71 - How the king held a muster on the bank of the Vilariça Brook, and concerning the troops that he found there assembled

Summary

The count headed for Torre de Moncorvo and reached the bank of the Vilariça, which is the boundary of that township, and, as we have said, the king also arrived there with his army. It was at once decided to organise a muster of all the troops that were there. The vanguard held its own muster, as also did the rearguard and the wings. This was the finest muster ever seen in Portugal until then, for in it were those who had participated in the battle [of Aljubarrota], as well as those who had not managed to be there, such as Martim Vasques da Cunha, his brother Gil Vasques, Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho, the Master of the Order of Christ Lopo Dias de Sousa, the Prior of the Order of the Hospitallers Álvaro Gonçalves and others. They were accompanied by large numbers of valiant troops, which amounted to 4,500 lances. All of them, both knights and squires, were well armed, having in past battles collected many fine weapons from their enemies. However, they were not all well horsed, because they had seized more weapons than horses. Also present were large numbers of foot soldiers and crossbowmen.

If anyone were to say that a fine muster cannot be held with only 4,500 lances, he would reveal just how little he knows about these matters and about warfare in former times. The reason is that Portugal, at a rough estimate, never assembled more than half the troops assembled by Castile. Consider the case of King Fernando: when he and the Earl of Cambridge were ready to engage in battle between Elvas and Badajoz with the King of Castile, who had 5,000 lances, not counting the light horsemen, King Fernando had little more than 3,000, other than the English. As for the royal battle [at Aljubarrota], the King of Castile had 6,000 lances, and the King of Portugal had managed to muster, at the most, a few more than 3,000, though he had his entire kingdom with him. Therefore, those who have written that this was a fine muster of large numbers of troops, both mounted and on foot, are quite right.