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160 - Concerning the forces who entered through Beira and via the Guadiana, and what the king did in relation to it
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
As soon as Martim Vasques was in Castile, and the truce already broken in this way, a number of nobles, with a good following of troops, gathered together, captained by Ruy [López] Dávalos, the Constable of Castile. In this company came Martim Vasques da Cunha and his brothers. They arrived in Viseu, setting fire to the whole town and creating much damage throughout that district.
The king, who learned of it in Santarém, where he was staying, was very angry and upset about it, and summoned his forces to come to him, including the constable. But none of those to whom the king wrote came to him, although he sent them many messages. According to what some write, the count deliberately replied to the man who brought him such a message, that the king ought not to be so angry at those forces entering his lands, since he had lords and nobles whom he could command to go and encounter them, although he might not go there, and other similar excuses, which greatly displeased the king when he heard them.
However, the count did not cease gathering his people together. The king again sent a messenger to him, who recounted the anger he was feeling, especially at the forces who were not rallying to him. The count replied in terms similar to the first time and, with that, he dismissed him. With the king in this angry state, and the count already having gathered 1,200 lances, he made his way to go and see the king, taking with him no more than twenty mules, leaving everyone else in Évora. When he arrived in Santarém, because he came covertly, the king learned of it in the last minute, but he was very pleased at his coming. Hurriedly going out to receive him, he found him between Santa Maria de Palhais and Santa Iria. When the king embraced him, because he found him armed in haubergeon and vambraces, he declared out loud and jocularly, so that many people heard, ‘Now I can really say that this is the first man-at-arms that I have seen in this region!’ Then they both went to the palace.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 342 - 344Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023