When news of the war was heard in Portugal, and King Fernando was sure that King Enrique intended to invade his kingdom, he had cause for much thought, because he had not expected him to try to carry out such an invasion so quickly, nor that he would be the first to start the war. He posted his officers of the marches and respective garrisons throughout the border regions of the kingdom, and also certain lords and nobles in the places through which he judged that the King of Castile might advance. King Fernando was in Coimbra at the time, with Queen Leonor and several nobles of the realm. He summoned many men from the banks of the Guadiana and likewise from Estremadura, to come to join him in a large and spacious field, 6 leagues from Coimbra in the direction of Lisbon, which is called the Chão de Couce, which all agreed would be a good place to wait for King Enrique. Later they agreed that it would be better to wait for him in Santarém, and fight against him there; moreover, that the further he entered into the kingdom, running short of supplies, the more scattered and easily defeated his troops would be. With this plan in mind, the king departed from Coimbra, leaving behind there his wife and several noblemen with her, went to Santarém and there began to organize his troops. He sent to Lisbon and other towns ordering that they should make ready their allocation of a certain number of men-at-arms, foot soldiers and crossbowmen, and that they all should join him at Santarém.

At this point, King Enrique departed from Viseu, after the arrival of those companies which he had summoned, his intention being that King Fernando would do battle with him. He marched straight towards Coimbra, where he joined the Master of Santiago and the Master of Alcántara and the companies from Andalusia that had entered the country through that border. The queen [Leonor Teles] being in Coimbra, King Enrique arrived and established himself in Tentúgal. Count Sancho his brother lodged in the Palace of Santa Clara, Prince Dinis, Diogo Lopes Pacheco and [Monsieur] Limousin in the Monastery of São Francisco, Juan Rodríguez de Castañeda in Santa Ana, Pedro Fernández de Velasco in Cernache, and likewise the other lords and captains throughout the surrounding towns.