Chapter 189 - Concerning the message that King Afonso sent to the Papal Curia in order that the prince his son might not marry Dona Inês

Summary

Speaking again in that same palace, with everybody gathered there as usual, the aforesaid great doctor began by declaring:

My noble lords and honourable people, you know full well how I put forward at these Cortes certain arguments to show that the throne to these realms is vacant in every respect, and that there is no one who should or is able to inherit it through lineage, or who is entitled to inherit it. Those reasons are in themselves so clear, just as is the law that reinforces them, from which authority we should not deviate, that any rational man should be satisfied with the explanations of the issue clearly set out before you. But despite what I put forward, which should satisfy everyone, it seems that the bonds of affection which I feared at the beginning of these events still make some men hold and utterly believe that Princes João and Dinis are legitimate and can inherit, on the grounds of that public declaration in which King by Pedro said that Dona Inês had been his wife, of which we have made mention here.

As I thought that those arguments I gave were sufficient for everyone to see the contrary view, I had not wished to speak further about it, for the sake of discretion and to act with honesty in this case. But since everything I have put forward neither satisfies nor suffices for these men, it behoves me to show in every respect the flaw of the princes’ birth without legitimacy for you all to see clearly that they were not born legitimately, nor were they ever legitimised later so that they could inherit by right of succession to any blood relative.

Whoever is not satisfied with what I shall now say, and maintains his opinion, will be showing that he wants to emulate the stubbornness of the Jews, who are waiting for a Messiah who will never come.