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18 - How Lope Gómez was attacked, how his tower was forcibly entered and how he was dispatched as a prisoner to Oporto
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
Now that the king was in possession of the town, he at once decided to attack the towers, which were very strong, equipped with weaponry and replete with soldiers. Nevertheless, before launching his attack, he sent a message to Lope Gómez to say that he was well aware of the honourable rank and honours which he had received in the kingdom and that in this respect it was not his intention to diminish them but, rather, to add to them and to grant him many favours with which he would be content. Moreover, he could see that his position had reached a stage where it could not now be defended and it was undesirable that he, his wife and all those with him should perish, particularly as he had no castle in which to defend himself and, even if he had, it would be of no avail. Besides, if he was hoping that help would arrive from the King of Castile, he should bear in mind the help he had sent to Aires Gomes, for that would enable him to see what benefit he could expect from persisting with that intention. For these reasons he advised him, for his own good, to come over to him while he, the king, was still in a mood not to inflict harm on him, because, later on, it could happen that Lope Gómez might seek from him what he was now requesting of him, and it would be denied him.
These arguments and many others which were put to Lope Gómez were never capable of persuading him of anything other than of his urge to defend himself. So the king then gave orders for attacks to be made on all the towers except for the one occupied by Lope Gómez de Lira. The constable attacked them from outside, whereas others surged along stretches of the ramparts from end to end, so that by dint of arms, fires and parley, all the [other] towers surrendered and were swiftly captured. It is important that you should know that the tower occupied by Lope Gómez was the tallest and most defensible of all the towers in the town.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 4. The Chronicle of King João i of Portugal, Part II, pp. 49 - 52Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023