Chapter 115 - How the city was put on a defensive footing when the King of Castile laid siege to it

Summary

No subject could be more germane to the chapter you have just heard than for us to set down here briefly how the city was put on a defensive footing, with the King of Castile besieging it, and in what way the Master and the men who were within guarded themselves, so as not to suffer harm from their enemies, and the strength and bravery they showed against them while they were under siege.

Here it is important for you to know that, when the Master and the city dwellers learned of the coming of the King of Castile, and expected his great and powerful siege, it was at once ordered that as many supplies as possible should be gathered for the city, both wheat and meat and any other things. Many went off to the marshes in barges and boats, after Santarém had gone over to Castile, and from there brought many cattle which they slaughtered and salted down in tubs, and other things of which they made a great store. Many farmers with their wives and children and belongings took refuge in the city, along with other people from the surrounding district, and all those who chose to do so. Some crossed the Tagus with their livestock, work animals, and whatever they could carry, and went towards Setúbal and Palmela. Others remained in the city and refused to leave it. There were some who took all that they had there, and remained in the towns that had declared loyalty to Castile.

All of the city walls were in good repair, and on the seventy-seven towers that went all round the city, there were built strong pavilions of wood, which were plentifully furnished with shields, lances, spears, windlass crossbows, and other kinds of weapons, with a great abundance of crossbow bolts. There were also in these towers many pikes and bascinets, and other arms, so many of them gleaming that each tower showed clearly that it was well-equipped to defend itself. In many of them there were cannons well supplied with stones, and banners of Saint George, banners displaying the arms of the kingdom and the city, and those of certain great lords and captains who displayed them on the towers that were entrusted to them.