In January 1386, having spent Christmas nearby, the king decided to lay siege to this township. Before he set out to go there, he sent a message to Martim Gonçalves, urging him to hand the town over to him and to declare his allegiance to him, for which he would grant him many favours. Martim Gonçalves did not consent to this, saying that he would on no account do so. When the king realised that he was unwilling to agree, he went to take a look at the town before besieging it, and it was at this juncture that Martim Vasques and others were wounded in a skirmish.

Coming back, the king pitched a siege camp before the town and allotted a spot to every man, as befitted such a siege. After the king and all his men had taken up their positions in the camp, he gave instructions for the siege engines to be equipped and for them to aim missiles at the town and its castle. They smashed the greater part of two towers that overlooked the River Tâmega, which runs alongside the town. Then the king ordered a siege tower to be erected close to the bridge to prevent access to the river and to attack the town. The siege tower had three storeys; in those days such towers were called ‘wooden castles’. As is the normal practice, this tower was lined with [intertwoven] reeds and gorse as protection against the rocks and stones [hurled at them]. Inside it were posted men-at-arms and crossbowmen who used this protected vantage point to prevent the townsfolk from getting water from the river.

Out of his fond regard for her brother, Gonçalo Vasques, every day the king had a jug of water sent to Mécia Vasques, the wife of the town's governor. As for the siege tower, it was watched over in turns by certain men to whom the king entrusted it. One day, when the watch was being kept by João Galego, a captain in charge of foot soldiers, a number of Galicians from inside the town began to exchange remarks with those outside, as is the custom in such places.