Read "Journey to Portugal" by José Saramago online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The traveller has reached Évora. Here he finds the famous Giraldo Square with its leaping cavalier or cavalier leaper who, in order to obtain pardon from Afonso Henriques for his crimes and misdemeanours, decided to conquer Évora. He obtained it through skilful dexterity and the Moorish innocence which had left only an old man and his daughter on guard in their fortress who, if the truth were told, weren't on guard at all, but rather were sound asleep when old Sem Pavor19 beheaded them in a fit of piety. Poor little girl. Amid the racket of this piece of treachery, imagining they were being attacked from across the city, the Moors left the doors to the fortress open through which the other Christians poured, supported by mouriscos and mocárabes20, and took prisoners or killed at will. This took place in 1165. The traveller is quite incapable of imagining what sort of place Évora was when Giraldo conquered it. Nor has he a clearer idea of how many Moors were on hand to defend the city.
There's now no means of evaluating the relative bravery of the opposing forces but the outcome proved permanent: Évora was never again to return to Islamic hands.