Sometimes at the vanguard of the troops, sometimes bringing up the rear, always wherever the risk was greatest, Nuno Álvares summed up within himself the genius, the soul, the very heart of a thousand men, which beat in time with his, driven serenely by faith.
He was then twenty-five years old, but the magnanimity of his character, multiplying the years, gave him the bearing of a mature man. Always cheerful, always calm, always the same, in the greatest crises he remained courteous and measured, but with iron-clad energy and decision. The obedience rendered to him was made up of both love and fear. […]
No one knew better than he how to impose himself with a smile, leading others to submit to him willingly; there was no man more particular and meticulous in the minutiae of war, correcting, adjusting, always intervening, and overseeing everything with his own eyes, which had the breadth of the eagle and the acuity of a lynx.
War was not a passion for him, nor combat an intoxication, nor glory an end. War was only the means to achieve the goal of saving the kingdom; and glory was only captivating in the revelations of Heaven, towards which his devout soul winged its way ceaselessly. […]
Everything for him was religious, from his private habits to his discipline in battle, to his patriotism, to his love of the king, and finally to life itself, which he had devoted to a transcendent mission. Therefore, breathing an atmosphere of idealism, his face was lit with a halo of joy, at times betraying sorrow, and his hands were always ready to scatter the manna of benevolence all around him.
From all that the chronicles recount of him, we can only conclude that humanity has never produced a more superb example of the alliance of heroism and holiness; therefore, never in such a way have men seen these two culminating peaks rising from the earth to pierce the sky…
OLIVEIRA MARTINS, J. P.
“A vida de Nuno Álvares” [“The Life of Nuno Álvares”].
Lisbon: Antonio Maria Pereira, 1893, p.303-305
