To us it seems a great mistake on the part of those who wrote at that time about the arrival of the duke and the marriage of King João to his daughter that they did not set down what kind of man the duke was or anything about his lineage. Since the indolence of these writers was the mother of this error, and since with the swift passage of time such things are so easily forgotten, it is our wish at this point, in order not to lose all record of such matters, to remind you briefly, as far as it serves our purpose, who his father and mother were, owing to the major family relationship he has with the kings of Portugal.

From what we have been able to ascertain so long after these events occurred, it is important that you should know that the King of England, Edward IV, had five sons by his wife Queen Elizabeth. The first of these, whom we customarily refer to as the Prince of Wales, was named Edward like his father. The second was Lionel, the Duke of Clarence. The third was called John, the fourth Edmund, and the fifth was Thomas Woodstock, the Duke of Gloucester.

Let us return to the third and fourth sons, for it so happened that when Prince John was a bachelor, he married Blanche, the daughter and heiress of the most honourable and excellent Prince Henry, the Duke of Lancaster, who was very wealthy, of lofty lineage and celebrated for his acts of chivalry. As dowry for this marriage, since her father was already dead and had been succeeded by his daughter, Prince John gained the honours held by his father-in-law and thus acquired the title of Duke of Lancaster. He had two daughters and one son by his wife Blanche. The first of these was named Elizabeth, who married Sir John Holland, the Earl of Huntingdon and brother to King Richard on his mother's side. The second daughter was called Philippa: she married King João of Portugal as a consequence of the journey of which we are speaking. The son was named Henry, who was at first known as the Earl of Derby and later as the Duke of Hereford. Then, after the death of his father, he became the Duke of Lancaster and finally the King of England, as also were his son Henry and his grandson Henry after him.