Chapter 35 - How Nuno Álvares left for his own house, and the way in which he lived
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Summary
Nuno Álvares enjoyed himself with his wife in his father's house for several days, but then he left, and they travelled to the province of the Minho, where her own dwelling was located and where she had her own estates. There he was made very welcome and received visits from the nobles of the area, who offered him their friendship, as is the custom.
Nuno Álvares was a man of few and gentle words; indeed, his noble and friendly demeanour and his resort to sweet reason were a source of great pleasure to everyone. He was more given to hunting large than small game, though he practised both, as circumstances required. In his household he had daily twelve to fifteen squires and twenty to thirty men on foot, according to what was required for his estates. All of them were brave and capable men: indeed, he never relied on any other men so completely as he relied on these for as long as he lived.
He never did anything out of rancour or hatred, but in the matter of exorbitant expense and because such was the custom in the land, he sometimes went beyond the bounds of reason. Nevertheless, never so much that he lost his fear of God, for he always attended Holy Mass and lived a decent and honourable life alongside his wife, by whom he fathered three children: two who died at birth, and one daughter who was named Beatriz and later became a countess and a very noble lady, as we shall relate further on.
After three years had passed, his father the prior passed away at a very great age in Amieira. Nine sons, including Nuno Álvares, and nine daughters attended his funeral. Once the funeral rites had been duly completed, he was taken to the Church of Flor da Rosa, which he had built. Then his son Pedro Álvares, Nuno's brother, was made prior, though Brother Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo, who was Commander of Poiares at that time, held the right to succeed to the office of prior, but King Fernando ordered that Pedro Álvares be made prior.
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- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 3. The Chronicle of King João I of Portugal, Part I, pp. 75 - 76Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023