CHAPTER V - In which the Chronicler speaketh briefly of the notable matters which the Infant performed for the service of God and the honour of the Kingdom

Summary

Where could this chapter begin better than in speaking of that most glorious conquest of the great city of Ceuta, of which famous victory the heavens felt the glory and the earth the benefit. For it seemeth to me a great glory, for the sacred college of the Celestial Virtues, that all those holy sacrifices and blessed ceremonies should have been celebrated in praise of Christ our Lord in that city from that day even until now, and by his grace ever shall be celebrated. And as to the profit of our world from this achievement, East and West alike are good witnesses thereof, since their peoples can now exchange their goods, without any great peril of merchandise—for of a surety no one can deny that Ceuta is the key of all the Mediterranean sea. In the which conquest the Prince was captain of a very great and powerful fleet, and like a brave knight fought and toiled in person on the day when it was taken from the Moors; and under his command were the Count of Barcellos, the King's bastard, an Don Fernando, Lord of Braganza, his nephew, and Gonçalo Vasquez Coutinho, a great and powerful noble, and many other lords and gentlemen with all their men-at-arms, and others who joined the said fleet from the three districts of the Beira, and the Tral-os-Montes and the Entre Douro-e-Minho.