[3] This episode would become famous, considered one of the greatest feats of chivalry in history, later celebrated in Europe, with Emperor Charles V saying that he was "envious of those who had been armed as knights at the foot of Mount Sinai".

[4] After the arrival in Goa of a new governor, Martim Afonso de Sousa, Ataíde returned to Portugal, where he became the heir to his father's estates, as his eldest brother had meanwhile died in combat in the Portuguese possessions in Morocco.

He left Portugal on March 5 and arrived at the emperor's camp, located on the banks of the Elbe River in Saxony, on April 17 - that is, seven days before the battle that was to take place at Mühlberg.

Ataíde thus participated in the battle that resulted in one of the greatest military victories of Charles V - and a resounding defeat for the Lutherans of the Schmalkaldic League, which would lead to its subsequent dissolution.

This combat experience was also an opportunity for Dom Luís de Ataíde to learn military techniques in land warfare, with the greatest specialists of his time, such as the emperor himself and the 3rd Duke of Alba - applied by a multinational army of about 25,000 men and 8,000 horsemen.

The viceroy's defense strategy was based, from the very start of the combats, on seeking at all costs to keep the possession of the fortresses under threat of siege, with special emphasis on the strategic city of Chaul - which would prove to be decisive for the outcome, favorable to the Portuguese.

In the defense of Goa, the viceroy introduced the unprecedented tactic of defending the city from 19 bases installed on its outer perimeter, with garrisons equipped with "large and smallish" artillery.

He also involved the Catholic chapter of Goa in the defense of the city, arming hundreds of members of the Franciscan and Dominican religious orders and determined the formation of military companies of slaves and "indigenous Christians", under Portuguese command.

[1] Murtaza Nizam Shah I launched a major attack on Chaul on June 29, 1571, which was however successfully defended by Dom Francisco Mascarenhas - and this allowed for the signing of a truce the following month.

[11] After this royal reception, Ataíde would never fail to take advantage of his presence in Portugal in order to recall, whenever the opportunity arose, the services that had been rendered by his family to the Avis dynasty, since the start of the 15th century.

[12] This initiative, laden with symbolism, and undoubtedly also taken with the intention of pleasing the monarch, helped to reinforce his position, in the context of the fierce disputes among the most important nobles of the court, trying to gain influence on the very young king.

In the beginning, he battled the forces of Ali Adil Shah I, but he was soon able to negotiate a peace treaty with him, on August 11, 1579 - on favorable terms, which included the return to the Portuguese of the island of Salsette (today, part of the city of Mumbai).

He also dedicated his attention to the Portuguese interests in the island of Ceylon, giving them priority in the allocation of military resources - which were not enough to help all the vast possessions of the Estado da Índia.

[16] Marquis of Santarém was a title created by a secret decree, in 1580, by King Filipe I, to be granted to Dom Luís de Ataíde, on the assumption that he would accept proclaiming the Habsburg monarch as sovereign, in the Estado da Índia.

One of the last letters written by Ataíde, dated October 1580 and addressed to the Council of governors of the kingdom, insists above all on his desire to return to Portugal, where he needed to ensure the succession of the house of the counts of Atouguia; it is thus not possible to corroborate reports from later chroniclers, according to which he tended to sympathize with the pretender Dom António, Prior of Crato.

[18] A sentence attributed to him shortly before his death ("I die when everything is against Portugal") is not mentioned in 16th century sources, and - if it was actually uttered - could be interpreted as mere resignation in the face of developments in the distant kingdom, not susceptible to be influenced from Goa.

The son of this marriage was Luís Gonçalves de Ataíde, who married Violante da Silva, daughter of Francisco Carneiro, 2nd donatary of Ilha do Príncipe.