Chapter 74 - Concerning what happened to certain men who emerged from Lisbon to fight the Castilians
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Summary
While these letters are on their way to Coimbra, and some reply is to come back, let us see what was done by the Master of Santiago, by Pedro Fernández de Velasco and by Pedro Ruiz Sarmiento, whom we left in Lumiar, as you have heard. One day, after they had taken up lodging in the villages a league away from the city, there was a foray of horsemen from the city ordered by the Master, led by João Fernandes Moreira, accompanied by a number of foot soldiers and crossbowmen. They headed for a large field known as Alvalade Grande, intending to provoke the Castilians into setting out against them and to lure them close to the city.
When the Castilians discovered that they had gone to that field, they sounded their trumpets, and their captains rode forth, accompanied by large numbers of their men, and the Portuguese turned back. As the Castilians drew closer, the Portuguese could not move forward fast enough not to be overtaken by them. Many were killed or captured, and João Fernandes himself was slain. Were it not for the vineyards where they took refuge, because the Castilian horsemen could not break through there, their enemies would have inflicted on them even greater slaughter.
The Master himself had gone forth that day, along with Nuno Álvares and some 300 lances from the city, as well as foot soldiers and crossbowmen. They took up battle formation on a ridge above the Church of São Lázaro, which is roughly two crossbow shots away from the city. There the Master awaited the arrival of the Castilians, who were following hard on the heels of those who had gone out as far as Alvalade, so that they would find him ready to confront them. When the Castilians arrived and saw them drawn up on foot and in battle formation, they baulked at dismounting, decided among themselves not to give battle on that occasion and returned to the villages where they were billeted. As for the Master, he went back with his men into the city.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 3. The Chronicle of King João I of Portugal, Part I, pp. 145 - 146Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023