Aljubarrota - the Royal Battle
[ H i s t o r y T h r e a d ]
In 1383, the Portuguese King, Ferdinand I, died without male heirs. His sole daughter, married to the Castilian King, a schismatic adherent of the Antipope in the Great Western Schism.

The Portuguese nobles had asked the Castilian King to make an Oath, solemnly and upon a Bible and the Eucharist: he would not invade Portugal, the two Kingdoms would not become one, and Portugal would not follow the Antipope.

However, in 1384, the King breaks his solemn Oath - sworn upon the Blessed Sacrament! - to invade Portugal and call himself King of Portugal, as he considered the regent in Portugal (the former Queen) a weak ruler and there had been turbulence as of late.

The most prominent pro Castille Noble in Portugal was the Count of Andeiro, rumored to be the Queen’s lover. The Portuguese people soon turned to a young warrior monk - John, Grandmaster of Aviz - who was the half brother of the deceased King.

He gathered with the Count of Andeiro and killed him in the now famous Lisbon episode, where the People, believing the Grandmaster to be slain, rose up in arms to avenge him. Upon finding him alive, he was declared Regent and Protector of the Realm.

Next, the people defenestrated the Cardinal in Lisbon for being a supporter of the Antipope, another of the Castilian king’s unpopular measures. The stage was set for a battle between the defenders of the Church, Portugal, and the schismatic Castilians.

The Castilian King laid siege to Lisbon and the Grandmaster inside it, hoping to subdue it by hunger.
However, the Portuguese were stubborn, and up to the point of eating the very leather of their clothes, they resisted for months, until a plague outbreak lifted the siege.

Soon, the Grandmaster of Aviz was proclaimed King of Portugal at the Cortes of Coimbra, with the help of a young Noble by the name of Nuno Álvares Pereira - Blessed Nuno of Saint Mary.

The Antipope however would not settle for the stalemate. He called upon all the schismatic Kingdoms who supported him to send men to aid in the conquest of Portugal, that pesky holdout of True Catholicism on the Iberian peninsula. France, Aragon and some Italian states sent aid.

The largest of the contingents was the French one, over 2000 of the finest French Nobility on horseback and countless auxiliaries in foot.

In 1385, the Castilian-French army of 40.000 men entered Portugal and set route for Lisbon.
Knowing it could not withstand the siege, the Portuguese Condestable, Blessed Nuno of Saint Mary (then only 25 years old) convinced the King to make a last, desperate stand outside.

The field chosen was the field of Saint George, near the town of Aljubarrota and a monastery.
There, some 6.600 Portuguese would face off against the 40.000 castilian-French army.

Prior to the battle, however, the true Pope in Rome had send delegates to Portugal, pronouncing a plenary indulgence on all the Portuguese soldiers and proclaiming a bull of Crusade against the Castilian schismatics. This enormously boosted Portuguese morale.

On the 14th August, 1385, the armies came into sight of one another. The Portuguese occupied a well fortified defensive position on a hilltop, flanked by a river and a sharp fall. The castilians, fearful of the Portuguese, decided to go around the position.

The Portuguese answered by turning 180° to the other side of the hilltop, and attempting to fortify it as well as possible in the short time available.
The Castilian King, bedridden with sickness, ordered an attack to begin so as not to leave an enemy force behind him.

Blessed Nuno of Saint Mary asked the Virgin for aid in the coming battle against the schismatics, and King John I promised to build a great monastery in Her honour.
The battle cry for the Portuguese would be “Portugal and Saint George!”.

The attack began with 2000 French Heavy Knights and 1000 of their Castilian counterparts charging, only to be torn apart by the Archers and Crossbowmen stationed in the flanks of the Portuguese army. Seeing their Knights in trouble, the Royal Battalion on foot marched on.

This time, despite the arrow and crossbow fire, the men at arms and few remaining Knights reached the Portuguese vanguard led by Blessed Nuno of Saint Mary and fierce fighting ensued.

The Crossbow wing, famously made up mostly of young men, many only 14 years old, was devastated by the brunt of a Cavalry charge, yet, against all expectations, held firm and despite losses threw the enemy cavalry back.

Then, the French and Castilian troops broke through the Portuguese vanguard - but it was a trap. Soon, the rearguard led by King John I, and both wings, converged on the enemy troops now beset on all sides, who eventually surrendered. They were all killed.

Now, the Portuguese army was on the counter attack. They charged down the hill and broke the Castilian footmen, now running for their lives. The Portuguese King was almost killed in this pursuit, being saved at the last second by one of his squires.

The Battle was won after the pursuit. 500 Portuguese died, compared to 10.000 Castilian-French, and many enemy prisoners. The Pope declared a jubilee for the Victory, and King John I built a Monastery to Our Lady in the site of the Battle.

For the next 26 years, Portugal would remain at war with Castille, beating the schismatics time and again on the battlefield, until Castile finally submitted to peace in 1411. Just six years later, thanks in part to Portugal, the Great Western Schism came to an end.