Chapter 97 - Concerning a raid into Castile carried out by the Portuguese, and concerning the booty which they brought back

Summary

If you remember well what you have been reading about, [you will know that] the King of Castile is in the Óbidos area, awaiting the arrival of his fleet, so that he can lay siege to Lisbon. While Nuno Álvares is resting, and the Master is waiting for the mighty siege, in the meantime let us, in order not to waste this interval, consider a number of matters, however trivial they may be, until the fleet arrives, at which point we will return to that part of our story.

It so happened, therefore, that since, as you have heard, many castle governors had declared for Queen Leonor, the Master dispatched Vasco Porcalho, who was the grand commander of his Order, to be Governor of Vila Viçosa and with orders that his men should eject García Pérez del Campo, who was the cellarer of the Order, because he was a criado of Queen Leonor and thus liable to suspicion.

With Vasco Porcalho thus declaring for him, the Master gave orders that Álvaro Gonçalves Coitado should be posted to Vila Viçosa, along with thirty squires who were natives of the town, because he too came from that same place. This Álvaro Coitado was a very great friend of Pero Rodrigues, who was the Governor of Alandroal. They both agreed to make an incursion into Castile, because none of those who had declared for Portugal had dared to make such a move. That was because Pero Rodrigues da Fonseca was in Olivença with considerable forces, having 500 horsemen at his disposal, both men-at-arms and light horsemen. Consequently, the entire region was very afraid of him, and cattle were well guarded all along the Castilian border area.

Once matters had been agreed and the day named, Álvaro Gonçalves assembled his 30 squires, along with 150 foot soldiers from Vila Viçosa. Pero Rodrigues had 15 horsemen, as well as 50 foot soldiers from Alandroal, so that in all they had 45 horsemen and 200 foot soldiers. Having gathered together, ready to invade Castile, they forded the Guadiana at night at Serva and reached the village common of Cheles just before dawn. They rounded up two herds of cows belonging to García González de Grijalba, captured 14 cowherds, uprooted their tents and loaded the beasts with their equipment.