As we said, the King of Castile was in Zamora when the duke landed at La Coruña and received from him the message which you heard. The duke's arrival troubled him greatly, for the king was fearful of what the duke intended, owing to the great shortage of soldiers at that time in his kingdom, because he had lost the best and indeed most of them in the recent war. Having found out that King João and the duke had planned to invade his country via that region, he dispatched many companies of foreign troops to defend it, sending them to Benavente, Villalpando, Valencia de Don Juan, Castroverde and other townships in the area. He ordered certain low-lying places that lacked fortifications to be demolished and transferred their men and provisions to the townships that could be defended.

The king welcomed those noblemen and squires who had come from France and other countries in order to serve him in this war. He conferred favours upon them, gave them wages with which to pay their troops and sent them off into that region. He ordered Don Juan García Manrique, the Archbishop of Santiago, to go to the city of León to make it more secure. He also sent as many companies of horsemen and foot soldiers as he could assemble to the places where they were most needed. The reason was that he was disinclined to risk fighting a pitched battle, choosing to protect his kingdom by engaging merely in this kind of defensive war.

The officer of the marches at Benavente was a certain Álvaro Pérez de Osorio, a Leonese knight. He had 600 Castilian lances, as well as Sir Robert de Braquemont and other foreigners, not only Gascons, but also men who spoke some other language. On that very day the defenders fought against those from the siege camp. Indeed, for as long as the siege lasted, there were constant hard-fought skirmishes between the two sides. However, we shall be saying nothing further about such encounters other than to mention a number of noteworthy facts. No sooner had the assailants arrived and pitched camp than the defenders emerged to skirmish with them, and in that encounter one of the duke's party, Sir John Falconer, was killed. He was an English knight, whom we have previously mentioned.