Chapter 12 - How the Bishop of Lisbon and others were killed and cast down from the cathedral tower

Summary

While the whole city was involved in this turmoil and people were accompanying the Master through the area close to the cathedral, a number of them remembered that when they had passed that way with Álvaro Pais, they had shouted to those aloft to ring the bells, yet, whereas the bells were ringing in the Church of São Martinho and in the other churches, those in the cathedral had refused to ring them. They discovered that the bishop was upstairs [above the cloisters] and that he had ordered the doors to be locked. As he was a Castilian, it was said at once that he belonged to the party of the queen and the count, and that he had been aware of the treachery and death which they had sought to inflict on the Master. They said that that was why the cathedral bells had not rung out and they alleged this and many other reasons as to why he should be under suspicion. There were even plenty of people who would readily confirm that those were the true facts. At once a large portion of the people grew incensed with a wild fury, demanding immediate entry to the cathedral to take instant vengeance on the bishop.

The bishop was a native of Zamora, and his name was Don Martín. When he was the Bishop of the Algarve, he had succeeded to the bishopric of Lisbon through the influence of Gonçalo Vasques, a licenciate in canon law, who had won it for him from Pope Clement, so that he, Gonçalo Vasques, might become Prior of Guimarães. This bishop was a great man of letters and a highly esteemed churchman, who ably administered his church. He lodged above the cloisters, so that he could constantly appear at the canonical hours and at divine service. It was his intention to order the construction of houses there for all his canons to live in, in order to enhance their chances of serving the church better.

That day, while he was at table with the Prior of Guimarães, whom until then he had not seen for over a year, they heard a great hubbub coming from the nearby queen's palace, with women wailing and the loud noise of people's voices in the streets round about and everybody yelling out that the Master was being killed.