Chapter 188 - Concerning the disagreement that there was between the noblemen and the people over the election they wanted to carry out

Summary

Despite all these reasons, as well as others which we have not mentioned here, put forward by that doctor so that everyone should be in a peaceful frame of mind to elect a king without raising any further doubt, since goodwill is deeply embedded in the minds of those who love and cannot be easily eradicated, however many reasons are given for doing so, none of those you have heard could remove the initial intention some men had in their minds and hearts, to favour the princes. Such was the case of Martim Vasques [da Cunha] and his brothers as well as all those of that alliance, who said that despite what they had heard, there was no doubt that the kingdom belonged to Prince João by right. Furthermore, they ought to go to war in his name until he was released from prison, for they found it very strange that the Master be given the title of king when someone else was entitled to rule.

So intensely did they feel this that one day Martim Vasques left the council complaining loudly: ‘You can do what you like and make whoever you like king, for I am but one man and my voice counts for little. Whoever you make king, I shall help him defend the realm until I die. But, as far as I am concerned, I shall never consent to its being the Master.’

Nuno Álvares, together with other noblemen as well as those town representatives [who were present], were totally against these arguments and insisted that, to all intents and purposes, the Master should be king. They held their own separate meetings on this matter: the noblemen in one group and the proctors from the villages and towns in another.

Discussing this at length, one of them began by saying: ‘What is the point of talking about all this for so many days, and all this useless delay, throwing doubt on what everyone can see clearly?