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97 - How the king provided the queen with a household and with an income for her expenses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
For a fortnight, both before and after the event, feasts and royal tournaments took place in honour of the marriage, just as we have described them. They occurred not simply in Oporto, but also throughout the towns and cities of the realm. Great junketing and tumbling took place, according to the resources of each township, as was the usual practice at that time.
The king set up a household for the queen, together with a certain income for her expenses, until such time as he could give her, as he had promised, lands [providing revenue] from which to uphold her status. He also provided officials to serve her and appointed Lopo Dias de Sousa, the Master of the Order of Christ in Portugal, as her chief steward, Lourenço Eanes Fogaça as the comptroller of her finances, Afonso Martins (who later became the Prior of Santa Cruz) as the steward of her household, Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho as her chief cup-bearer and, standing in for him, Rodrigo Eanes, the king's own criado. He also appointed Fernão Lopes de Abreu as the keeper of the queen's wardrobe, as well as a naperer, a pantler and other essential officials. Assigned to her too were a head chaplain, a father confessor and other ministers of the divine office. Other appointments included both English and Portuguese squires, as many as he considered suitable, who were to attend her.
Likewise, the king arranged for the following women to attend and serve her: Beatriz Gonçalves de Moura, the widow of Vasco Fernandes Coutinho, who was appointed her lady-in-waiting; her damsels were Beatriz de Castro, the daughter of Álvaro Pérez de Castro; Teresa Vasques Coutinha, the daughter of Beatriz Gonçalves: she became the queen's mistress of the bedchamber and was the wife of Dom Martinho, the son of Count Gonçalo; her sister, Leonor Vasques, who later married Dom Fernando, whom they called Fernando de Bragança; Berengária Nunes Pereira, the daughter of Rui Pereira who had died in the sea-battle off Lisbon, and who married Afonso Vasques Correia; Beatriz Pereira, the daughter of Álvaro Pereira, the deceased marshal, who married Martim Vasques de Resende; and her legitimate sister Leonor Pereira, who was married to Gomes Freire. There were, in addition, other damsels and ladies-in-waiting, as befitted her honourable status.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 229 - 230Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023