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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
The king's feeling was that morning took a long time coming before he could know the truth and be certain as to what had happened. At last dawn broke and, having attended a very early Mass, he ordered Dom Yehuda to be brought to his chamber, along with the lady-in-waiting [Maria Peres]. Nobody else was present other than the king, his wife the queen, the Prince of Navarre, Dom David (who had revealed the secret) and a clerk to write everything down. On the arrival of Dom Yehuda and Maria Peres, the king ordered that they should be stripped and submitted to torture. The Jew declared that there were no grounds for dishonouring him in this way, indeed he would state the truth of the matter. He then began to explain how Queen Leonor had written to all the governors of the castles which they had passed, urging them not to hand them over to the king. He also reported on all the conversations with Count Gonçalo which had taken place up to that point and how they were about to install Count Pedro and Queen Leonor in the city. He described how Count Pedro planned to declare himself king, having first killed King Juan, and mentioned all the other matters which we have told you about. Maria Peres then made the same confession, and everything was written down and confirmed by them.
The king then asked them whether they would say the same thing in the presence of Queen Leonor, and they said that they would. Next the king sent for Queen Leonor, who was led by the arm by the same knight whom the king had commanded to keep a watchful eye on her. Despite being brought to the king as though a prisoner, she entered fearlessly, without revealing any change in her demeanour, since she was a woman of great courage. She entered the chamber alone and without any other company. On seeing the Jew who had revealed the secret, she forcefully challenged him, ‘So here you are, Dom David! You who are the cause of my presence here!’ To this the king retorted, ‘The one who saved my life has far more right to be present than the one who had plotted my death.’
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