He said,
'It is clear to me that, by hook or by crook, I must conquer what is mine if I wish to have it back. There will never be peace between
Castile and
Portugal until the
Portuguese have made amends for what they have done.'
After the
king of Portugal had been crowned, he came to
Lisbon and remained there, occupying himself in administering the affairs of the realm in order to gain the favour and affection of his people. He distributed his knights and men-at-arms to garrisons in his towns and castles on the borders of the kingdom of
Spain, because the
king was residing at
Seville.
Sir João Fernandes Pacheco, a highly accomplished and gallant squire of great valour, was sent by the
king of Portugal to the garrison at
Trancoso, along with
Sir Martim Vasques da Cunha and his brother
Sir Gil Vasques da Cunha, two most able knights. They were in command of two hundred lance of fine men, all well-mounted too. Elsewhere,
Sir João Rodrigues Pereira was sent to the
castle of Leiria near
Aljubarrota with fifty lance.
Sir João Gomes da Silva was sent by the
king to the city of
Valença in
Portugal, facing towards the fortified town of
Tuy which stands nearby and which had surrendered and gone over to the
king of Castile as he made his way to
Lisbon. In
Tuy the
French and
Castilians had a large garrison of men-at-arms.
Sir Mem Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, an accomplished knight, was sent to the city of
Serpa with fifty lance.
No men-at-arms were stationed at
Porto,
Evora or
Coïmbra, because the
king judged that the people of the aforementioned towns were good and loyal to him, and strong enough. Thus as I am telling you my lord, during the year the
king was crowned these garrisons were provided with fine men-at-arms, and there were often encounters, skirmishes and assaults between them. Sometimes our men won, and other times they lost, as is the way with such ventures in arms, but there was a particularly fierce and famous encounter between the garrison of
Trancoso and the
Castilians."
"Ah
Lourenço," said the
duke of Lancaster, "do not pass over it because I do not know nor have I heard what happened, or how they found themselves in the field. And I am so fond of hearing about arms!"
"My lord," replied the
squire, "it is my intention to tell you how the event played out, because I was present at the encounter and that day carried the banner of
Sir João Fernandes Pacheco, who instigated the situation because he was captain of
Trancoso at that time."
"You should be aware, my lord, that the
king of Castile had supplied men-at-arms to his garrisons on the frontiers and borders of
Portugal, who would from time to time gather together and take to the fields to torment and inflict damage on us. Sometimes they lost and other times they won, as is the way with deeds of arms.
SHF 3-88 syncIt so happened on one occasion that as many as seven Spanish captains, all of them high-born knights and fine men-at-arms, gathered together and found that they totalled three hundred lance, all well-mounted and eager to cause us harm, and they certainly showed as much because they entered
Portugal and seized much booty and pillage and a great many prisoners.
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