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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
After that, the count went to Évora, where God saw fit for him to fall ill from a pain that lasted a good three months. He had already disposed his officers of the marches where necessary, so on his physicians’ advice he went to Lisbon. After being there a few days with no improvement at all, they told him he could return to Évora. He reached Palmela, borne in a litter, and there he began to feel better. He proceeded to Setúbal and thence to Alcácer [do Sal], from where he set off for Évora.
While he was in that town, he decided to make a sortie into Castile with greater forces than the previous time. He wrote to Mem Rodrigues de Vasconcelos, who was the [Portuguese] Master of Santiago, and to Lourenço Esteves de Góis, who was the Lieutenant and later Prior of the Order of the Hospitallers; likewise he wrote to the admiral and to all the captains in the Alentejo, in Estremadura and in the kingdom of the Algarve, saying that for the king's service he was considering making a sortie into Castile, without saying from where nor towards which part. He asked them to come to him with their men and to be his companions in the action that he had decided to undertake. Having sent out messages to this effect, as we have said, accurate information reached him that the Castilian Master of Santiago had gathered 2,000 lances, 800 light horsemen, and many crossbowmen and foot soldiers, and that he intended to enter the Alentejo to inflict as much damage as possible.
When the count heard this news and had verified its accuracy, he immediately wrote a letter to the master, in the following terms:
My lord and friend: I, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Count of Barcelos, Ourém and Arraiolos, and Constable of my liege lord the King of Portugal, and his chief steward, commend myself to you. I hereby inform you that I have been told you have assembled your forces to come and seek me out and inflict harm and damage in this territory of my liege lord the king, which it is my responsibility to guard.
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