4 - How the King of Navarre contrived to avoid the campaign in aid of King Pedro
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024
Summary
The King of Navarre was greatly troubled by the promises he had made first to King Enrique and then to King Pedro, his opponent. He pondered how he might avoid helping either of them, and he did indeed do so but in an ignoble way. Thus, after he had granted safe conduct through the passes of Roncesvalles to the forces of King Pedro and the prince, he was afraid to take part in the campaign and decided not to wait for them in Pamplona. Rather, he left there Martín Enríquez, his lieutenant, who was to accompany them with 300 lances. He himself made his way to Tudela, one of his towns, which is close to the kingdom of Aragon. There he made a deal with a cousin of Sir Bertrand du Guesclin, a knight named Sir Olivier de Mauny, who was living at the time in the town of Borja, which he owned. The deal was that the King of Navarre would go hunting between Borja and Tudela, which were 4 leagues apart, and that Sir Olivier would go out to capture and take him as prisoner to his castle in Borja, where he would keep him captive till the campaign between King Pedro and King Enrique was at an end. In that way, King Carlos would have a good excuse for not taking part in person in the campaign. In return for this, he would give Sir Olivier one of his villages called Gavray, which brought in revenues of 3,000 francs a year.
When this had been settled with all due oaths and promises, the king went hunting one day, and Sir Olivier went out to meet him; he captured and imprisoned him until the campaign was over. Then the king thought of another ruse by which he could escape from Sir Olivier's control without giving him anything in return. He agreed with him that he would leave his son Prince Pedro there as a hostage and that Sir Olivier would take him, King Carlos, to his town of Tudela and that there he would pay Sir Olivier everything to which he had agreed. Sir Olivier declared himself happy with this, the prince was brought, and Sir Olivier left with the king. When they reached Tudela, the king ordered Sir Olivier and one of his brothers to be arrested. The brother ran off over some rooftops but was killed.
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- Information
- The Chronicles of Fernão LopesVolume 2. The Chronicle of King Fernando of Portugal, pp. 20 - 21Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2023