THE BATTLE OF ALJUBARROTA

On a hillside in central Portugal in the height of the summer of 1385, the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile met in battle. Near a village called Aljubarrota, the Portuguese (and a small contingent of English mercenaries), though greatly outnumbered by the army of Castile, fought a shrewd and determined action, reduced their enemy to rout, and so vouchsafed their nation’s independence. And telling the story was the foremost chivalric chronicler of the day: Jean Froissart.

Hal Dixon

Upon the death of King Fernando of Portugal in October 1383, the already fragile state of his kingdom’s affairs received a splintering blow. Around the turn of the decade, Portugal had been menaced by aggressive inroads from Castile, spurred by the Castilian king, John of Trastámara. Those inroads had abated when King Fernando’s sole legitimate heir, princess Beatrice, was married to Trastámara in April 1383. So, with Fernando dead, Beatrice succeeded as Queen of Portugal, with her mother, Leonora, serving as regent. To Trastámara, the possibility of annexing Portugal to his Crown proved too tempting to refuse. The interregnum crisis The prospect of Castilian annexation, however, was not received well by the subjects of the new Portuguese queen. Violent politicized mobs in Lisbon rejected Leonora’s regent government, and at the…

You're reading a preview of

Medieval World Culture & Conflict (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 16 - 2025

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.