Chapter 116 - How Ourém was taken by the Master of the Order of Christ, how Diogo Lopes Pacheco was taken prisoner, and how Juan Ramírez de Arellano was exchanged for him

Summary

The Master being in this situation, on 11 June a message came to him from a reliable source, saying that the Master of the Order of Christ, Dom Lopo Dias de Sousa, not by force, but rather with the advice and consent of certain inhabitants of Ourém, had taken the town, which had been on the side of Castile; he had declared loyalty to the Master, and had placed the town under his lordship. Then two sons of João Afonso (the Count of Barcelos and brother of Queen Leonor) were taken captive there, along with all the men-at-arms that the said count had for his own protection. The Master and the men of the city were very pleased at this news. Soon afterwards Don Álvaro Pérez de Castro, the Count of Arraiolos, died of natural causes and was buried in the Monastery of São Domingos.

Not many days afterwards, Diogo Lopes Pacheco came to the town of Almada, which is located a league away from Lisbon immediately across the river on the other side and which was still loyal to the Master. He had been in Castile, as has been mentioned in several places, with three of his sons: João Fernandes, who was legitimate, Lopo Fernandes and Fernão Lopes, who were bastard sons. He tried to enter the town, but the men of the town community refused, fearing him because he came from Castile. He lodged on the outskirts along with other Portuguese who were staying there; he had brought with him some thirty men, of whom fourteen were horsemen.

Seeking the reason for his coming, some say at this point that ever since Queen Beatriz began to rule in Castile, he was always doubtful that he could live there in safety. As a man under suspicion is never secure, he feared that the queen would hate him just as her father King Fernando had done, on account of the attack that King Enrique had made on Lisbon and of the destruction that he had caused there, which it was affirmed had been carried out at the behest of Diogo Lopes. However, though he felt fearful at being subject to such suspicion, he could do nothing about it, nor did it suit him to travel about any more than he had already, for he was a man of eighty years of age.