At Aljubarrota, the Castillians opened the battle with a salvo of their 16 cannons.
According to the "Chronicle of Dom João I", its only mortal victims were two Portuguese squires and an English archer.
Nonetheless, the bombardment caused a great commotion in the Portuguese host, because to most of the men, this was an unknown weapon!
But a Portuguese squire immediately said out loud:
"Do not fear, for I saw the two men who died entered a church eight days ago, and killed the priest who said Mass there. This simply means that the Good Lord, who will give us the victory today, does not want these two evil men to share the honour with us!"
And all who heard him, doubled the purpose of fighting against the enemy.
