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46 - How the King of Portugal left the battlefield and made his way to Alcobaça
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
Once the battle had been fought in the way we have described, and since the evening was drawing on, the count was very keen to install guards around the camp for the night, nobody else having thought about it. He went about, so busily making these arrangements that it was well into the night before he went to see the king in his tent. Those present were discussing many aspects of the feats achieved in the course of the battle and how they had been brought about; all of them regarded the outcome as miraculous and were expressing their deep gratitude to the Lord God for the favour He had granted them.
The count then asserted to the king that among the Castilians he had seen a man who was well armed and on horseback and who, from his garb and from the manner in which he was regarded by his companions, appeared to him – and he had no doubts about this – to be his brother Pedro Álvares Pereira, the Master of Calatrava. While he, the constable, was advancing with the rest of his men, he had seen a lance hurled from the Portuguese side, and, travelling not very high off the ground, as high as a crossbow bolt, it had struck that man, whom he believed to be his brother. He had at once fallen to the ground, and the constable had not seen him again. The king and all those who heard this considered the incident to be highly significant and afterwards retold it as a miracle, because never again was that man found, dead or alive, either on the battlefield or anywhere else.
The count had not yet had anything to eat, nor could they find his pack-animals in order to prepare a meal for him. Learning of this, the king ordered a fine supper for him, one that could be described as most delicious and full of good cheer.
Next day the count went on a devout pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria de Ourém. He immediately took possession of the place, for the king had already granted it to him, when promising to make him the Count of Ourém. He then returned to the encampment. People said that he had gone to bury his brother, but this was not true, for his brother was never seen again, dead or alive.
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- Information
- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 126 - 129Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023