62 - How the king left Santarém in order to make the pilgrimage which he had promised to undertake

Summary

While the king was in Santarém, after he had safely secured the townships and villages in Estremadura which had formerly declared for Castile, and after he had granted the governorships to certain people – for example, the major [joint] governorship of Lisbon and Torres Vedras to Antão Vasques, the governorship of Óbidos to Martim Vasques Vilela, and so on to others, – he decided to leave Santarém, in order to undertake the pilgrimage which he had promised to make before going into battle [at Aljubarrota]. The promise was that, on winning the battle, as he hoped God would grant him, he would go on foot to [the shrine of] Santa Maria da Oliveira, which is to be found in the town of Guimarães, 40 leagues away. Before he left Santarém, however, he arranged for 100 crossbowmen to accompany him all the way.

He then set out and reached the battlefield of Aljubarrota, where he attended mass, made his prayers and began his pilgrimage. Arriving at Leiria, he pardoned the Portuguese who had declared against him and took possession of the castle, which had been abandoned by the Castilians. There he found many household appurtenances which had belonged to Queen Leonor. When everyone had kissed his hand and welcomed him as their liege lord, he installed there, as governor of the town, his criado Lourenço Martins, to whom he handed over Pero López de Ayala, whom we mentioned earlier. While we are on that subject, for it is not a matter that could be expressed better elsewhere, let us briefly narrate what ransom Pero López promised for himself, in order to bring about his more speedy release.

Lourenço Martins opened a discussion with him in respect of his ransom, about which Pero López greatly dissembled, saying that he could not offer what, in their view, would be a reasonable sum, promising for his own ransom 2,000 doblas, and then 3,000, that is to say a trivial amount, which Lourenço Martins held in contempt until one day he approached Pero López and asked, ‘Why do you linger here like this without offering a sum which you could reasonably give?