Let us speak once more of the King of Castile: he was seeing to the affairs of his kingdom while all these things were happening. It should be known that after the king gained the castle of Almeida, by its surrendering to him, and sent the letter to the Earl of Cambridge, to which he received no reply as you have heard, he returned to Castile.

Since he knew that, as soon as the English had mounts, they would all seek to enter his kingdom, he did not want his forces to drift away from him, so arranged to have them placed on the border with Portugal, where they would receive their pay. In the meantime, he gathered as many companies as he could, both while in the city of Ávila and from its surrounding district. From there, the king departed and went to Tordesillas, staying there for some days before leaving for Simancas, where he spent a month. As he knew that Count Alfonso was in Bragança drawing up his treaties with King Fernando, he wrote letters to him to hinder the process and to bring him over to his side. As soon as he saw that the count did not reply as he wished, he left Simancas and went to Zamora. There he assembled his people, because he had confirmation that the King of Portugal, together with the English, intended to enter Castile.

He wrote further letters and sent messengers to the count and to all who were with him, that owing to their family ties with him they should come straight away to his side, for he wished to leave there shortly to go and fight King Fernando. The count replied in positive terms but demanded that certain people and castles should be given to him as hostages. The king did not want to consent to this, because he was demanding his own son, Prince Fernando, and six sons of knights that the count would have the right to name. Finally, as the count saw how all his people were leaving him and going over to the king, he pledged his allegiance and went over to his side. There in Zamora, the king made Don Alfonso, who was the Marquess of Villena and Count of Denia, the Constable of Castile, and made Fernán Álvarez de Toledo the Marshal of the army.