If we leave aside the matters which we have been describing and which cannot be described elsewhere, and if we return to the beginning of King Fernando's reign, then you should know that after leaving the monastery to which his father had been brought and where he, Fernando, had been proclaimed king, he went to a castle known as Porto de Mós, where he stayed for several days. Then, as though he were expecting some new major war with a neighbouring king, he at once sent out orders throughout his kingdom to find out which men might own horses and could bear arms and which men could be crossbowmen and foot soldiers. Likewise, he commanded that his castles be inspected as to their condition and ordered that they should be repaired, wherever necessary, with walls, towers and surrounding moats, as well as with wells and cisterns. As to the gates, he ordered that they be provided with traverses, drawbridges and scaffolding, and equally with weaponry, vats and other receptacles, according to the nature of the place where each castle stood. He charged the chief magistrates of every district with these tasks and ordered his stewards to spare no expense.

The king then left and made his way to Santarém. In the month of March, when he was at the nearby village of Alcanhões, messengers arrived from the King of Aragon, namely Don Alfonso de Castro Nuevo and Friar Guillermo, a master in theology, who belonged to the Order of Preaching Friars. They came in order to arrange a treaty of peace and friendship between King Fernando and their lord, the King of Aragon. Therefore, when Don Alfonso spoke to the king on this matter, he mentioned to him the great, long-standing and notable ties that existed between the Kings of Aragon and Portugal. For that very reason and for many others which he mentioned in his remarks, he ended by saying that it was the wish of his lord the king to maintain with King Fernando a good, firm and everlasting peace and to be a true friend of his and of his children, his realms and his people. King Fernando was greatly pleased at this embassy and gave him a noble and gracious reply.