50 - How Santarém was abandoned by the Castilians, and how its inhabitants expressed their allegiance to the King of Portugal

Summary

You have already heard how the Master of the Order of Christ, as well as Prior Álvaro Gonçalves and Rodrigo Álvares [Pereira], the constable's brother, were taken prisoner at the Battle of Torres Novas and were being held in the castle of Santarém. When the King of Castile arrived at midnight, as we mentioned, and when they heard excited voices stating that the battle had been lost, and how he was a fugitive, they were perplexed, not knowing how the king wished to proceed with regard to the defence of the town and their own imprisonment. That was because they knew that the king held this town in high esteem, as was quite right, higher, indeed, than any other town which had declared for him. This was so much the case that, when Diego Gómez Sarmiento, its governor and principal officer of the marches in Estremadura, made his way to join the king in Leiria, where he then was, in order to accompany him into battle, the king said to none of those present what he said to him with a stern face and in the presence of everyone, ‘What's this, Diego Gómez? What have you come to do here, and why have you left Santarém like this?’

‘Sire’, he replied, ‘I’ve come to serve you and to be present wherever you are.’

‘Go back’, said the king, ‘I’m displeased that the town is left without you [to guard it].’

‘Please don't tell me to go back’, he replied, ‘because the town is well protected, and I would not consider myself a nobleman, nor would anyone else, with the knowledge that my king would be going into battle, even very far away, if I were able to get there and yet did not go to join him – and all the more so, with me being as close as I was. Let me tell you that to do otherwise would be a shortcoming of which I am not capable.’

The king made no answer to this, but his face showed displeasure.

Whereas the master and the prior knew very well that the King of Castile valued this town, they were unaware whether it suited him to remain there, notwithstanding his defeat, or whether he would leave it well defended, as it was the front line of his invasion.