136 - Why Gonçalo Mendes de Vasconcelos was relieved of his post as governor, and was replaced by the Prior of Crato in Lisbon

Summary

While so much damage was being inflicted on the countryside, with no one preventing it, King Fernando received news of the great harm that those of the fleet were inflicting quite freely around Lisbon, and how Gonçalo Mendes found no way of remedying the situation, nor did he allow the city people to go out, saying that they were charged with guarding the city and nowhere else. The king was very angry at this and said that it seemed that in this matter Gonçalo Mendes was like the servant in the Gospels, to whom his master gave a talent of gold to put at his service and benefit, but he hid it in the ground without doing anything profitable with it, for which reason his master deemed him to be a bad and lazy servant.

‘Gonçalo Mendes,’ said the king, ‘should be judged in the same way: he wished to guard the city, where he was safe from our enemies, and allowed them to destroy the immediate vicinity and the places surrounding it.’ The king then gave orders for him to be removed from command, and in his stead, to guard and defend the city [of Lisbon], and the surrounding countryside, should be sent the Prior of the Hospitallers, Dom Pedro Álvares, together with his brothers: Rodrigo Álvares, known as ‘Small-Eyes’, Nuno Álvares, Diogo Álvares, Fernão Pereira and João Álvares, as well as Rui Pereira and Álvaro Pereira, who were relatives of the prior and his brothers, not to mention Gonçalo Eanes of Castelo de Vide, and other worthy men who were coming with him, who comprised in all 200 mounted lances.

Now it happened that on the day when the prior was to reach the city, coming from Santarém, there came news that some of those from the [enemy] fleet were within the neighbourhood of Sintra, plundering the area and seizing livestock to take back to the ships. The prior and all those with him were glad to receive this news and made their way to where they had reports that the Castilians were heading. Since there were many foot soldiers coming forth in all boldness, as a result of their previous experience, the prior marshalled his men for an ambush.