 In close collaboration with Sancho II of Portugal, the knight-friars conducted several campaigns against the Moors in the region of Alentejo.These events are ill-documented, but it seems that the initial focus was on the castle of Aljustrel, which fell before March 1235.Form there he fortified a hill in Padrões and manned it with 40 knights which ravaged the defences of Mértola, a stronghold of real strategic importance as it gave access to the mouth of the Guadiana.