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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
King Juan consulted on this matter with those with whom he needed to discuss it, declaring that it seemed to him to be perfectly reasonable to order the arrest of his mother-in-law, to dispatch her to some convent in Castile and to ban her from remaining any longer in Portugal as a result of what had happened.
Some members of his Royal Council stated that the king was quite right in what he said and that he should give orders for it to be carried out, adding that, if the queen remained any longer in the kingdom, she would send messages to the noblemen who held the fortresses, urging them not to hand them over to the king, nor to go over to his side. Such a thing would be very much against his best interests and would constitute a major setback to all that they had set in train.
Others declared that it was wrong for the king to arrest his mother-in-law the queen, and for him to do what he intended, given that she had renounced the governance of the realm, which she was duty-bound to hold as set down in the treaties, and had conferred that governance on him. Furthermore, she had handed over to him the town of Santarém and other castles, as everyone was well aware; in particular, since she was the mother of his wife Queen Beatriz and was a lady held in the greatest honour, they considered it unreasonable and undesirable for the king to send her away in this manner. However, the king adhered to the first of these opposing viewpoints, namely that it was right to arrest her and take her away to Castile; so, she was at once handed over to Diego López de Estúñiga.
The king then left Coimbra and made his way back to Santarém, from where they set out with the queen, to take her to Castile and install her in the convent at Tordesillas. While on the journey she very furtively wrote letters to Martim Eanes de Barbuda and Gonçalo Eanes [de Abreu], of Castelo de Vide, urgently pleading with them, with many reasons why they should do so, to make ready to snatch her away, while still on her journey, from those who were conveying her to Castile. Unfortunately, the letters were delivered so late that they had no opportunity to carry out her request, and so she was taken to Castile and to the aforementioned convent.
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