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185 - Concerning the ambassadors who went to Castile to negotiate peace and were not successful
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
Such being the state of war, a decision was made to negotiate a truce and lasting peace between the kings, and so [three] men of great distinction, Archbishop [of Lisbon] Dom João (who was later made a Cardinal), João Vasques de Almada, a citizen from Lisbon and a very honoured knight, and Martim do Sém, a doctor of laws, were sent to Castile as ambassadors. The king sent these men appropriately prepared and escorted by seventy horsemen.
They arrived in Segovia on the first day of June, a Thursday. After eating they went to see the king and speak to him, propounding the reason why they had come, namely to negotiate a peace or truce between him and the king their liege lord. The king withdrew with those of his royal council and replied through a cardinal from Avignon who was present and who styled himself Cardinal of Spain, stating that it pleased him that a peace rather than a truce was being discussed. We leave aside the many prolix arguments submitted by the one party and to which the other party responded, but if you should wish to read them, the following are the main arguments the Castilians gave in writing, as follows:
That for breaking the fifteen-year truce and for the losses and damages he had suffered from the King of Portugal, the latter should, for the sake of harmony and peace, give to the King of Castile 20 contos of Portugal's old currency, which amounted to 700 gold francs, and 40,000 dobras each year during the life of the king their liege lord and of his daughter, the Princess María. Further, that at sea he should provide the King of Castile with ten galleys each year, fitted out for six months at his expense, and on land 1,000 men-at-arms, similarly paid by him, this to last the lifetime of both kings. In addition, if the King of Castile had to do battle with the Moors, the King of Portugal should be present in it in person.
Likewise, that the King of Portugal should pardon and receive into his kingdom all the Portuguese who had been residing in Castile since the time when Queen Beatriz married, and he should return [to them] all the property they had formerly owned in Portugal.
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- Information
- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 397 - 399Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023