Chapter 41 - How King Enrique arrived in Seville, and concerning the alliance he made with the King of Portugal

Summary

King Enrique departed from Toledo knowing all that had happened to King Pedro in Seville and likewise in Portugal, and how he had gone afterwards to Galicia. He arrived in Córdoba, where he was received with great pleasure, and from there he went on his way to Seville, knowing that the city supported him. There he was received with such great rejoicing that, although the king arrived near the city early in the morning, it was after midday when he entered his palace.

The king distributed rewards to his followers and to those troops who were travelling with him, in such a fashion that all of them were most contented, and he sent them back to their own lands. But Sir Bertrand du Guesclin and other great lords remained with him, along with some Englishmen and Bretons, some 1,500 lances in all.

The king stayed in Seville for four months. Before he left there, he wrote to King Pedro of Portugal to declare how he wished to have peace and friendship with him. He said that he would send to the border such men as he trusted to represent him, and asked King Pedro also to send envoys to the border so that they might reach an agreement on their plans.

Thus it was that King Enrique sent Don Juan, who was the Bishop of Badajoz, and Diego Gómez de Toledo, a knight. In turn, the King of Portugal sent Dom João, who was the Bishop of Évora, and Dom Álvaro Gonçalves [Pereira], who was the Prior of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller. They all met together on the banks of the [river] Caya on the border between the two kingdoms. There they agreed on behalf of the two kings that they should be loyal friends to each other and maintain peace and concord.

It was also decided that the King of Castile should try as hard as he could to induce the King of Aragon to be the friend of the King of Portugal, as he himself was, and to intercede with the King of Aragon to allow Princess Maria, daughter of the aforesaid King Pedro of Portugal, to come to Portugal with all of her belongings, or to live in whatever country she might prefer, she who had been the wife of Prince Ferran, the Marquess of Tortosa.