Chapter 109 - Concerning some Genoese naos that the Master took under his control, and how Alenquer was attacked but not taken

Summary

You are all listening, yet no one asks, after Nuno Álvares headed into the Alentejo, and those things that we have related were done, what the Master was doing in the meantime in Lisbon, or on what he was spending his time for the defence of the realm and the city. Since no one asks about it, we want you to know that after the Master took his leave of Nuno Álvares in Coina, as you have heard, and returned to Lisbon, three of his galleys and three barges, not far from the port of the city, went out to capture two naos laden with cloth and silver and many other items being transported in them. They also captured a barge from Galicia, laden with timber.

Bernabò Dentudo and Niccolò di Parma, who were the masters of these naos, protested that they were from Genoa, giving many reasons in proof of this, which was evident. The men of the city protested much more than they, always insisting that they were from Castile. In this uncertainty, which could easily have been avoided, the Master ordered that all the merchandise be placed in the customs house, from which they afterwards derived much profit, and which was extremely helpful to him for paying wages and other expenses. That was because in the ships were found more than 3,100 rolls of cloth from Ypres and Bruges, and scarlet, and other cloths of lesser value, over 1,000 lengths of serge and also more than 1,000 varas of French linen-cotton blend, and silver, gold, lead and quills and many other things of which it is not necessary to write.

Seven days later a barge arrived at the city and brought news that the English were ready to set out in force and come to the aid of the Master and the kingdom. At this point the men of Alenquer sent word to the Master that he should send fifty men-at-arms there; the men of the town would join their efforts to take the castle, and would declare loyalty to him. The Master was very pleased at this, and certain men from Alenquer came by night to accompany the men whom the Master was sending there.