41 - Concerning which people chose to appeal to Almighty God to intervene on behalf of the respective kings

Summary

It is reasonable to believe that these forces, massed together on one side and the other, in order to engage in battle, would have people who would utter prayers and entreaties imploring God to intervene on their behalf and help those who were on their side. Anyone pleading on behalf of large numbers would certainly believe that his or her prayers would be more swiftly heard by God and more easily answered.

That was, indeed, the case with Queen Beatriz, the wife of the King of Castile. After her husband left the realm in order to invade Portugal, she learned that a battle was awaiting him, one that he could not avoid (which greatly pleased her, as she believed that he would win it, thus seizing the entire kingdom and completing his quest). While in a town named Ávila, with the Archbishop of Toledo to protect her, she gave orders that certain ladies and damsels, whom she specifically chose, should be given the task of praying continuously for a specific period, so that day and night their prayers would never cease. Furthermore, if any one of them was found to be missing, she immediately ordered her meals to be cut back and sternly rebuked her. Indeed, she visited them regularly, lest they failed to do what she had requested.

The King of Portugal was not married, nor had he any female relative or sister to pray for him, or to feel any concern for his undertakings, other than his most faithful servant, the city of Lisbon, which was very solicitous and caring about his health and the state of the realm. Just as a mother who feels the pain of her son, and the nurse who rears him, feel greater pity than anyone else, that city, which was the mother and nurse of these events, felt more intensely the weight of this great enterprise than any other town in the country. In fact, quite apart from the prayers and intercessions which the people had decided to offer up daily, the people of Lisbon assembled in the city's council chamber, where they habitually discussed the king's actions, and sent for respected religious figures, doctors and masters of theology, in order to consult with them as to how they should call on God's help and assuage any anger He might harbour against them because of their sins.