The
duke of Lancaster made a particular effort to obtain a large force of men-at-arms and archers to lead to
Portugal and explained to the prelates, barons and municipalities of the towns of
England how they were bound by faith, by a solemn oath and by a sworn alliance to help him and his
brother to recover their inheritance of
Castile which was being lost. They had sworn this when their
nephew had been crowned king, all of which was apparent from sealed deeds. Moreover the
duke complained of the wrong they had done him and his
brother by delaying the matter, arguing that, in fact, when his brother the
earl of Cambridge had gone to
Portugal on the strength of the promises they had made him, they had been meagre in fulfilling their commitments because they were to have sent him two thousand lance and as many archers but did nothing of the sort, which caused the resolution of the dispute over their rightful inheritance to be delayed yet longer.
The
duke of Lancaster's speech was heard attentively, as was only right. The foremost members of the council declared that he had right on his side, but that the affairs of the kingdom which affected them more directly must have precedence over his own. Some wished for his will to be done, while others protested that it would be outrageous to deprive the kingdom of
England of two thousand men-at-arms and four thousand archers and send them as far away as to the kingdom of
Portugal, for sea voyages are hard and dangerous, and the Portuguese climate is hot and unforgiving. If
England were to be weakened by losing so many men, it might suffer an irretrievable loss. Despite all the disagreements and doubts about what might happen, it was settled that in summer the
duke of Lancaster would cross the sea with seven hundred lance and three thousand archers, and that all those who embarked on this voyage would receive pay for a quarter of a year.
However, it was stipulated that, should any threat affecting
England arrive from
France or
Scotland in the meantime, then the business of
Portugal should be postponed. The
duke of Lancaster agreed to this, for he could not gain anything more.
You will know, as it has been previously mentioned in this history, that when the
duke of Lancaster had all of his men and vessels at
Southampton ready to make the voyage to
Portugal, and the
Portuguese ambassadors had returned to
Lisbon bringing with them certain news of the
duke of Lancaster's impending arrival and of the strength of his forces, which delighted the
Portuguese, a most unfortunate event occurred in
England which forced him to delay his voyage by some time. For the admiral of France,
Sir Jean de Vienne, with a command of a thousand lance of good men-at-arms, had set sail from
Sluys, travelled to
Scotland and made war on
England, which necessitated the
king of England to employ all force to march against him. This has been recounted before in this history, and therefore I do not wish to mention it twice, but would rather speak of the siege of
Lisbon and the
king of Spain, in order to return to my proper subject and accurately narrate all that I have been told of it.
SHF 3-30 syncWhile
king Juan of Castile was laying siege to
Lisbon, news reached his army from merchants of his country returning from
Flanders and
Bruges, that the
duke of Lancaster was gathering a large force of men-at-arms and archers to travel to
Lisbon and raise the siege.
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