20 - How Martim Vasques and Gonçalo Vasques came to an agreement at the behest of João Fernandes Pacheco

Summary

At the time when the Castilians invaded Portugal, as we have related, there were present in the province of Beira a number of Portuguese noblemen, namely Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho in Trancoso, of which he was the governor, along with a number of honourable squires who served him; then there was Martim Vasques da Cunha, along with his brother Gil Vasques, in the castle of Linhares; and finally there was João Fernandes Pacheco in Ferreira de Aves. It is certainly true when we say that, if the Castilians planned to leave the kingdom in safety owing to the hostility which existed between these noblemen, it would have happened like that, had it not been for the noble actions of João Fernandes Pacheco, who strove very hard to intervene in this matter.

Gonçalo Vasques [and his supporters], on the one hand, and Martim Vasques and his brothers, on the other, were greatly at odds because of the land seizures which certain of them claimed were being carried out by the others, saying it was wrong for them to do so. For that reason they had not spoken to one another for a long time. When they saw that the Castilians were pillaging the land so openly, they fully realised that this greatly diminished them and brought shame upon them. However, Gonçalo Vasques did not dare make any foray against them, because he had so few men and could not see how he could derive any honour from such an action. Likewise, Martim Vasques had not so many men that he could boldly attempt such a sortie. Nevertheless, they were well aware that, were they to join together, there would be enough of them to inflict damage on their enemies. However, by the rule of ‘You’re a fine fellow, and I’m a fine fellow, but which of us will drive the donkey?’, each one of them held himself back, as you can see, and bands of [Portuguese] noblemen thus allowed the Castilians to destroy as much of the land as they saw fit.

The king was in Guimarães and was greatly perturbed when he learned of the invasion carried out by those [Castilian] forces and the immense havoc that they were wreaking.