Then our men well and truly broke through the
Castilians and began to break up their ranks and to beat them down on all sides. They were beaten down boldly and furiously and struck with axes, with leaden maces and long guisarmes, such that defeat was comprehensively visited upon them there. When the pages and varlets who were looking after the horses realised that their masters were overwhelmed, they turned and fled to save themselves. Of the seven captains only one escaped by the actions of his good page who searched him out in the fray, having spotted him from outside the melee, and helped him to mount his horse. He was
Adelantado de Castilla and his page did him a great service that day. The other six were all killed, not one of them held to ransom. Thus did
Sir João Fernandes Pacheco gain the field and rout the
Castilians and their men, who outnumbered them three to two at least, close by the town of
Trancoso on a Wednesday in the month of October in the year of grace and of Our Lord, 1384."
SHF 3-89 sync
Third Book, Chapter 32 [1386-(1385)]
How Lourenço Fogaça gave an account to the duke of Lancaster of the battle of Aljubarrota between the king of Castile and the king of Portugal.
"After this defeat was over and the field cleared, our men mounted up and liberated the men there whom the
Castilians had captured, as I have told you. They also allowed them to carry away as much of the pillage as they pleased, but they drove the cattle - amounting to over eight hundred beasts - before them to the town and garrison of
Trancoso to provision and supply them there, and as such put them to best use.
When we returned to
Trancoso we were received with great joy and the people could not do enough for us, since we had delivered the land from our enemies and recovered what had been lost. They praised our great valour, as did the inhabitants of the towns of
Portugal who heard about it. During this current year our men have had another successful encounter in the fields outside
Seville, but first I will relate to you the most wonderful and fortunate triumph that a
king of Portugal has had for two hundred years, which our king -
king João my most revered lord, who sent me here with the
grand master of Santiago - achieved within four months against our enemies, who numbered at least four to one, all fine men-at-arms and highly accomplished, for which reason our triumph is all the more celebrated. But I believe that you have heard it before, my lord, and so it would be better for me to stop talking."
"Absolutely not!" said the
duke. "You will not be quiet; you must recount it to me because I enjoy listening to you. In truth I have a varlet here, a herald named
Derby, who was there, so he says, and he told me that our countrymen performed marvels, but honestly it seems to me that they could not have done. There cannot have been enough of them, because when he left
Portugal my brother,
Cambridge, brought back the
Englishmen he had taken with him and the
Gascons too. And amongst the heralds there are many who are such incorrigible liars and deceivers that they embellish their words for those whom they favour, yet the deeds of the good are not lost for all that, for if they are not recognised or remembered by them, there is always somebody to witness them and to recall them when an opportune moment comes."
pb 270 v