166 - What happened to Nuno Álvares, as the King of Castile was sitting down to eat, and what the queen said to the king when she had to take leave of him

Summary

On that same day, the hall was arranged in which the king and his wife were to eat, as well as a large number of nobles from Castile and Portugal. Many tables were very finely set out, three of them being the most important: the king’s, placed crosswise and raised, as was fitting, and one on the right and another on the left. Amongst those who were assigned to eat at those tables with other noblemen were Nuno Álvares and Fernão Pereira, his brother. When it was time for them to take their places, out of politeness they did not rush in; but the table where they were to sit was very quickly filled with both Portuguese and Castilians, leaving them without a place, and the others taking no notice of them, although they were quite well known and were dressed for a feast such as this.

When Nuno Álvares saw that the table was full and there was nowhere for them to sit, he said quite angrily to his brother, ‘We are not accorded sufficient honour to stay here any longer. I think we’d better go to our lodgings, but before we go I want to show these fellows who have belittled us and made fun of us, that we’ll have the last laugh.’

Then, moving very sedately, he walked to the end of the table, while King Juan was watching him from where he was sitting; and with his knee, Nuno Álvares knocked down the leg of the table, sending it crashing to the floor. Those sitting at the table were astounded, but Nuno Álvares and his brother left the hall as calmly as if they had done nothing at all. The king, who saw perfectly well what had happened, asked who those men were, and was informed that they were guests and should have been eating at that table, but those who were there had not made room for them to sit down.

‘I can see that they certainly knew how to take their revenge,’ said the king, ‘and whoever in this dining-hall did this in anger at what happened to him, is bound to be capable of much greater things.’

However, the king did not take further action because they were Portuguese, but if they had been Castilian, things might well have turned out differently.