Once the castle had been captured as we have described, the townspeople became passionately aroused, far beyond what good practice normally allows. They began to be driven by a wild rage, inventing all manner of new grudges against people who had done them no wrong. Unrestrained in their power, they showed contempt for those whom they had at the outset regarded as leaders, for example, men like Diogo Lopes Lobo, Fernão Gonçalves and other prominent figures in the town. Treating such men with suspicion, they declared that, if they took pleasure in serving the Master and owed him allegiance, then they should go to Lisbon to serve him and assist in the defence of the realm. Realising that there was nothing to be gained by disputing the matter, they did exactly that and went to join the Master.

The major figures in this disturbance were Gonçalo Eanes, a goatherd, and Vicente Eanes, a tailor, who carried on doing just as they pleased, calling out their rallying cry, ‘Abite! Abite! Aqui dos dabite!’ What is more, when some people in the mob shouted, ‘Let's go and kill so-and-so, let's go and rob him!’, then that is exactly what happened, without any of the leading citizens being able to help the man, even if they wanted to intervene on his behalf.

At this time the nuns and the Abbess of São Bento, a convent not far from Évora, happened to be staying in some of its houses in the town which were situated in the town's ruined wall. They had come there out of fear and dread of the war which was then openly breaking out. With the common people so aroused and with nothing else with which to occupy themselves, a sudden voice cried out (so certain accounts tell us), shouting that Gonçalo Eanes, the goatherd, one of the leaders of the mob, had spoken to the people and said, ‘Let's kill that treacherous abbess: she's a relative of the queen and a former member of her household.’