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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Commander Vasco Porcalho, seeing the boldness that Pero Rodrigues and his followers were showing against him, wrote to Pero Rodrigues [da Fonseca], the Governor of Olivença, telling him to order an attack against the town of Alandroal, from which he, Vasco Porcalho, was receiving very unneighbourly treatment. He said Pero Rodrigues da Fonseca could be sure that as soon as his raiders reached there, both the foot soldiers and the horsemen of the town would immediately come out and go after them, and not leave them until they reached the River Guadiana. That was because the foot soldiers of Alandroal could run as fast as the horsemen, and thus Pero Rodrigues da Fonseca's men could catch them and put them to the sword at their will, laying an ambush for them some distance east of the town.
As soon as he sent that message, he ordered twenty horsemen to make a raid on Alandroal, where they captured a few asses, which were taken back from them by men of the town community. These, returning to the town, told Vasco Porcalho that they did not intend ever to go there again, for they had been pursued so vigorously that if the road had not been long, they would have remained behind as their prisoners.
In great annoyance the commander took horse early in the morning, accompanied by 150 horsemen and 250 foot soldiers, and set up an ambush near Alandroal at a place called Pinheiro. Once it was fully daylight, he sent 20 horsemen to raid as far as the gates of the town; anything they might find, they should seize without fear. The light horsemen did as he commanded them, and rode as far as the gates of the town, capturing 700 goats. The men of the town came out against them: Pero Rodrigues with 10 horsemen and 75 foot soldiers. The horsemen took a different direction, so as to get in front; the foot soldiers had already taken the goats from the raiders, and the horsemen came across the ambush where most of the troops were. When they discovered it, they all headed directly back to the town, which was very close by.
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