Due to a malady of Blanche of Castile, neither Afonso IV of Portugal nor his son Pedro wanted to be held to that marriage.

He did not ask Peter IV to become involved in the conflict, but wrote him a letter in which he recounted all the wrongs done by Alfonso XI of Castile and León to him and his family.

[3] Alfonso XI also asked for help from the councils of the cities of Córdoba, Seville, Trujillo, Plasencia, Coria and Cáceres, and from Ruy Pérez Maldonado, Master of the Order of Alcántara.

These united their forces with those of Pedro Fernández de Castro, and promptly left for Badajoz to aid the besieged town.

According to the Chronicle of Alfonso XI, the indiscipline of the troops of Pedro Fernández de Castro was remarkable and his men caused serious damage in the places through which they passed on the way to the city of Badajoz.

[3] When other noblemen and councils were informed that the city of Badajoz was being besieged by the Portuguese, they readied their troops and prepared to help, even though they had not yet received the messages sent by the King Alfonso XI of Castile.

Enrique Enríquez the Younger, lord of Villalba de los Barros and great-grandson of King Ferdinand III of Castile, left the city of Seville accompanied by the men of the Bishopric of Jaén, and went to the Extremadura town of Barcarrota Villanueva, 49 kilometres (30 mi) from Badajoz.

When Afonso IV of Portugal, who was still besieging Badajoz, learned of the raids that Enrique Enríquez the Younger had made into Portugal, he commanded Pedro Afonso de Sousa, a nobleman of his kingdom, to go to Villanueva de Barcarrota and apprehend the Castilian-Leonese under Enrique Enríquez, and to destroy and burn the town.

An individual who had climbed the tower of the church of Villanueva de Barcarrota observed their arrival, realized by the banners they were carrying that they were Castilian-Leonese, and communicated this to Enrique Enríquez the Younger and his men.

They defended their territories, but Ruy Pérez Maldonado, Master of the Order, was criticized for his lack of courage against the Portuguese troops.