Those whom the king asked to give great consideration to the matter did not give him a reply as soon as he had wished, so he urged them to give it to him. All those who had chewed the matter over and were in agreement responded in the following way through one of their number who had been charged with telling him:

‘Sire, we have looked at everything that was proposed to us by you in relation to your wish to renounce the kingdom, and the places that you wish to remain in the power of the prince, your son, and those that you intend to put aside for yourself. Furthermore, bearing the arms of Portugal, which are the quinas, and styling yourself its king, you expect to gain it on behalf of the queen, your wife, because it belongs to you by right, and this moves you to do these things that you have said.

‘My liege, with all due reverence to Your Royal Majesty, we think that you ought not to do such a deed, nor does it serve your interests, for certain reasons that we shall state, of which the foremost is this. You know from books and chronicles that are read to you on occasion what great evil and harm followed the wars that took place in Spain on account of the partitions that your predecessors made among their offspring, as did King Fernando, from whom you descend. He divided the kingdoms between his sons, leaving that of Castile to Prince Sancho, that of León to Prince Alfonso, the kingdom of Galicia and Portugal to Prince García, the town of Toro to Princess Elvira and the town of Zamora to Princess Urraca. Because of this, there was later a great war between the brothers and sisters, for King Sancho [II] fought against King García, the King of Portugal, whom he defeated, seized, and let perish in irons. He did the same to Don Alfonso, the King of León, for he fought him, seized him and placed him in [the Monastery of] San Fagundo, from where he fled to Toledo which was in the hands of the Moors. King Sancho also besieged Princess Urraca in Zamora, where Vellido Dolfos killed him out of treachery. All this occurred because of the partition that King Fernando made.