Chapter 1 - Concerning the reign of King Pedro, the eighth king of Portugal, and about the qualities that he possessed

Summary

After the death of King Afonso [IV], about which you have heard, he was succeeded by his son Prince Pedro, who was then thirty-seven years, one month and eighteen days old. As we have recorded at length the children that he sired, by whom and under which circumstances, there is no need to return to such matters here. At a later stage we shall very briefly describe their talents, qualities and status at appropriate points where we report on what they did with their lives.

King Pedro was plagued with stammering. A great hunter, he had always pursued game large and small, both as a prince and later as king; he kept a large household of huntsmen for small game and foot-huntsmen, and kept all kinds of birds of prey and hounds as were suited to such pastimes. He took pleasure in his food, though he ate no more than the average man, and everywhere he went he had the reputation of keeping an open house where food was available in great abundance.

He did much to foster hereditary nobles in his Royal Court, because at that time custom demanded that no man could become a vassal unless he were already the son, grandson or great-grandson of a hereditary noble. At that time it was customary to pay the allowance nowadays known as maravedís to the noble's son from the moment of his birth, in the cradle, and to no other. King Pedro greatly enhanced the allowance given to his nobles after the death of his father, King Afonso. Indeed, although the latter drew acclaim for his courage and honourable deeds, he was criticized for being a miser and lacking in largesse. King Pedro, by contrast, happily gave money away to the point where he often said that he wished to loosen his belt (and belts then were not worn very tight) in order to ease his movements and thus increase his generosity. He declared that the day the king failed to distribute money he did not merit the title of king. Moreover, he took a benevolent approach to those who sought his gifts and favours: the motto of his household was that, after putting a request to him, no one would be kept waiting for long.