Chapter 61 - How Queen Leonor wrote to King Juan, urging him to invade Portugal, and her purpose in doing so

Summary

When the queen sent these letters out all over the kingdom, the substance of which we have briefly described, they caused everybody to feel ill at ease, to be greatly disheartened and to feel a deep uncertainty about the outcome of such events. It was a very grievous matter for them to learn that the King of Castile might head for Portugal on seeing the country hanging in the balance and with a view to incorporating it wholly into Castile. That was the reaction of the great majority of ordinary people, who were not on the queen's side.

Moreover, some considered that the king would hold back from such an invasion, given what his mother-in-law had written to him and the way in which she had expressed it, especially on account of the treaties, which were the subject of solemn oaths and pledges. Others totally abandoned any hope when they took stock of all manner of different events which were taking place throughout the kingdom and when people were already saying that King Juan was moving in great haste to take immediate possession of the realm.

Meanwhile, the king invaded, as you have already heard. While he was in Guarda in that month of January which we have mentioned, there arrived anxious letters from Queen Leonor, letters which ran very much counter to what she had previously written to the councils. That was because in those first letters she assured them that it was her intention to send a message to the king, urging him to hold back from invading the kingdom, to preserve them all from any harmful consequences. However, in these letters she informed the king of everything which had taken place in Lisbon, including the death of Count Juan Fernández, whom the Master had slain in her very presence in the royal palace, as well as of the death of the bishop and the others who that day were slain in the cathedral. She also reported how, fearful and greatly upset, she had left Lisbon and made her way to Santarém, where she now remained for the time being. For that reason she was now requesting him to hasten at once to Santarém, because she felt herself to have been greatly dishonoured by the Master of Avis and by the inhabitants of Lisbon.