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Battle of Aljubarrota

The Battle of Aljubarrota was a battle fought between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Crown of Castile on 14 August 1385. Forces commanded by King John I of Portugal and his general Nuno Álvares Pereira, with the support of English allies, opposed the army of King John I of Castile with its Aragonese, Italian and French allies at São Jorge place, between the towns of Leiria and Alcobaça, in central Portugal.

At around 10 o'clock in the morning of 14 August, the army took its position at the north side of this hill, facing the road where the enemy would soon appear.

The dispositions were the following: dismounted cavalry and infantry in the centre with archers occupying the flanks. Notably, on the vanguard's left wing (later covering the left flank), a company composed by some two hundred unmarried young nobles is remembered to history as the "Ala dos Namorados" (Sweethearts' Flank); the right wing, also two hundred strong, known as "Ala de Madressilva" or Honeysuckle Flank, didn't achieve the same heroic fame. On either side, the army was protected by natural obstacles (in this case, creeks and steep slopes). In the rear, reinforcements were at hand, commanded by John of Portugal himself.

The Castilian vanguard arrived at lunch time from the north. Seeing the strongly defensive position occupied by the Portuguese, John of Castile made the wise decision to avoid combat on John of Portugal's terms. Slowly, due to the numbers of his army (about 31,000 men), the Castilian army started to contour the hill where the Portuguese were located. John of Castile's scouts had noticed that the South side of the hill had a gentler slope and it was there 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.

By sunset, only one hour after the battle began, the Castilian position was indefensible and the situation quite desperate. When the Castilian royal standard-bearer fell, the already demoralized troops on the rear thought their King was dead and started to flee in panic; in a matter of moments this became a general rout where Juan of Castile himself had to run at full speed to save his life, leaving behind not only common soldiers but also many still dismounted noblemen. The Portuguese pursued them down the hill and, with the battle won, killed many more while there was still light enough to see the enemy.

During the night and throughout the next day, as many as 5000 more Castilians were killed by the neighbouring towns' villagers; according to Portuguese tradition surrounding the battle, there was a woman called Brites de Almeida, the Padeira of Aljubarrota (the baker-woman of Aljubarrota), said to be very tall, strong, and to possess six fingers on each hand, who ambushed and killed by herself eight Castilian soldiers as they stormed her bakery in the town of Aljubarrota itself. This story in particular is clouded in legend and hearsay. But the popular intervention in the massacre of Castilian troops after the battle is, nevertheless, historical and typical of battles in this period.

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Fundação Batalha de Aljubarrota



Today eSpain propose Portugal as NE:



Like in the battle of Aljubarrota they are more in number, but we are bigger in motivation in fighting spirit we will kick them, once again out Portugal.

But for that we will need the support of our allies.

Today we rest, tomorrow we will fight side by side like Brothers, the Portuguese and the Norwegian Vikings.

See you in the battlefield my friends.