When they reached the Queen's Palace, they broke down the doors and entered by force. They came to the chamber of the
lady who was terrified when she saw so many people bearing down on her in anger. She threw herself on her knees before the
grand master of Avis and begged him with hands clasped together to have pity on her, because she believed she had done nothing wrong, and laid no claim to the crown and inheritance of
Portugal, as everyone knew if they would only care to remember.
'I beg you,
grand master of Avis, and all of these people here present, to remember that it was against my wishes that
king Fernando gave me the rule and
crown of Portugal by marrying me and making me queen of this country.'
'
Lady,' replied the
grand master of Avis, 'do not fear, because you will never come to any harm. We have not come to hurt or injure you, rather we have come for this traitor here,
João Fernandes Andeiro. He must die at once, and then let the
king of Castile avenge him if he can, because for too long he has been his agent in this country.'
At these words the men who were charged to carry out the sentence advanced, taking the
knight and immediately putting him to death. Nothing more was done at that time, no man attacked or killed; nor did they wish it. They simply returned to their lodgings, and the
king to his own.
"
SHF 3-83 sync"After the death of
João Fernandes Andeiro, my
lady Leonor who had been
queen of Portugal, wished to leave
Lisbon and go to
Castile to the
king and to her
daughter. She had been so distraught over the demise of her
knight that she had been on the point of death herself, and consequently no longer wished to remain in
Portugal, for there was no peace or honour for her there. And so she sent a request in her name to the
grand master of Avis in this regard. He granted it readily, saying that he was pleased for her to leave and that there was certainly good reason for her to do so. So the
lady departed
Lisbon and
Portugal with her retinue and continued her journey until she reached the city of
Seville where the
king of Castile was residing at that time, and the
queen too. When my
lady Leonor arrived, she found almost all of the noblemen of
Castile gathered there because there had been a great discussion about the Portuguese affair.
King Juan of Castile was seeking counsel on how to act, declaring that the kingdom of
Portugal had passed to him through succession from
king Fernando, his
wife's
father, and that when he took her as his wife
king Fernando had agreed to this, as had the entire country. My lady
Leonor da Cunha was warmly received by the
king and her
daughter, and rightly so. She was then asked and questioned about events and matters in
Portugal. She answered them with everything she had seen and with what she knew, that it was apparent that the commonalty of the country of
Portugal would crown as their king, if they encountered no resistance, the
grand master of Avis, and that for that same reason they had already murdered her knight,
João Fernandes Andeiro because he supported, and always had, the
king of Castile's cause.
pb 265 v