In the midst of these events which we have described and which you have heard about, many messages reached the Master in Lisbon, in which he was told that many townships and castles in the Alentejo were declaring their allegiance to him, and that the inhabitants of these places were forcibly seizing them from those who were holding them on behalf of the King of Castile; these messages were received with the greatest pleasure by the Master and by all those who were with him.

While this good news was arriving, he received a new message which caused considerable concern, because a number of town councils in that province told him that, owing to their declarations of allegiance to him, which greatly irked the King of Castile, the king had commanded his High Admiral Fernán Sánchez de Tovar, after getting the fleet ready for its attack on Lisbon, to assemble his men and head through the Alcántara area, to where the Master [of the Order of Alcántara] was to be found. These forces, along with Juan Alfonso de Guzmán, who was the Count of Niebla, and Dom Pedro Álvares, who was Prior of the Order of the Hospitallers, as well as other great lords and their companies, were to attack the townships which had declared for the Master and lay waste that entire area; after that, they were to join the king in laying siege to Lisbon. They had laid siege to Portalegre for five days, cut down vineyards and olive groves and created immense havoc. This was what they were doing wherever they went, and for that reason the people of this area were pleading with the Master to send them some captain under whom they could all assemble, in order to drive the enemy out of their province.

The Master discussed this occurrence with a number of those whom he trusted. When they came to discuss Count Álvaro Pérez de Castro and whether it was advisable to send him there, great doubts were raised about him, because he was a kinsman of Queen Leonor, not to mention other reasons which we shall touch on in due course.

Next day Nuno Álvares went on his way, while the queen was still in Alenquer in the company of the counts her brothers and of many others, as we have indicated. When he reached Alverca, he decided to spend the night there. The queen learned that he was heading for Lisbon to join the Master and was inclined to send out some soldiers to arrest him, declaring to those present, ‘Have you noticed the stupidity of Nuno, whom I raised since he was a mere boy? Are you aware that he has abandoned the prior his brother and is now heading for Lisbon to join the Master?’

Some of those present who had a liking for Nuno Álvares answered: ‘My lady, you have no grounds to order his arrest. Though he's making for Lisbon, you don't know what his reasons are for going there. He's perhaps going with such determination and intent as will enable him to serve you even better from there than if he came directly to you here.’

Nuno Álvares found out about this situation while spending the night at Alverca. As he was greatly apprehensive that the queen would have him arrested while he was on his way, he spoke to his squires, warning them that, if that were to happen, it would nevertheless be preferable for them to let themselves be killed than to be taken prisoner. All that night they never laid down their arms nor unsaddled their mounts. Next day, Nuno Álvares reached Lisbon and went at once to speak to the Master. The latter gave him a warm welcome, adding that he was delighted at his arrival and that for some time he had looked forward to seeing him. The city folk were likewise very pleased to see him and all confirmed the Master's welcome.

Two days after Nuno Álvares arrived in Lisbon, he made his way to the Master's palace, addressing him as follows: ‘My lord, for a very long time it has been and still remains my great wish to serve you. Yet before now it has not been my good fortune to be able to do so.

While the king was nursing his great urge to invade Portugal, though he still hesitated a little because of the large number of advisers who opposed him on this, there was present at the time a certain Bishop of Guarda, the chancellor of Queen Beatriz, who had journeyed with her from Portugal for her marriage, as you have heard. The bishop informed the King of Castile that the town of Guarda, of which he was the bishop, was very strong, stood on the Portuguese frontier and that all the other people who lived there were his own criados and would do as he told them, so that if he were to be favoured by the king's advance on the town, he would be there to give him an immediate welcome.

The king was very pleased at what the bishop told him, which greatly increased his desire to invade Portugal by any means. He at once left Puebla de Montalbán, where he had been staying, and sent for companies and men-at-arms to hasten to join him from wherever they happened to be.

The king and queen arrived at the bridge of Alcolea, which the archbishop was at that time building across the Tagus. The archbishop gave orders that they and their party should be given all that they needed. They remained there for two days and then left for Talavera, from where they went on to Plasencia. There the king informed his Royal Council that the Bishop of Guarda had told him that he would hand Guarda over to him and asked the counsellors what their opinion was in that respect.

Some of them repeated that it was his sovereign duty to uphold the treaties which he and the Portuguese had signed and mentioned again the oaths taken and the penalty clauses to which he and his proctors would be subject if they broke them; for that reason they should in no way set them aside. They added that, if he were to enter the town in that manner, the Portuguese would be afraid of him and would say that he wanted to take over the land against their will and to their great sorrow; also, that the governance of the kingdom, in accordance with the treaties, belonged to Queen Leonor his mother-in-law, and that he had no right at all to do so.

Álvaro Mendes de Oliveira, the Chief Provincial Governor of the town of Évora, who at that time held the castle in the queen's name, heard what was happening in a number of townships and realised that events similar to what was happening to others could also happen to him. Recognising this, and recognising too that he had no forces available with whom he could defend the castle, other than a handful of criados of his, such as Gonçalo Eanes Melão, Martim Bravo, Rui Gil and up to seven or eight others all told, he sent for Martim Afonso Arnalho, who was a merchant and at that time a judge and married to a lady-in-waiting of Queen Leonor. He also sent for Gonçalo Lourenço, who was the deputy governor, as well as Vasco Martins Porrado, who was the town council clerk, Rui Gonçalves, who was a land surveyor, along with Martim Velho, the merchant Álvaro Vasques and other worthy men of the town. When they all assembled in answer to his summons, he put to them many arguments on behalf of the queen, whom he wished to support, with the result that they all agreed to join with him and help to defend the castle on her behalf.

That very day, once they had all hurried inside the castle and this had become known throughout the town, Diogo Lopes Lobo, Fernão Gonçalves da Arca and João Fernandes his son, who were among the men of rank who lived there, together with all the townspeople, immediately rose up against them and attacked the castle. This they did by climbing on top of both the cathedral and the slaughterhouse, which are lofty buildings from which they were able to attack them with crossbows and from which they shot many bolts at those inside the castle, a building which was very strong owing to its towers, ramparts and surrounding moat and which was very difficult to capture without immense effort.

In order to bring about their surrender more quickly, they seized the wives and children of those who were inside defending the castle, and placed them on carts, all tied together, which was a ploy, in such circumstances, which the common folk customarily resorted to in those days.

Together with everyone in a peaceful and well-ordered assembly in the palace, there was a distinguished man, one who was highly competent, of wide-ranging knowledge and a great scholar in law: his name was Doctor João das Regras. The subtlety and clarity of his oral exposition are qualities nowadays held in high regard by learned men.

This man addressed the Cortes, taking care to show, through knowledge and reasoned thinking, the true nature of such an important issue as this and the benefits at stake, and then leaving it up to the people to make their own decision. But who would be able to retain, as some have written, his great speech in full and how wisely he proceeded in such an important act? About this outstanding discourse, some laymen who have left us the few scattered details of what they were able to glean and put in writing, say that he began in this fashion:

When those prelates and noblemen who intended to defend Portugal had gathered there, together with a number of proctors from certain towns and cities throughout the realm, they began to speak to one another, knights and squires as well as other ordinary folk, both in public and in private, about the governance of the land and who should rule.

Those who were in favour of Prince João, who was being held prisoner in Castile, formed a faction on his behalf; and, having no doubt with regard to that, were ready to give him the kingdom through direct line of succession and with immediate effect, saying that he alone and no other man should reign; and that the Master should rule and govern the realm until the prince was freed and released, or something else should happen to him. If he were to die, then either his brother Prince Dinis, or the Master, or whoever was deemed to be the most appropriate person to rule for the benefit of the realm, was to reign. But, they said, electing another king, seeing the juncture at which they were, was a very wrong thing to do, and it was not to be accepted. This party had the support of certain noblemen who declared themselves openly and others privately, especially Martim Vasques da Cunha and his brothers and some of their followers.

The greatest number of the other noblemen and common people were completely against this intent and gave many reasons why it should not be so. They said that one of the princes was imprisoned and would never be released. Besides, he had come to make war against the kingdom. The other had done the very same thing at the time of King Enrique. Therefore, it behoved them to elect such a man as would rule the kingdom and dedicate himself to it, and they should not think of any other heirs there might be. They spoke about this matter so often, putting forward their conflicting opinions and sometimes using such harsh words, that it was soon well known to all which noblemen were opposed to the Master becoming king and which defended his party, so that they were ranged in two opposing parties, of which the Master had already been notified.

Speaking again in that same palace, with everybody gathered there as usual, the aforesaid great doctor began by declaring:

The king's feeling was that morning took a long time coming before he could know the truth and be certain as to what had happened. At last dawn broke and, having attended a very early Mass, he ordered Dom Yehuda to be brought to his chamber, along with the lady-in-waiting [Maria Peres]. Nobody else was present other than the king, his wife the queen, the Prince of Navarre, Dom David (who had revealed the secret) and a clerk to write everything down. On the arrival of Dom Yehuda and Maria Peres, the king ordered that they should be stripped and submitted to torture. The Jew declared that there were no grounds for dishonouring him in this way, indeed he would state the truth of the matter. He then began to explain how Queen Leonor had written to all the governors of the castles which they had passed, urging them not to hand them over to the king. He also reported on all the conversations with Count Gonçalo which had taken place up to that point and how they were about to install Count Pedro and Queen Leonor in the city. He described how Count Pedro planned to declare himself king, having first killed King Juan, and mentioned all the other matters which we have told you about. Maria Peres then made the same confession, and everything was written down and confirmed by them.

The king then asked them whether they would say the same thing in the presence of Queen Leonor, and they said that they would. Next the king sent for Queen Leonor, who was led by the arm by the same knight whom the king had commanded to keep a watchful eye on her. Despite being brought to the king as though a prisoner, she entered fearlessly, without revealing any change in her demeanour, since she was a woman of great courage. She entered the chamber alone and without any other company. On seeing the Jew who had revealed the secret, she forcefully challenged him, ‘So here you are, Dom David! You who are the cause of my presence here!’ To this the king retorted, ‘The one who saved my life has far more right to be present than the one who had plotted my death.’

It would not be an unworthy question, if anyone reading or listening to this chronicle were to ask, ‘As the affair between the queen and Count Juan Fernández had been bruited abroad for so long and had been so widely made public, had the king no suspicion of it? Did he know of the rumour?’ The answer is as follows: among the features of love written about by those who have discussed it at length and have been reared in its court, it is true that, however much a person in love may wish to conceal the fact, it proves impossible, owing to a number of signs, remarks and other giveaway gestures, to avoid offering some hint of the burning desire which constantly dwells in that person's heart. Besides, when people notice unaccustomed acts of fondness or attentiveness, where there is no established bond that prevents tongues from wagging, they easily presume the blunder to which such a person can fall victim.

Consequently, King Fernando noticed the many ways in which the queen showed an unseemly affection and fondness towards Count Juan Fernández and the great increase in his status which she sought for him in any way that she could. As a result, the king reached a firm conclusion in his own mind as to what the truth was, a truth which people at large were assuming, even though he was unaware of the rumours and public gossip about the queen and her dealings with the count. Indeed, despite their sincere sorrow for his dishonour, no daring soul had made so bold as to tell him, out of fear of some punishment as their reward or of some deadly hatred in return for their friendly gesture. That, indeed, had been the fate of a number of people for passing on information of such a kind, particularly when relating it to kings and great lords.

King Fernando, therefore, fully understood what the situation was but gave no hint that he did, for fear of revealing, through his doubts, something which rumours and public gossip had long been asserting. When the queen took their daughter to Elvas for her wedding to the King of Castile, and when King Fernando gave orders for his own transportation from Salvaterra [de Magos] to Almada, the king decided to kill the count in the following manner.

We now go back to narrating the Master's actions, which we left off in order to take the queen to Santarém and to bring Nuno Álvares to serve him. In that very period when Nuno Álvares joined him, the Master was greatly troubled and torn by conflicting thoughts. That was because a number of members of his council asserted that he should not wait in Portugal for the advance of the King of Castile with his powerful army but should travel to England. They brought to bear many reasons why he ought to do so and predicted sundry profitable and assured outcomes that would ensue, declaring, among other matters, that as a result of departing in that way he could thereby count on such military support as would enable him to return to the country later and recover the realm with very great honour and without losses to the people nor harm to the land.

Others were completely opposed to this opinion, dismissing the reasoning of such counsellors with contrary arguments. Such were Nuno Álvares, Rui Pereira, Álvaro Vasques de Góis, Doctor João das Regras, Álvaro Pais and Doctor Martim Afonso, who all said that for the Master to leave would neither be honourable, nor in the service of Almighty God, nor in his own best interests because, if he were to leave the country, it would be forsaken and have nobody to defend it. Besides, the King of Castile would seize the city and the other townships which were opposed to the Master, and would give them to such individuals to defend them and would fortify them in such a way that they could not be recovered afterwards except by dint of great toil and the spilling of much blood. For those reasons they entreated him to remain in the kingdom and not to abandon it, for God had summoned and chosen him for this purpose and would direct his actions, adding greatly to his honour and to his renown.

The Master listened to these arguments from both sides. For all that those who were advising him to leave the country were advancing positive and reasonable arguments as to why he should do so, the Master's immense courage and great desire to perform acts of chivalry made him lean towards remaining in the country after all and towards undertaking any venture to defend the realm.

Bonds of affection have caused many writers, when charged with composing historical accounts, to take great liberties, particularly when writing about those great lords whose dependents they were and on whose lands they lived, and where their ancestors were born, for they wrote very favourable accounts about these men and their deeds. Such partiality derives from warm worldly bonds which are nothing but a perfect correspondence between something and our human understanding of it. Thus, from the land on which men have been reared and to which they have long grown accustomed, there springs up a bond between their understanding and the land itself, so that, when called upon to pass judgement on any aspect of it, whether to praise it or to criticise it, their account is never accurate: if they praise it, they always exaggerate, whereas, if they do the opposite, they neglect to describe its shortcomings in all their true reality.

Some maintain that this bond and natural inclination is also due to the fact that when hunger, which is life's great herald, is satisfied with food for the body, the blood and spirits deriving from such sustenance become so akin to it as to generate this bond. Others, however, have argued that the bond derives from the seed at the very moment of conception, thus creating this predisposition in what is generated from it and establishing the bond not only with a man's forebears, but also with the land on which he lives.

It seems that this is just what Tully meant when he declared: ‘We are not born for ourselves, because part of us belongs to our homeland and another part belongs to our kin.’ Accordingly, a man's judgement always falters when relating the deeds pertaining to either the land to which he belongs or the people who inhabit it.

These natural bonds have caused some historians who have written about matters relating both to Castile and to Portugal, even though they were authoritative writers, to stray from the right path and to rush along obscure tracks, so that in certain passages the shortcomings of their countries should not be seen too clearly.

The next day at dawn, they all armed themselves and went forth through the Olival Gate, because they had heard that those men intended to come from that direction, and they went out to await them for a long while, a long distance from the city. As they waited there, the galleys arrived, which we have said had left from Lisbon, all pavisaded and well-equipped. Sounding their trumpets with great joy, calling out their greetings according to the custom of seafarers, they anchored in front of the city. Those who had remained inside and had not gone forth, when they saw the galleys, were very happy about them, and sent word to the others at once. As for the men of the galleys, as soon as they arrived and were told how the men of the city had gone forth to fight the enemy troops, then, without further delay or hesitation, they unshipped the gangplanks and all leaped ashore with the banner of the Master unfurled before them, namely: Gonçalo Rodrigues de Sousa; Rui Pereira; Afonso Furtado; Estêvão Vasques Filipe; Gonçalo Vasques, the son of Vasco Martins de Melo, and his brother [Vasco Martins de Melo, the Younger]; Antão Vasques; Aires Vasques de Alvalade; and other noblemen and galley masters, and with them around 300 lances, 500 crossbowmen, and 3,500 galley rowers. Thus there were in all, with the men of the city already mentioned, 1,000 men-at-arms, 800 crossbowmen, and 5,000 foot soldiers, all with a great will to fight.

When the Galicians heard that the Portuguese galleys had arrived, and how the men they brought in them had joined forces with the men of the city, they were very perturbed at the news, so that they quite lost the hope in which they had trusted. However, since they were sure that the men of the town were not mounted, they remained quietly where they were. When the Portuguese learned of this, they reached agreement among themselves, saying, ‘Since it is the case that they do not want to come to us, let us go and seek them out where they are, and let no one show tiredness as long as we are able to walk, for otherwise we would be mocked by them.’

As this work is being compiled by the application of our limited skills, it seemed to us to be a good and worthy gesture that those who were the Master's companions in his great and virtuous labours should share in some commemoration, even if it is only to be set down in writing. For, if the slipping away of great epochs erodes the fame of excellent princes, so much more do long ages bury with them in their tomb the names of other people.

Since, at the start of his good deeds, the Master had nobles and citizens who served him well and loyally, laying down their lives and possessions for the honour of the kingdom, it seems to us that an injury would be done to them if they were allowed to fall into perpetual oblivion. For, just as the great lord of whom we speak, with his immense largesse in distributing special gifts, rewarded them all without leaving anybody out, so past authors should have made some mention of them, which in our view should have been like this: first by naming those of noble birth who at such uncertain times rallied to the Master and remained to serve him; then the governors of castles who voiced their support for Portugal without changing sides; and finally the residents and the sons of Lisbon citizens who always acted in his service.

In our attempt to be of assistance in this as in other shortcomings where past authors do not fulfil our expectations, we have found that it is no longer possible to fully succeed in this endeavour because, as the names of such people have aged, the brightness of their nobility has also died. Who would you now expect to drag out of the obscurity of so many years the names which can scarcely be found of those who have no other witness except ashes and oblivion? Who would you think would not grow weary of perusing cartularies of rotting documents whose age and decay deny a man what he wants to know? Who would be able to find, among so many ancient inscriptions written on tombs, any evidence of who lies in them? Who would assuage other people's feelings and the varied opinions of men, so that everyone should be pleased with what we want to say? It would be quite impossible.

As morning came without further problems, Nuno Álvares at once gave orders for the trumpets to be sounded and left with all his men for Fronteira, which lay 4 leagues away and was where the Castilians would be heading. On the way he sent a number of his light horsemen ahead to seek news as to where the enemy lay.

At this point, little time passed before a Castilian squire, Ruy González by name, who had formerly lived alongside Nuno Álvares in his father's household and was at this time living in the household of Pedro Álvares his brother, arrived at speed on horseback, heading for Fronteira. He went up to Nuno Álvares, who received him very well and inquired of him the whereabouts of his brother and the other great lords from Castile. His answer was that they were already at Fronteira, which lay about a league and a half away from where he had encountered Nuno Álvares. The latter asked him what they were doing and received the answer that they were planning to attack the town. Urging him to tell the truth, Nuno Álvares then asked him what his purpose was in coming, whether he was a spy or whether he bore a message and, if so, from whom. Ruy González answered him as follows: ‘Lord Nuno Álvares, you are well aware that in this matter, just as in any other, I will never tell you anything but the truth. You can be sure that your brother and the great lords and forces of Castile have been informed that you were equipped and ready to seek them out and do battle with them. They are so surprised at this that they find it very difficult to believe, when you have so few troops as they know you have and yet are engaged in bringing it about. They have asked your brother for his opinion, but his answer was that he did not know, though he could assure them of one thing: if you had begun to do something in this regard, he knew you well enough to say that you would go ahead with it even unto death. The other great lords then requested him to send me to you to find out what your plans were, and that is why I am here.

We do not care to speak further of such things that happened during the siege. Mournful death began to display its ire more harshly against the troops in the siege camp, and likewise against those in the Castilian fleet; not only did it take squires and noblemen and others of lesser station, so many that it was an extraordinary thing to behold, but also it began to attack the lords of high rank, so that it caused great terror among everyone.

The Castilians, seeing themselves thus beset with plague, which flared up increasingly among them, well understood that their stay there could not last long, and that they would perforce have to lift the siege and depart soon. Among the many and varied considerations they put to the king, they told him that it would be wise to offer to negotiate with the Master, so as to come away with some honour from his invasion. The arguments that each of them stated seemed valid to the king, so he sent to ask for safe conduct from the Master so that Pedro Fernández de Velasco could go and speak to him on his behalf, for he was a man whom the king greatly trusted. The Master agreed and, on the day that had been designated for Pedro Fernández to come and speak, the Master sent several knights along the road to remain as hostages with the contingent that accompanied Pedro Fernández, until he had spoken with the Master and returned, in line with what had been requested by the Castilians. The hostages were Juan Alfonso de Baeza, Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo, Afonso Eanes Nogueira, Mem Rodrigues, Rui Mendes de Vasconcelos and others. Pedro Fernández arrived before noon, on a good horse, accompanied by a page with a lance and skullcap, who remained behind with the contingent.

The Master came forward on horseback wearing a haubergeon, vambraces, a sword girded on and a short tabard over the top. When they saw each other, they bowed and embraced each other. This meeting took place between the barbican and the city wall, at the gate of Santa Catarina.

The Crónica de D. João I, in two parts, is the final work of Fernão Lopes. It therefore is the chronicle that shows us Lopes working in full maturity, at the height of his skills as a writer of history. Lopes composed the chronicle sometime towards the middle of the 15th century. In 1454, D. Afonso V appointed Gomes Eanes de Zurara as successor to Lopes in the post of cronista-mor. Zurara's first task was to complete the Crónica de D. João I with a third and final part, commonly referred to as the Crónica da tomada de Ceuta.

The Crónica de D. João I is remarkable, not only because it can be considered Lopes's magnum opus but also because of the political history behind it. The text recounts the rise to power and the reign of João I (r. 1385–1433), founder of the Avis dynasty, and the first Portuguese monarch elected to the throne as opposed to genealogical succession. Fernão Lopes thus faced the job of detailing how this politically anomalous chapter in Portuguese history came to be, at the same time legitimating the newly-formed dynasty with the authoritative force of prose historiography. The result is a chronicle that is self-consciously cognisant of historiographic method and claims to truth and impartiality, while also an engaging narrative in its own right, a culminating moment in the Iberian tradition of chronistic writing in the vernacular that stretches back to the 13th century. Part I of the Crónica details João's rise to power between 1383 and 1385, while Part II recounts João's reign as king to 1411.

A brief summary of the political history that is the subject of the first part will provide a context to the narrative project Lopes undertook. The series of events that led to João's occupation of the throne began in 1383 with the death of King Fernando, after which, in A. R. Disney's words, there ensued ‘the greatest dynastic crisis in Portugal since the kingdom had come into being.’ By legitimate succession, the son of Beatriz (Fernando's young heiress) and King Juan of Castile would inherit the crown; but if the marriage produced no children, then it would pass directly to Juan and Portugal and Castile would be united.

That day Nuno Álvares reached Setúbal, planning to lodge there and spend the night in the town. However, since they were still undecided as to which side they were on, the inhabitants refused to greet him and would not even let him into the town. In the light of the intentions they showed and of this shabby welcome, he turned about and went off to spend the night in the outskirts of the town, taking up lodging there along with his troops.

Now consider how praiseworthy Nuno Álvares is for his great skill and foresight in his approach to the war that was about to begin. Surely, he deserves to be portrayed as an example to great and courageous men; indeed, there is no hero of note whom we might seek to praise, whose talents he does not in some measure share. Since he realised that he was leading certain young men who, as yet, had no experience of danger, while there were others whose intentions he knew nothing about, he decided to test what their mettle would be when confronted by their enemies. On the grounds that there were large numbers of the King of Castile's forces at that time in Santarém, and lest some of them should advance down the bank of the Tagus without his knowledge, wreaking havoc, Nuno Álvares declared that he thought it right to post his guards and scouts a league away, in the direction of the castle of Palmela. He gave the task of directing and posting these guards and scouts to a knight named Lourenço Fernandes de Beja. Nuno Álvares had a private word with him, urging him to come back at night and in a great hurry, announcing that Castilian troops were attacking him.

Lourenço Fernandes went off to position his guards and scouts. Then, when Nuno Álvares was asleep that night in his lodging, Lourenço Fernandes suddenly arrived, urging Nuno Álvares to get ready at once because Pedro [Ruiz] Sarmiento was about to attack him with 300 lances, and asserting that he had seen fires in the places where the Castilians were lodging. Nuno Álvares showed that he was very pleased at this news and ordered trumpets to be blown. All armed and at the ready, his men at once gathered around him, just as dawn was beginning to break.

The people were now riotous and busy discussing these issues, about which they had great doubts. As they recognised the Master to be a man whose great authority best befitted him to defend them, they were all anxious to have him as their lord. Talking the matter over among themselves, they declared, ‘Why are we hanging back? Let's adopt this man as our defender. So great are his discretion and fortitude that he will be capable of overcoming any dangers that might confront us.’

Then they went to see him, pleading with him not to abandon both them and the entire kingdom to the mercy of the Castilians, for the realm had been won with such sacrifice by the kings from whom he was descended. Indeed, they were quite sure that the queen had hastily summoned the King of Castile, and, were he to invade the country with a powerful army, he was bound to seize control of it, if there were none to defend it. As for them, they would suffer a wretched and miserable subjugation, and for that reason they pleaded with the Master not to leave, but to stay in the city, for they were eager to adopt him as their liege lord, to govern and rule over them in every respect.

If by any chance Prince João were to come back, and the kingdom were to be his by right, then they would accept him as king, but not otherwise. But, as matters were as everybody believed them to be, they would adopt the Master as their king and liege lord. They urged him to take immediate possession of the treasury, the customs house and the arsenal, as well as of all the other royal rights and property. They would give him possession of the castle and fortress of the city. They would write letters to be sent all over the country to explain what was happening, for they were sure that a majority in every town would be of the same mind, lest they fell under domination by the Castilians. They added that, as they had sided with the Master over the death of Count Juan Fernández and considering the events that had ensued, they were at the mercy of the queen's hatred and, on that account, unless they had someone to protect them, their lives and property were bound to be in great jeopardy.

While the galleys were in Oporto as we have said, the naos were being made ready as quickly as possible so that they could soon go to the aid of the Master and the city, because news was coming that they were in need of supplies on account of the Castilian fleet, which was preventing them from being sent in by sea. But, for the [Portuguese] fleet to be provided with what it needed, in spite of the great urgency of the situation, it was taking them longer than it should to meet the needs of the people who were waiting for their aid and support.

When the Master realised that the fleet was being delayed, and how the city was short of supplies, having great faith in his most loyal servant, Nuno Álvares Pereira, who would be sure to serve him honourably in this matter, he hastened to write to him in Évora, where he then was, telling him to assemble his men and go to Oporto to embark in the fleet and come to fight against the Castilian fleet, which had the city besieged.

When Nuno Álvares read the message, on finding out that Count Gonçalo and Rui Pereira as well as a number of other noblemen would be joining the fleet, he wrote to them urgently, asking them to wait for him as he would be joining them very soon. Then he shared out among his men a small amount of gold which the Master had sent to him, and they were very pleased when Nuno Álvares told them that the Master had written to him, telling him to go to Oporto. When the count and Rui Pereira and a number of others to whom Nuno Álvares had written saw his message, they were full of envy and evil intent, according to what has been said, and did not wish to wait for him. Instead, they decided to leave with the fleet, which is indeed what they did. Knowing nothing of this, Nuno Álvares went on his way hurriedly, taking with him as many as 200 lances, and anyone who writes that there were fewer is mistaken.