The
bishop was afraid of the
king because of his haughty and formidable temperament, so did not dare to gainsay him. To please the
king,
Sir João Fernandes Andeiro, who was the
king's counsellor and trusted friend, said to him,
'
Bishop, you can very well do this. My lord will atone for everything at once.'
The
bishop married them and they were one. The
lady was crowned and solemnised queen with the full assent of all the cities of
Portugal and as magnificently and with as much reverence as any
queen of Portugal has ever been. The
king conceived a
daughter with this
lady, and she is presently - as you are aware my lord -
queen of Castile. It is true that when he was alive,
king Fernando summoned to
Lisbon one day all of the prelates, nobles and the councils of the cities, ports, towns and lordships of the realm of
Portugal (and this was done before my lord your brother, my
lord of Cambridge, came to
Portugal with his army) and made them all swear to recognise his daughter my
lady Beatriz, who was then only five years old, and after his death to acknowledge her as the heiress of
Portugal. All of them so swore, whether they wanted to or not, but the majority of those present were well aware that this
girl was a bastard, born in adultery because my
lady Leonor's husband, named
Sir João Lourenço da Cunha, was still alive and residing in
Castile with the
king, and outlived
king Fernando.
'On top of all that, I do believe, my lord,' said the
knight who was speaking, 'that had the daughter been a son, the commonalty of
Portugal would have been more inclined towards him, and more promptly than they have been or are ever likely to be, as they put it, because they would much rather die than be subjugated by the kingdom of
Castile. The people of the kingdom of
Portugal and those of
Castile can never be perfectly at one since they are always harrying and harassing each other, as the
Scottish harry and harass the country of
England with all their might.'"
SHF 3-80 syncWhereupon the
duke of Lancaster asked the
squire, whose tale he had heard with great pleasure,
"
Lourenço, at the time you are speaking of, where was the present
king João who was brother to
king Fernando?"
"By my faith, my lord," replied the
squire, "he was in
Portugal living in a community of high-born men who bear an order of chivalry from overseas. There are at least two hundred noble men belonging to this order and they wear a white habit with a red cross. He was their leader and known as the
grand master of Avis because the community and order in
Portugal is called
Avis. The
king had given him this title, but thought nothing more of his
brother; nor did the present
king João concern himself with the affairs of
Portugal or interfere in any way, nor think of the crown or the kingdom because, undoubtedly, if
king Fernando of Portugal had had the slightest suspicion or inkling of what was going to come about, he loved my lady
Leonor and my
lady Beatriz, his daughter, so much that he would have imprisoned or put to death his brother, the
grand master of Avis.
pb 263 v