"My lord, if it pleases God we shall do so, to earn your grace and love."
The
Portuguese arranged themselves in the manner I have described to you and fortified themselves near the
church of Aljubarrota in
Portugal. That day there was no-one amongst the
English who wished to become a knight, although the
king requested it of many of them; but they excused themselves on that occasion. Now we shall speak of the Spanish force, and of how they organised themselves to meet the
Portuguese .
SHF 3-38 syncThe scouts whom they had sent out to spy on their enemies made their way back towards
king Juan of Castile and the knights, squires and men-at-arms of
France and
Gascony who were there, reporting their news as follows,
"Lord king, and you barons and knights here present, we have advanced so far as to have seen the enemy with our own eyes, and according to our calculation they do not quite number ten thousand men in total. They have made their way to the
minster church of Aljubarrota where they have halted and taken up battle formations, and that is where they may be found by whoever wishes to take them."
The
king of Castile called his council to him, in particular the French barons and knights, and asked them what the best course of action was, to which they immediately replied,
"My lord, it would be best to fight them. We cannot see another way, for according to the reports of our scouts they are very fearful, finding themselves a good distance from any stronghold to which they might retreat.
Lisbon is six leagues away from them. They cannot reach it without being overtaken on the road, unless they take the advantage of darkness tonight.
We therefore advise, lord king, since we know where they are, that we form our ranks and go to fight them, while your men are eager to do well."
The
king then asked his own countrymen for their opinion, that is
Sir Diego Gómez Manrique,
Sir Diego Perez Sarmiento,
Pero Gonzalez de Mendoça,
Pero Fernandez de Vallasco and the
grand master of Calatrava, who responded to
king's request, saying,
"My lord, we have listened attentively to these French knights and can see and hear quite clearly that they are advising you to rush into combat with your enemies. We should like them to know, and you also, that before we reach them and get in amongst them it will be late, for as you can see the sun is following its course and we are not yet arrayed for battle. It would consequently be best to wait for morning and advance so closely upon them that through our spies and scouts positioned in various places around the fields we may know how they are organised, so that if they were perchance to decamp at midnight with the intention of retreating, we might also decamp. They will not be able to escape us or take to flight, since they are in open country. There is no other place as secure as where they are now between here and
Lisbon where they would not fall easily to us. This is our advice to you."
The
king was silent and lowered his head, then looked at the foreigners.
Sir Arnaud Limousin, who was marshal of the army, as you know, spoke to please the
French, in Spanish in order that he might be better heard and understood, for he knew it well having lived among them for so long.
pb 238v