116 - How the king left for Coimbra and fell ill in Curval

Summary

The king departed from Guimarães for Oporto, and from there towards Coimbra where his wife the queen was staying; it was 18 leagues from one city to the other. In the royal residence of Curval, which was halfway between, he fell ill with a high fever that they could not cure; this was at the end of June [1387]. The queen, when she heard this news about her much-beloved husband, whom she esteemed so highly, departed swiftly for that place, along with the duke her father. When they arrived and saw him so frail and weakened that he could hardly speak to them, they were distressed and saddened beyond words, especially the queen, who promptly went into labour and had a miscarriage. This was not without good reason, for she found herself in a strange land, recently married, and raised to such high honour; if she were to lose him to death so soon, truly she would consider herself the most unfortunate woman in the world. Fearing this in her soul and spirit, she would not stop weeping, beseeching death to carry her away.

The king had the constable summoned, and likewise certain noblemen. When he had made his will and distributed his belongings, so great was the dismay in all of them that, although they hoped for his recovery, they believed such hope to be in vain. They spoke of no remedy they might find for the kingdom, but rather of the plain and simple ways in which Portugal, in all respects, would be utterly lost because of his death.

The greatly distressed queen came to the king to comfort him, never taking her eyes off him; she could not hold back the tears that choked her sweet voice. Hoping for his recovery, she saw him, instead, becoming weaker and weaker. When she watched all of the men whispering to each other, this drove her deeper into despair, so that she knew of no consolation for her exceeding distress, except to turn to God Almighty and His precious Mother. She begged Her repeatedly in her devout prayers to take pity on her in her helplessness and, as Mistress of Mercy, restore her beloved husband to health.