30 - Concerning the discussion which the King of Portugal held with his advisers as to whether or not to go into battle, and concerning the arguments put forward

Summary

While the King of Portugal was in Abrantes, where we left him, he held a meeting of the royal council, which consisted of himself, the constable and others with whom he habitually discussed confidential matters. The council devoted itself to two issues: the first was whether the king should do battle with his enemies, or whether he should wage a war of attrition, since meeting them in open battle was very hazardous. Moreover, if we said that the King of Castile, before actually invading the kingdom, also held a major and noteworthy royal council as to whether it was better to invade or to distribute troops around the various regions, there was no shortage of words in the Portuguese council, nor of disputes between each and every counsellor and those who opposed them. However, in order to cut short what was said in the council, we shall limit ourselves to the following few points, so that you can understand what were the other issues which could also be mentioned.

On one side the disagreements were very few, for the majority of the counsellors agreed that there should not be a pitched battle and put forward the following arguments.

They declared that, since the King of Castile was invading the realm, the King of Portugal should head for the Alentejo and invade the province of Andalusia; furthermore, when the King of Castile found out about this, he would make his way there to track him down, in order to defend his own country, and in this way would be diverted from reaching Lisbon and inflicting damage on it. With the King of Castile tracking him like this, the King of Portugal would then head back into his kingdom by a different route. Thus he would avoid battle, which was a very uncertain and hazardous undertaking, because the King of Castile was arrogantly advancing with a mighty army, whereas he, the King of Portugal, as regards companies of soldiers and other matters, was in a very contrary position. In addition, if the war were waged in this manner, time would be gained, and in the meantime numbers of English troops could arrive to help him, for it was certain that they would come, and their arrival was expected daily. Alternatively, the two kings could reach certain agreements, from which peace and tranquillity could ensue.