124 - How Pope Urban [VI] died, and the king sent his ambassadors to Pope Boniface

Summary

In view of such manifest reasons for this business to be much prolonged, the ambassadors left the Curia and came back to Portugal, relating all that had happened and how they had left the roll duly signed, along with the exact reasons for their delay.

The king decided, without further postponement, to send ambassadors there again at once. Thus, Dom João, the Bishop of Évora, returned to the Curia, and in place of Gonçalo Gomes went João Afonso, the prior of the fortress of Santarém, a Bachelor of Laws and son of the honourable knight Afonso Esteves de Azambuja. These envoys went before the pope on several occasions, but when they asked him to order the letters [of dispensation] to be issued according to the contents of the roll, which he had already signed, he returned specious excuses, putting them off from one day to the next, regarding which they were not pleased. Their displeasure was such that, on one occasion, when they were speaking to him about the matter, in the presence of certain cardinals, and seeing how it was being protracted well beyond what was reasonable, João Afonso, who was there with the bishop, said that, since it did not please His Holiness to have the letters issued to them at once, and since he was creating such a long delay in the matter, it was better for them to go back without a reply than to remain there wasting their time. The pope said that they had no reason to take offence, because he considered the King of Portugal to be absolved and had given him full dispensation in all the requests he had sent them to pursue, although the letters had not been issued as promptly. João Afonso responded to this with certain words that displeased the pope, who retorted with annoyance, saying, ‘You may leave when you like. But if you do leave, you will only have to come back again.’

Noting the pope's disposition, they agreed to depart without further delay. On their way to take ship in Flanders, they were captured in Germany and detained without any reason except to vex them. The ransom demanded was 2,000 florins. They sent word to the king who, without further delay, ordered their ransom to be paid. Once it was handed over in Magdeburg, they were released and returned to the kingdom.