Battle of Aljubarrota

The Battle of Aljubarrota took place on August 14 1385, between Portuguese forces commanded by King João I and his general Nuno Alvares Pereira, and the Castilian army of King Juan I. The place was Aljubarrota, between the towns of Leiria and Alcobaça in central Portugal. The result was a decisive defeat of the Castilians and the end of the 1383–1385 Crisis, establishing João as King of Portugal. Independence was assured and a new dynasty, the House of Aviz, was established. Scattered border confrontations with Castilian troops would persist until the death of Juan I in 1390, but these posed no real threat to the Portuguese monarchy. To celebrate his victory and acknowledge divine help, João I ordered the construction of the Monastery of Santa Maria da Vitória na Batalha and the founding of the town of Batalha (pronounced {{IPA|/bɐtaʎɐ/}}, the Portuguese word for "battle"). The king, his wife Philippa of Lancaster, and several of his sons are buried in this monastery, which is an important part of Portuguese heritage.

Castile arrives

The Castilian vanguard arrived at lunch time from the north. Seeing the strongly defensive position occupied by the Portuguese, Juan made the wise decision to avoid combat on João's terms. Slowly, due to the numbers of his army (about 30,000 men), the Castilian army started to contour the hill where the Portuguese were located. Juan's scouts had noticed that the south side of the hill had a gentler slope and it was through here that the Castilian king wanted to attack.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In response of this movement, the Portuguese army inverted its dispositions and headed to the south slope of the hill. Since they were fewer than the enemy and had less ground to cover, they attained their final position very early in the afternoon. To calm the soldiers' nervousness and to improve his army's defensive position, general Nuno Alvares Pereira ordered the construction of a system of ditches, pitches and caltrops. This tactical procedure, very typical of the English, was perhaps a suggestion of the English allied troops, also present in the field.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around six o'clock in the afternoon the Castilian army was ready for battle. According to Juan's own words, in his report of the battle, his soldiers were by then very tired from the march that started early in the morning under a blazing August sun. There was no time to halt now, and the battle would soon begin.

Related Topics:
August - Sun

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~