He was ceremonially crowned king in the
cathedral church of Coïmbra, with the unanimous approval and support of the entire commonalty of the country. He vowed to defend justice and the rights of the people, formally recognising all of their privileges as laid down in former times which they enjoyed and were entitled to maintain; a joyful thing for all.
SHF 3-4 sync
Third Book, Chapter 4 [1384]
How the king of Castile laid siege with the Spanish to Lisbon where the king of Portugal was, and his call for aid to England.
When this news had come to
Castile, and to
king Juan, he was incensed for two reasons: for one because his
wife was the heir, and secondly because the
people of Portugal had crowned a king through unlawful election. He made it known that things would not remain as they were and, as a pretext for hostilities demanded the sum of two hundred thousand florins from the
inhabitants of Lisbon, which
king Fernando had promised him when he took his
daughter to wife.
So he sent the
count of Molina, the
count of Ribadeo and the
bishop of Burgos as his ambassadors, with a great many attendants, to
Portugal and to the people of
Lisbon. When the
king of Spain's men had arrived at
Santarém, the last Castilian town before
Lisbon, they sent a herald to the
king and
citizens of Lisbon to obtain a safe-conduct for their journey thither and for their return. This was granted without delay and they arrived in
Lisbon. They had the town council convened in order to present to them the reasons why they had come. At the end of their explanation they said,
"You
Lisbonners, listen carefully to this.
You must not be surprised that our lord, the
king, is angry with you, and if he is now requiring the sum he has asked of you and which you are obliged to pay, now that you have given the noble crown of
Portugal to a cleric, a man of religion and a bastard. This will not be tolerated, for by rightful election there is no closer heir than
king Juan; what is more, you have gone against the advice of your kingdom's nobility. Therefore
Juan wishes you to know that you have committed a grievous offence, and if you do not hasten to right it, he is determined to make war on you."
To these words,
Fernão Lopes de Villaboing, a distinguished and highly regarded burgess of
Lisbon, replied,
"My lords, you reproach us severely for our election, but yours was just as objectionable, for in
Spain you crowned as king a bastard, the son of a Jewess. This is widely known. As for legitimate election, your
king has no claim to the kingdom of
Portugal. That is the entitlement of the daughters of
king Pedro,
Constanza and
Isabel (and their children), married in
England, and through them of their husbands the
duke of Lancaster and the
earl of Cambridge. You may leave when you wish and tell whoever sent you that our election is just and will be upheld by us; nor will we have another king as long as this one lives. As to the sum of money you are demanding, we declare that we are not in the slightest obliged. You must find those who bound themselves to the payment and who reaped all the rewards."
King João of Portugal was not present and as such not party to this response; however, he was well aware of the answer his people were to give.
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