115 - How Juan Fernández Andeiro came to speak with the king about the coming of the English and how the king dealt with him

Summary

When the king made up his mind to wage war against the King of Castile, long before he made the pretence of asking for advice you have heard about, he quickly realized that the best way that it could be done and to his greater honour and advantage was to have English troops help him. Well, as it happened, in the peace treaties that King Enrique, during his lifetime, made with King Fernando, when he came to lay siege to Lisbon, a clause was included whereby the King of Portugal was to expel from his kingdom, among the noblemen who came to join him after the death of King Pedro, twenty-eight persons, such as the King of Castile named, as we have described at length. From among these named men whom the king expelled was one Juan Fernández de Andeiro, a native of La Coruña, who had joined King Fernando when the king had gone into Galicia.

As Juan Fernández left the kingdom, he went through La Coruña, which he plundered, boarded a ship and sailed to England. While he was there, King Fernando found out that he was a frequent visitor to the king's house as well as that of his sons, the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Cambridge, and that he was well liked by them all. The king then secretly wrote letters to him, asking him to work out with the duke the agreements about which you have already heard, although we did not find anything that in fact came out of it. When King Fernando determined once again to go ahead with this war, he wrote advising him to speak with the duke and with his brother, to the effect that if the king needed their help, should he go to war with Castile, they would come to help him personally and with their men, on certain conditions to be agreed between them. Juan Fernández was very happy to be requested by the king to take up such a mission, both the first time and on this occasion. He spoke with the duke and the earl on this matter as best he could, with the result that he made certain agreements which pleased the king and the earl.