Chapter 150 - Concerning the arguments that Don Carlos put to the King of Castile, and how the king struck camp and lifted the siege of the city

Summary

The kingdom was in great torment, as you have heard, and Lisbon bore the brunt of such storms. The surrounding district was devastated by fire and other destruction; all the villages and farms from the outskirts to as far as Cascais, a distance of 5 leagues, were already razed to the ground, as well as the villages and townships of the Ribatejo region. On top of that, the continued famine and no certain hope of delivery from it resulted in the city's inhabitants having very little trust in being able to escape, except that trust in God which they had, in the way that we have said.

Likewise, the King of Castile who, despite the clear evidence confronting him in the mortality of his troops, which ought to have made him understand that it was not pleasing to God to stay there any longer, remained firm in his intention to persevere until he should take the city. Hence, the besieged and the besiegers both suffered serious affliction through two contrary hopes. Those inside the city hoped each day that the king would soon strike camp, owing to the persistence of the great plague; the Castilians, in their turn, thought that those in the city, constrained by famine, would petition to surrender the city, on conditions of great honour to them. Thus, with both sides maintaining their opinion, they suffered the two greatest evils that could come about in similar circumstances: namely, the one group from severe famine through shortage of provisions; the other from mortal pestilence among all conditions of troops in the siege camp.

Prince Carlos, the heir of Navarre, who was married to Princess Leonor, the king's sister, who was with him in this siege, saw the enormous death rate among them, and that it was getting forever worse. He told the king on various occasions that he should be good enough not to wish to tempt God by remaining any longer in that place, and that he should raise the siege on the city and go back to his own kingdom. After all, even if the king left the place, he would leave in Portugal sufficient knights and other forces, who held many towns and castles, from where they would wage war on the Master, and on those who wanted to continue to support him.