88 - How King Fernando ordered that the city of Lisbon be surrounded with a wall

Summary

Once he had arranged these things of which you have heard, the king departed from Évora and came to Lisbon and began to think about the loss and damage that the people of the city had twice suffered from the Castilians. Especially great losses were suffered by the inhabitants who lived outside the city wall in large and beautiful houses with many furnishings and other riches that they could not take with them when the King of Castile attacked the city. This was because many of the richest people lived outside, in large and spacious suburbs around the city, from the Iron Gate to Santa Catarina Gate and from the Alfama Tower to the Cross Gate. Since this city was the best and most powerful in his land, and since the loss or defence of his kingdom lay principally therein, and likewise seeing that it had been damaged by his enemies through fire and other harm that it had suffered, which disturbed him greatly, the king resolved to wall it all around with a sound and defensible rampart, so that no king could inflict damage on it except by using a great multitude of men and powerful siege engines.

When he spoke of this matter with some members of his Royal Council, it was evident that it pleased few of them, as they found many hindrances to prevent it from being done, as the work was of such magnitude and the people so exhausted and impoverished by the recent war. Consequently, to undertake this at such a time seemed to them to be an inappropriate subject for discussion. Therefore, even though they greatly desired to have such a rampart, there formed in the will of everyone a reaction so contrary to it that they all thought it could not be accomplished, even if it were started, and considered the project to be almost impossible.

However, there is nothing, no matter how great and lofty it may be, that the will of a powerful man cannot bring to pass if he devotes a vigorous effort to it. For that reason, King Fernando considered the project to be capable of very early completion with the help of God and his own good direction. It greatly pleased the inhabitants of the city that it should be walled, because of the damage they had suffered.