_ 202 _ When António Correia saw the fortress and the readiness for battle with which the King awaited him, he also prepared his own resources in the manner which seemed to him the most appropriate to achieve victory. However, Sharafa could never have prepared himself for the conflict in the way he would have wished, nor could he have carried it into effect, because the battle took place on the day of Santiago(A) the Apostle, general of the battles against the Moors, and so on 27 July Captain António Correia took to the boats and waded ashore. His brother Aires Correia went in the van with 50 men, while he brought up the rear with about 170, leaving Captain Tristão de Castro in the boats with the seamen. Santiago immediately attacked the enemy with such impetus and courage that António’s brother, Aires Correia, a young man eager to win honour, accompanied by others of similar quality, attacked the Moors with such fury and slaughter that in the first onslaught he received two wounds from arrows, and those who accompanied him were not uninjured. His brother António Correia then came in and inflicted the second of Santiago onslaughts (A) The name in Spanish and Portugese for the saint known in English as James, whose bones are said to lie in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain [Translator’s note].
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy