Chapter 95 - How Nuno Álvares went into battle against the Castilians and how he defeated and routed them

Summary

Ruy González left, just as Nuno Álvares had recommended him to do, riding as fast as his horse could carry him at the trot and the gallop. Very soon he reached Fronteira, where the Castilian captains and their forces were encamped. On arrival he told the prior and the other great lords all that Nuno Álvares had said and what had been his reply [to their message]. When they heard this, they immediately halted the preparations which they had begun for attacking the town and diligently set about preparing to go into battle.

While they were beginning to leave the outskirts [of Fronteira], where they had been lodging, and were heading for Estremoz, from where Nuno Álvares had been approaching, Nuno Álvares had installed himself with his troops in a spot which was highly suitable for a pitched battle, namely Os Atoleiros [‘The Quagmire’], which lies roughly half a league before Fronteira. Once Nuno Álvares was settled in that position and was confident that the Castilians were on their way to do battle, he immediately commanded all his men-at-arms to dismount. With the few men that he had, he drew up his formations for the vanguard, rearguard, and the right and left flanks; then he drew up his foot soldiers and crossbowmen along the flanks, where he believed they would be in the best position to fight.

Fearing for the foot soldiers, lest they should fail him, owing to the vast numbers of the Castilians, he posted a number of men-at-arms among them with orders that, if they saw them turning tail, they should kill them. Having completed his battle formation, he began to make his way along the lines of men mounted on a mule, exhorting his troops with noble words, cheerful countenance and an agreeable attitude, telling them all to remember carefully four things and to store them in their hearts.

The first of these was that they should commend themselves to God and to His Mother, the Virgin Mary, urging Them to provide help against their enemies, since their dispute with them was just, and they should firmly believe they would receive that help. The second was that they were there to defend themselves, their homes and possessions and to extricate themselves from the subjugation which the King of Castile was seeking to impose upon them, contrary to all right and reason.