Found this bit of trivia on Gamespy:
Early in the 16th century, the Spanish introduced a “new” form of unit; one which bore a suspicious resemblance to, and which was somewhat modeled upon, the Roman legion. This was the colunela, which included pikemen and arqubusiers (or musketeers), and also troops armed with halberds, and which included the legendary Spanish sword and buckler (a small shield) men, at a time when Spain was reputed to have the finest swords, and the finest swordsmen, in all Europe. Each body of troops in the colunela had its purpose, and, in a fashion, this was an early version of the “combined arms” concept that dominates modern military thinking.
Three colunela were later to comprise a Tercio. A full-strength Tercio, which we might think of today as a regiment, usually included 1,000-2,000 men, and for over a hundred years, until they met the more flexible, lighter and faster Swedes of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years War, the Spanish Tercios ruled the battlefield. This is with the possible exception of an embarrassing incident at the battle of Aljubarrata in 1385, when Spanish troops who had fought their way into the rear of the Portuguese army were routed by a female baker armed with a wooden oven spatula. To be fair, it was apparently a very large spatula.
…does anybody have any more information on what happened here? A google search on Aljubarrata didn’t turn up anything new.