In the midst of these events which we have described and which you have heard about, many messages reached the Master in Lisbon, in which he was told that many townships and castles in the Alentejo were declaring their allegiance to him, and that the inhabitants of these places were forcibly seizing them from those who were holding them on behalf of the King of Castile; these messages were received with the greatest pleasure by the Master and by all those who were with him.

While this good news was arriving, he received a new message which caused considerable concern, because a number of town councils in that province told him that, owing to their declarations of allegiance to him, which greatly irked the King of Castile, the king had commanded his High Admiral Fernán Sánchez de Tovar, after getting the fleet ready for its attack on Lisbon, to assemble his men and head through the Alcántara area, to where the Master [of the Order of Alcántara] was to be found. These forces, along with Juan Alfonso de Guzmán, who was the Count of Niebla, and Dom Pedro Álvares, who was Prior of the Order of the Hospitallers, as well as other great lords and their companies, were to attack the townships which had declared for the Master and lay waste that entire area; after that, they were to join the king in laying siege to Lisbon. They had laid siege to Portalegre for five days, cut down vineyards and olive groves and created immense havoc. This was what they were doing wherever they went, and for that reason the people of this area were pleading with the Master to send them some captain under whom they could all assemble, in order to drive the enemy out of their province.

The Master discussed this occurrence with a number of those whom he trusted. When they came to discuss Count Álvaro Pérez de Castro and whether it was advisable to send him there, great doubts were raised about him, because he was a kinsman of Queen Leonor, not to mention other reasons which we shall touch on in due course.