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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Nuno Álvares was infuriated by the way the Castilians had treated him in making him come to the field twice without wanting to join battle, and thus seeking to defeat him by astute cunning rather than by real courage, because they were far more numerous and better equipped. Moreover, the way they looted the land with which he had been entrusted as Officer of the Marches made him feel he was the object of their scorn. He pondered on how he could arrange a similar ploy, or better, if possible.
Through spies that he sent to Almada, he learned what Pedro Sarmiento, Juan Rodríguez de Castañeda and a few other noblemen, were doing. Hoping to take them by surprise, as he saw that the time was right, he gathered his troops, who numbered over 300 lances apart from foot soldiers and a few crossbowmen, and went with them to Palmela. There he stayed and arranged his sortie. If anyone here says that Nuno Álvares took the castle of Palmela at this time, we do not credit it, nor is there any reason to believe it, because the places belonging to the Order of Santiago always supported Portugal after the Master, Dom Fernando Afonso de Albuquerque, came to Lisbon, as we have said. If he did take it then, what happened to the Castilians and to the governor who was present and who supported Castile? For, in all the places that supported him, the king placed governors and troops who defended them. To prove this, it would have been appropriate at the least to name the governor and say very briefly how it had been taken, considering that it was such a strong place and so difficult to seize, but it seems there was no authority for saying it.
The next day, for relaxation, Nuno Álvares went hunting not far from the town and killed a large, splendid boar. He had it placed on top of a fine mule, with four foot soldiers to accompany it, as well as a squire named Gonçalo Martins Frazão, whom he charged with presenting it.
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