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Portugal Wars with Castile
The bourgeoisie of Lisbon, enriched by commerce,
decided to
support Joćo and donated substantial sums for war
expenses. Money
also arrived from the bourgeoisie in Porto, Coimbra, and
Évora.
The majority of the nobility, among whom national
sentiment was
not well developed and feudal customs based on oaths of
vassalage
were still obeyed, took the side of Juan of Castile, which
gave
him the support of fifty castles. A few nobles, however,
including Įlvaro Pais, Joćo Afonso, and Nun'Įlvares
Pereira, were
more attuned to national sentiment and sided with Joćo.
In March 1384, Juan marched on Lisbon, which he
besieged by
land and sea. In April, in the Alentejo, Nun'Įlvares
Pereira
defeated the Castilians at the Battle of Atoleiros, a
victory
that resulted from the new military tactic of forming
defensive
squares from dismounted cavalry because the Portuguese had
far
fewer troops than the enemy. The siege of Lisbon was
broken after
seven months by an outbreak of the plague in the Castilian
camp,
and Juan retreated to Seville to prepare another invasion
the
following year.
The retreat of the Castilians gave Joćo an opportunity
to
legitimate his claim to the throne. In March 1385, a
cortes was
summoned to resolve the succession. Joćo's case was argued
by
Joćo das Regras, who attacked the claims of the various
pretenders to the throne. On April 6, the opposition ended
and
Joćo was proclaimed king as Joćo I (r. 1385-1433). The new
king
named Nun'Įlvares Pereira constable of Portugal. At the
same
time, a contingent of English longbowmen began to arrive.
Nun'Įlvares Pereira marched north in order to obtain the
submission of Braga, Guimarćes, and other places loyal to
Juan,
who responded by sending an army to attack Viseu. The
Portuguese
routed this Castilian force at Rancoso using the same new
military tactic that brought them victory at Atoleiros.
Juan,
nonetheless, was still intent on besieging Lisbon and led
his
army southward. Joćo I and Nun'Įlvares Pereira decided to
engage
Juan's army before it arrived in the capital. The two
armies met
on the plain of Aljubarrota about sixty kilometers north
of
Lisbon on August 14, 1385. Using the same tactic of
defensive
squares of dismounted cavalry that had brought them
success in
previous battles, a force of 7,000 Portuguese annihilated
and
scattered a Castilian army of 32,000 in little more than
thirty
minutes of combat. Although additional battles were fought
and
final peace was not made with Castile until October 1411,
the
Battle of Aljubarrota secured the independence of Portugal
for
almost two centuries.
Data as of January 1993
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