54 - How the King of Aragon ordered the seizure from Afonso Domingues Barateiro of all the gold that he had under his control

Summary

When the King of Aragon learned of the treaty of perpetual alliance which King Fernando had negotiated with the King of Castile and heard that he was engaged to be married to the King of Castile's daughter, one can well imagine how irked he must have been by such a treaty of peace and friendship signed with his very own enemy, whom he greatly detested. He gave immediate orders to seize from Afonso Domingues Barateiro whatever treasure he could be found to have. 2,024 gold marks were confiscated from him, not counting the sum of 107 marks which had been lent to him right at the outset when he and the other delegates from Portugal first arrived. Consequently, of all the gold which had been sent to Aragon, the only profit enjoyed by King Fernando consisted of 2,000 logs of hardwood from Romania which had been bought for him there for his storehouse in Lisbon. That timber had cost little more than 260 gentis, and everything else had been spent in such a way that no profit ever came to him from it.

The King of Aragon took possession of the aforementioned 2,130 marks much against King Fernando's will, and he never recovered them, although he tried to do so, as we shall go on to explain. The King of Aragon ordered the arrest of both the treasurer and his clerk, who had joint responsibility for the treasure, and seized the ledger of income and expenditure. He then ordered their release and a copy of the ledger to be given to them but without inserting any acknowledgement or message indicating that he had seized the treasure from them, and that is how they made their way back to Portugal.

Not only did the king order the seizure of the treasure but also of a chest full of weapons, which Princess Maria was going to send to King Fernando, her brother. Everything was confiscated from them, so that they were not permitted to take away anything at all.