Nevertheless, we did the best we could and held out boldly against the
king of Castile and his forces, which were not insubstantial at that time, for they were more than sixty thousand men on sea and land, all threatening to burn and lay waste to our city of
Lisbon without mercy. It so happened that during the siege before
Lisbon as I am describing it to you, a count of our country of
Portugal named
count Gonçalo Téllez, did us a great and noble service and gained much honour from it himself. He armed twenty galleys at
Porto with good men-at-arms and ample provisions and set out to sea, and through his valour and by the grace of God he slipped past the army of the
king of Castile which lay in wait before
Lisbon comprising more than one hundred great vessels. He did it so stealthily and used the wind to such an advantage that, whether the enemy liked it or not, he entered
Lisbon harbour safe and sound, as did all of his galleys. Furthermore, he captured four of their vessels and brought them into the harbour with his own fleet. The arrival of
count Gonçalo brought great joy to the
Lisbonners for it rallied their spirits enormously."
"By my faith," said the
duke, "the
count did you a great service then. Now, dear
Lourenço, tell me how the siege was raised, because I very much enjoy listening to you."
"With pleasure my lord," said the
squire .
"Just as I have told you, the siege of
Lisbon lasted over a year, and the
king of Castile had vowed and sworn that he would not leave the siege until the city submitted to his authority or until a more powerful king than he forced him to leave it. In truth and all things considered the
king of Castile kept his vow and oath because a force much bigger and stronger than he did indeed raise it and force him to leave. I will tell you how. A fatal pestilence, dreadful and terrifying, swept through his army in such a way that people were dying suddenly, even as they were talking to one another. Buboes and fever killed more than twenty thousand people. The
king himself was stricken with horror, and this prompted advice from his men that he raise the siege and retreat to
Santarém or elsewhere, and give leave to all of his men until the pestilence had subsided. He did this grudgingly since he had so solemnly sworn to sustain the siege, but needs must, for his men advised him that it was the best thing to do and they also wished to abandon the siege. My lord, we say in
Portugal, and have said many times, and it is widely believed too, that to aid us and our
king, God sent this pestilence to the army, because within the city where we were confined, not a single man or woman died, nor felt anything, by God's grace. When the
king of Castile decamped from the siege of
Lisbon, the present
king of Portugal had all of those in the city of
Lisbon armed and mounted on horseback, and they fell on the last of the
Castilians who were decamping and did them great harm because they were in such disarray, and as a result they lost many of their men and provisions.
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