78 - How the king raised the siege of Coria and went back to his own kingdom

Summary

The king prolonged his siege of Coria for only a very few days after the attack which had hindered him somewhat, as we described it, when Gonzalo Pérez de Goyáis broke into the town with thirty men-at-arms belonging to Rodrigo Álvarez de Santoyo. However, if certain authors write that the king raised the siege on that account and because of a poorly guarded tunnel which he had ordered to be dug, put no trust in such scribblers, because they have no knowledge of the truth. The king would not have raised the siege on account of thirty men forcing their way in, nor did he order any tunnel of that sort to be dug, for, if he had, he would not have begun it in such a spot where the defenders could see it or know about it, because it would have been of little use to him. Rather, he had wanted to carry on with the siege, for he had only spent three weeks doing so.

Nevertheless, his men were beginning to fall ill, some from the ague, while others were ailing for lack of food, especially bread and meat, of which there was a great shortage in the siege camp. They were eating wheat boiled like rice because they did not have the wherewithal to buy anything else, as a result of which more men were sick than in good health. The healthy ones were anxious to be ill in order to get the opportunity to leave the army, and others pretended to be ill, tying bandages around their heads, because the king was ordering the sick to be taken to a village in his own kingdom called Penamacor, which lay 13 leagues away from Coria, and placed men-at-arms on guard around them. Some of them made off without permission and headed back home.

On learning of this, the king began to check them individually and readily spotted that many of them were not sick at all. Realising this, the count and members of the royal council spoke as follows: ‘Sire, how can Your Majesty trust men like these to serve you?