Chapter 40 - How King Pedro arrived in Galicia, killed the Archbishop of Santiago and departed for England
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Summary
The King of Castile left Lamego, quite defenceless and with very few followers, for there were no more than about 200 horsemen riding with him. He arrived in Monterrey, a town in Galicia, and from there he wrote messages to Logroño, to Soria and to Zamora, all of which were on his side, urging them to hold on, for he would bring them help. He informed the King of Navarre and the Prince of Wales that he was in Galicia and wished to know what support he could expect from them. There he waited for the Archbishop of Santiago and for Don Fernando de Castro, his standard-bearer and Provincial Governor of the provinces of León and Asturias, who prior to this had come to Galicia in answer to his command. He spoke with all the prelates, knights and squires, as well as with representatives of the cities, towns and fortresses, with the result that all of them took his side.
For three weeks they remained in council, deliberating whether it was better to go on to Zamora and from there to Logroño, since King Enrique and his forces were in Seville, or to go to Bayonne in England to make a personal plea for aid from the Prince of Wales. The king preferred the advice to go to England rather than to return once more to his kingdom, for he trusted as little in those who had expressed their support for him as in those others who were not on his side. He left Monterrey and went to spend the Feast of Saint John in Santiago [de Compostela] in Galicia; there he agreed with his followers to kill the archbishop and seize his strongholds.
Don Suero [the Archbishop] came trustingly on his command on the Feast of Saint Peter, for the king had sent to summon him to the council. However, as he was coming in through the city he was slain at the door of the Cathedral of Santiago by Fernán Pérez Turrichao and Gonzalo Gómez Gallinato, two knights who hated him and whom the king had ordered to kill him. They also killed Pero Álvarez, the Dean of Santiago, a man of great learning and wisdom. The king was watching from the top of the church while all this was done.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 1. The Chronicle of King Pedro of Portugal, pp. 152 - 153Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023