided among themselves to make an immediate request for the payment of soldiers’ wages and for coins to be issued to the value of 400,000 libras, which roughly amounted to 100,000 dobras, requesting also that this money should be paid over in graves, barbudas and small coinage, or in silver if the king so chose to give it to certain people. From these coins there would be minted another coin of lesser quality, so that by this multiplication of their number there would be sufficient for the soldiers’ pay and for any expenses necessary. The result was that by common agreement the king ordered the minting of standard reais of one dinheiro, which were each worth 10 soldos. The king's treasurers oversaw the coinage: Persifal oversaw what was being minted in Lisbon, and Martim Lourenço, who was the father of the doctors [of laws Gil Martins and Afonso Lourenço], oversaw the minting which took place in Évora. Since the king acknowledged every deed of noble service to him and did not forget the troubles and tribulations suffered by the people of Almada when they were besieged by the King of Castile, he gave orders that the inhabitants of Almada should not, therefore, pay anything corresponding to their share in this request.

In addition, at this time there arrived in Lisbon a galley from Genoa, on board which were a doctor [of laws] and a knight who, as envoys representing the communal republic of Genoa, had come to speak to the Master, now King of Portugal, about the merchandise seized from two of their naos when close to the port of the said city, as you have heard. Having travelled to Coimbra and explained the reason for their mission, they received such a welcome answer that after a few days they returned happily and with high hopes to their own land.

The king left that spot and went to spend the night at Lezíria da Condessa, which is situated below Santarém, and where they came across many cattle. This brought immense relief to those in charge of the encampment, as their stock of provisions was very low. Next day, passing close to Muge, the king crossed the Tagus, took the road to Lisbon and set up camp near the bridge that lies beyond Cartaxo. However, there was [still] a shortage of supplies throughout the camp, so much so that a horse was exchanged for five loaves of bread. While the constable was sitting eating, with five loaves on his table (that being all he had left in his bread store), there arrived five English knights, loudly complaining that they were starving and that they wished to drink with him. He answered that he was happy for them to do so, gave orders for water to be brought for [them to wash] their hands, and bade them sit down. However, they refused to sit down, preferring to drink standing up. Each one of them took his loaf and ate it, as well as swallowing four draughts each before they went on their way. Laughing and highly amused, the Constable was left without any bread and on that occasion ate his meat without it.

The king next travelled to Alenquer, which was defended by Vasco Peres de Camões. He was a former vassal of the King of Portugal, as we mentioned. Camp was pitched in the market gardens by the riverside, at a good distance from the town, and where there sometimes took place well-fought skirmishes between those from the town and those from the encampment. It was from there that forage parties went forth into the area around Alenquer and Torres Vedras to look for supplies.

In these circumstances it was decided that the king should remain there assembling the troops that were due to join him from Lisbon. When once he had them with him, he would go back to Santarém with them, and then on to Abrantes. Meanwhile, the constable would go into the Alentejo to muster as many forces as possible and then head back to Abrantes, where the king would be awaiting him.

When this had been decided in that way, the king ruled on another dispute that existed among many people of the kingdom in the towns that had declared loyalty to the King of Castile, primarily in the town of Santarém, where he and his officials and household had resided longer than in any other town. The question was whether the lawsuits and the verdicts subsequently issued by the magistrates, both those that had already been carried out and those that had not yet been, were still in effect and should be valid as the laws intend and grant. There was a similar doubt regarding any written documents issued by the notaries of these towns.

Those to whom such verdicts had given favour and advantage, speaking of this, said that those verdicts and written documents should be valid and were good, since they had been issued by Portuguese, learned men, who had been officials of King Fernando, even though the King of Castile had called himself king of those kingdoms, and those towns were under his control, along with other arguments of the sort. Others, to whom that property had belonged, both moveable goods and land, and to whose disadvantage those verdicts and written documents had been issued and composed, said that they wished to oppose them and make them null and void, inasmuch as the said King of Castile did not, and could not, have any authority in the kingdoms of Portugal, even if he had taken control of a few towns. Regarding this debate and doubt they wrote to the king, asking what procedure he ordered to be followed in the matter.

Having sought advice about this, he wrote to these town communities as follows:

To us it seems a great mistake on the part of those who wrote at that time about the arrival of the duke and the marriage of King João to his daughter that they did not set down what kind of man the duke was or anything about his lineage. Since the indolence of these writers was the mother of this error, and since with the swift passage of time such things are so easily forgotten, it is our wish at this point, in order not to lose all record of such matters, to remind you briefly, as far as it serves our purpose, who his father and mother were, owing to the major family relationship he has with the kings of Portugal.

From what we have been able to ascertain so long after these events occurred, it is important that you should know that the King of England, Edward IV, had five sons by his wife Queen Elizabeth. The first of these, whom we customarily refer to as the Prince of Wales, was named Edward like his father. The second was Lionel, the Duke of Clarence. The third was called John, the fourth Edmund, and the fifth was Thomas Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester.

Let us return to the third and fourth sons, for it so happened that when Prince John was a bachelor, he married Blanche, the daughter and heiress of the most honourable and excellent Prince Henry, the Duke of Lancaster, who was very wealthy, of lofty lineage and celebrated for his acts of chivalry. As dowry for this marriage, since her father was already dead and had been succeeded by his daughter, Prince John gained the honours held by his father-in-law and thus acquired the title of Duke of Lancaster. He had two daughters and one son by his wife Blanche. The first of these was named Elizabeth, who married Sir John Holland, the Earl of Huntingdon and brother to King Richard on his mother's side. The second daughter was called Philippa: she married King João of Portugal as a consequence of the journey of which we are speaking. The son was named Henry, who was at first known as the Earl of Derby and later as the Duke of Hereford. Then, after the death of his father, he became the Duke of Lancaster and finally the King of England, as also were his son Henry and his grandson Henry after him.

While these works were being carried out, the townspeople never stopped bombarding the siege camp, and those from the camp hurled stones from siege engines at the town. When the townspeople saw the aforesaid siege engines finished, fearing to suffer damage from them, they sent word to João Fernandes Pacheco asking him to come and talk with them, so the king sent him there. He came to the barbican, and Álvaro Pérez [de Sotomayor] went to the town wall; they spoke for some time but could not come to an agreement. That day two fiery women came to blows, one from the town and one from the camp; they tugged each other's hair, and the one from the camp was victorious. From then on, every day the cannons and siege engines were shooting at each other; the siege engines did a great deal of damage in the town, but the cannons did not cause any harm.

At this time the queen arrived in Monção, 3 leagues from Melgaço; with her came Doctor João das Regras, João Afonso de Santarém and other knights. Then the queen went to the Convent of Feães, a league from Melgaço. At the same time, Count Gonçalo and João Rodrigues Pereira arrived at the camp. The count's men skirmished with the men of the town; some were wounded on both sides, but no one was killed.

A message came to the king that the town of Salvatierra [de Miño], which Dom Pedro had given to him, had been handed over by a notary and two men-at-arms to Pay Sorredea. The king at once sent the Prior [of the Order of the Hospitallers] there with many men, but they could accomplish nothing.

Wishing to move his siege engines so as to attack the town, the king told the queen to come and watch the day of the assault. She came there on Monday, 3 March, after she had eaten. The king ordered the belfry with all its devices to be deployed against the town, as had been planned. It was moved by manpower, although it was fully 18 fathoms high; then, he had one siege ladder moved forward, and then the other, till both were facing the town wall, separated one from the other.

Once the Master had been installed in his royal eminence, invested with his lofty undertaking, and accepted by everyone as their liege lord, he at once appointed his household officials and those officers necessary for other matters throughout the realm. Apart from Nuno Álvares, who was made Constable [of Portugal] and chief steward, the following were installed in office: Álvaro Pereira as marshal of the army; Gil Vasques da Cunha as standard-bearer; João Fernandes Pacheco as chief of the royal guard; Rui Mendes de Vasconcelos as chief bailiff of the province of the Minho; Nuno Viegas the Younger as chief bailiff of the province of Trás-os-Montes; Afonso Furtado as captain general of the fleet; Estêvão Vasques Filipe as commander-in-chief of the crossbowmen; João Rodrigues de Sá as head chamberlain; João Gomes da Silva as chief cup-bearer; Pero Lourenço de Távora as master of the great wardrobe; Lourenço Eanes Fogaça, who was away in England, as chancellor of the great seal, with Doctor João das Regras acting in his name; Gonçalo Peres his clerk of the crown in chancery; Afonso Martins, who had been the Abbot of Pombeiro, as private secretary to the king; João Gil and Martim da Maia as comptrollers of finance; Lourenço Martins, who had been governor of Leiria, as chief treasurer; Fernando Álvares de Almeida as comptroller of the finances of the royal household (the king also made him commander of Juromenha, an office held till then by Fernão Rodrigues de Sequeira, and made him a knight of the Order of Avis, while Fernão Rodrigues was promoted to the rank of grand commander); similarly, other officials were appointed throughout the realm in accordance with the king's view as to what was required. As for the mastership [of the Order of Avis], he retained that for himself.

We shall have a few things to relate about the Cortes which were then held – the first to be summoned by the king – particularly because certain enquirers would like to know what was requested of their liege lord in that assembly by the people of the nation who had so recently chosen him as their king, and how keen he was to reward them for their excellent service to him.

The king left the monastery [of Alcobaça] and arrived at Santarém, which lay 10 leagues away, and found the town rid of such Castilians as could cause him trouble, though many others still remained there. The Master of the Order of Christ, the prior [Álvaro Gonçalves] and Rodrigo Álvares [Pereira], as well as all the other people of the town came out to welcome him with immense pleasure and joy, and they all gave profuse thanks to Almighty God for granting him such a blessed victory, by which He had delivered them from the power of their enemies.

On his arrival, the king lodged in the castle. He found out that all the churches and monasteries were full of troops from Castile and that they dared not emerge for fear they would be killed. That was in addition to many who were taken prisoner, over 1,000 people, and whose thirst they could not quench, since the water supply came from a distant and rocky source. Instead, chained and roped together like dogs, these captives were taken down to drink from the Tagus. One day, when a numerous gang of them, in chains, was coming up the street, returning from having a drink of water, they encountered Fernando Álvares, a comptroller of finances in the royal household, whose name we have mentioned from time to time. One of them, who was a knight, addressed him, ‘My lord, we’ve been told that you’re an honourable man with a respected position in the household of the king, your liege lord. We beg you to persuade him either to have us put to death or fed, because we’re all starving.’

On hearing of this, the king sent for the town's officials, whose concern this was, and told them that at the very least they should be given bread (for they could not be given anything else), lest they starve. It was found, however, that this could not be done owing to the scarcity of [food] supplies, brought about by the lengthy duration of the war. ‘As for me’, said the king, ‘neither could I willingly agree to see them all die of hunger. I’d rather send them back to their own country.’

While the King of Portugal was in Abrantes, where we left him, he held a meeting of the royal council, which consisted of himself, the constable and others with whom he habitually discussed confidential matters. The council devoted itself to two issues: the first was whether the king should do battle with his enemies, or whether he should wage a war of attrition, since meeting them in open battle was very hazardous. Moreover, if we said that the King of Castile, before actually invading the kingdom, also held a major and noteworthy royal council as to whether it was better to invade or to distribute troops around the various regions, there was no shortage of words in the Portuguese council, nor of disputes between each and every counsellor and those who opposed them. However, in order to cut short what was said in the council, we shall limit ourselves to the following few points, so that you can understand what were the other issues which could also be mentioned.

On one side the disagreements were very few, for the majority of the counsellors agreed that there should not be a pitched battle and put forward the following arguments.

They declared that, since the King of Castile was invading the realm, the King of Portugal should head for the Alentejo and invade the province of Andalusia; furthermore, when the King of Castile found out about this, he would make his way there to track him down, in order to defend his own country, and in this way would be diverted from reaching Lisbon and inflicting damage on it. With the King of Castile tracking him like this, the King of Portugal would then head back into his kingdom by a different route. Thus he would avoid battle, which was a very uncertain and hazardous undertaking, because the King of Castile was arrogantly advancing with a mighty army, whereas he, the King of Portugal, as regards companies of soldiers and other matters, was in a very contrary position. In addition, if the war were waged in this manner, time would be gained, and in the meantime numbers of English troops could arrive to help him, for it was certain that they would come, and their arrival was expected daily. Alternatively, the two kings could reach certain agreements, from which peace and tranquillity could ensue.

The prior brought his remarks to an end and fell silent without adding anything more. Thinking that the prior had spoken on behalf of all the envoys, the duke had been keen to give an immediate reply, when Diego López added, ‘My lord, since the doctor and I have accompanied the prior at the command of our liege lord the king, we beg your leave for each of us to express what we were commanded to say. Then, if your lordship pleases, you can reply to all of it.’

The duke said that they should say whatever they saw fit, and that he would willingly listen to them. Thus, Diego López continued as follows:

No sooner had Diego López ended his speech than Doctor Álvaro Martínez began to utter the following words:

The next day, Thursday, 1 January 1399, the Portuguese began to make their way with the cattle and thirteen prisoners that they were taking with them, trying to reach Portugal as quickly as they could. Going along watchfully, they saw, in the distance, that there were thirty light horsemen drawn up on a hill. When they saw them, they said to each other, ‘Surely those are the men who are coming after us.’ In fact, they had come to see the lie of the land. All the Portuguese immediately gathered together in battle formation with their lances raised, in order to look greater in number.

Then Álvaro Mendes rode off with ten horsemen to see who the men were. He went close enough for them to hear him and said, ‘What manner of men are you and who's that captain approaching there?’

‘The captains’, they said, ‘who are approaching, are such as will today cause you great sorrow.’

The Castilians then asked, ‘And you, what manner of men are you and who is that captain who is approaching?’

‘You shall know today’, Álvaro Mendes replied, ‘that the captains who are approaching are such as will please you little.’

Thus, he took leave of them without there being any further exchange of words. He then turned back to his own men, who did not stop advancing with their flag unfurled, displaying Diogo Nunes's coat of arms and carried by a squire, one of the king's criados, whose name was Gomes Martins.

Almost immediately, they came to a river they call Aguas de Miel, which is within Castile, but it was so full that the horses had to swim across, as did the cattle and all the men. When the Castilians saw the Portuguese plunging into the river, they thought they were fleeing and came out into the open. Once over the river, the Portuguese climbed over a hill they call Bramadera and went down into the valley, dismounted and faced the enemy's advance. They drew up their battle formation like this: on each side of the flag were placed ten men wearing bascinets; they were flanked by those men without bascinets, bearing lances. The foot soldiers and the crossbowmen occupied either side in equal numbers. The pages, horses, cattle and prisoners were all behind them, so as not to have the Castilian light horsemen at their back.

After the duke enjoyed being for a few days with the king and his daughter, he embarked to travel with his men, who were very few: they were all accommodated very adequately in six galleys, and the rest of the galleys accompanied them as an honour to the duke. This was at the end of September. When they had left the harbour and reached the open sea, God gave them such a good voyage that in a few days they arrived in Gascony at the afore-mentioned town of Bayonne, under English rule.

When the King of Castile learned that the duke was in that place, he decided to send him his ambassadors to sign that treaty of which we have already made mention. Those whom the king appointed to go there were Friar Fernando de Illescas of the Order of Saint Francis, who was his confessor; Pero Sánchez de Castilla, a doctor of laws; and Doctor Álvaro Martínez, all of whom had originally gone with the other envoys to speak with the duke. As all that was necessary had already been said regarding this matter in the agreements that had been reached in the town of Trancoso, there was no need for a long delay; there was nothing else to do except to conclude the treaty so that it would be valid. Omitting many clauses that were included in it, here we will tell only of those that pertain to the king's demand and nothing else. These stated that:

The King of Castile and the Duke of Lancaster and his wife the duchess should do everything in their power to have Prince Enrique, the first-born son of the King of Castile, betrothed to Lady Catalina, the daughter of the duke; within two months of the swearing and signing of this treaty, this betrothal should be celebrated publicly according to the rites of the Church, and should be followed by marriage as soon as possible.

Likewise, Prince Fernando, the second son of the King of Castile, should neither be betrothed nor take a wife until the aforementioned prince, his brother, reached fourteen years of age (for he was nine at the time, and this was so that he would be able to give legal consent to his betrothal and consummate the marriage), and of this, Prince Fernando should swear an oath.

When the king was in Alenquer, he decided to send for those noblemen of Beira who had won the Battle of Trancoso. He dispatched Diogo Machado to them, declaring that they should immediately make every effort to join him, as was very necessary in his interests, in the preservation of his honour and in the defence of the realm. At this juncture there arrived Fernão Rodrigues de Sequeira, the chief officer of the marches at Lisbon, with the troops he had there, as well as those from the city, who amounted to 100 lances, if we count 21 English lances who came with them. These had arrived on 10 July. When they had joined the king, he immediately set out with his army and that very day he pitched camp at Valada, which is very close to Santarém, where his enemies were. To enhance both security and preparedness he ordered a proclamation to be issued throughout the encampment that everyone that night should sleep fully armed. After his first sleep, the king walked through the camp and harshly rebuked all those whom he found to be unarmed, each one according to his rank. Next day he crossed the ford and went along the road he had originally taken. In front of Santarém he lingered a while, to see whether any Castilians would emerge to challenge him. However, realising that they were not keen for any further conflict, he went on his way and pitched camp at a place known as the estate of Rui Pereira. The following day he journeyed to the tower of Cardiga and the day after he reached Abrantes.

Since he was there for several days, a number of those who have written books of fanciful accounts claim that, since the count had not arrived with his forces from the Alentejo, the king held a meeting of his royal council on a Sunday, and that some of his advisers agreed that, without him, he should launch an attack on the King of Castile, for it was being said that he was already in the kingdom, and that he should not wait for the constable any longer.

With the treaties signed and the alliance made, the duke was getting ready to go to Spain with a powerful force. At this point, the Portuguese Captain General of the Fleet, Afonso Furtado by name, arrived one day with the ships and galleys which had left Lisbon while the king was laying siege to Chaves. He landed at a place known as Fowey, where he encountered Lourenço Fogaça, who had gone there to deal with a number of matters relating to his mission, and he returned with him to London in the galleys.

A great fleet of naos and other vessels was assembled at Southampton and Plymouth for the duke's voyage, and all his men made for these places in order to embark. The duke left those shores and set his course, intent on landing in Galicia, which lies in Castilian territory. Finding himself sailing into a headwind, he was forced to put in at a place called Brest, a very strong castle in the Duchy of Brittany, which Olivier de Clisson, the Constable of France, was at that time besieging with a mighty force. Close to the castle he had ordered the construction, a mere crossbow shot away, of a wooden fort, as sturdy as it was possible to build, in which his troops took shelter and kept all their supplies.

When the French saw the fleet arrive, they realised only too well that they were English, for rumours about them had been widely aired beforehand. Recognising also that the duke was approaching, most of the assailants began to flee, and many of them took refuge in the fort. The duke landed with his troops, and they began to attack it. Fearing for their lives, the defenders fought hard but, when they saw that there was no means of holding out, they pleaded with the duke to let them live in exchange for his seizure of the fort and all it contained. The duke was content to do this and had the fort destroyed. By this the English gained large quantities of provisions and other items that the enemy kept in the fort and thus they were safe for the time being.

From Brest the duke sailed in fair weather throughout the remainder of his journey and reached the town of La Coruña, where it was his intention to moor his fleet.

With the battle still raging and the fighting very intense when, as we said, the King of Castile fled, it began to become clear that the battle was being completely won, with the enemy banner brought down and large numbers of the Castilians being killed, as well as most of the renegade Portuguese who constituted the front ranks of the vanguard.

With the king and the constable pressing forward in pursuit of a victory that was now obvious to all, the king told the constable that the foot soldiers in the rearguard were in great danger from the large numbers of Castilians who were harassing them and that he should go to their aid. This was in fact true, because Gonzalo Núñez, the Master of Alcántara, accompanied by a group of light horsemen, was riding into the Portuguese rear and was vigorously attacking the foot soldiers and crossbowmen posted there to protect the baggage train. They were defending themselves with arrows and darts in such a way that those on horseback could not inflict any damage on them but were actually damaged by them, with numbers of them dying from crossbow shots or lance thrusts. This attack benefited the Portuguese, because the foot soldiers in that sector, though they wanted to flee, were unable to do so, and thus they were forced to defend themselves. Afterwards, the Castilians realised that this had been an unwise tactic, because they had not left their enemies an open escape route.

At once the constable, fighting on foot as he was and acting on the king's orders, turned towards the rearguard, but owing to the great travail that he had undergone, he was unable to make as much headway as he wanted, nor had he a mount to ride. However, Pedro Botelho, grand commander of the Order of Christ, who was riding a fine horse, spotted that the constable was on foot, and so he dismounted and presented it to him. The count thanked him most warmly, mounted up and galloped to the aid of the foot soldiers fighting in the rearguard. He found them in great peril, as they were being hard pressed by large numbers of Castilians, to such a degree that they were anxious to scatter when he arrived.