70 - How the count ejected from among his forces all the women whom his men had brought with them

Summary

While he was in that region, the count sent a message to João Afonso Pimentel, who held Bragança on behalf of the King of Castile, urging that they should speak together openly and freely. João Afonso was the husband of Dona Joana, the bastard sister of Queen Leonor and the aunt of Queen Beatriz, as you have already heard. While the count was passing close to that town, João Afonso came to speak to him at a spot they had both arranged. When he began to discuss matters with him, the count put forward many arguments to persuade him to hand the town over to the king his liege lord and to declare his allegiance to him, assuring João Afonso that he would receive many favours and an increase in his standing from the king. Nevertheless, João Afonso refused to give ground, however much the count sought to say to him, and made his way back into town.

The count then left that place and went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa Maria do Azinhoso, to which he owed particular devotion. When he had attended mass, he made an offering of a reliquary that was held to be of great value. Since he was in the Bragança area, he gave orders for a plan to be put into effect which he had wanted to carry out for a long time, for he considered that the prevailing situation was dangerous for men who were to continue fighting a war. This matter was as follows: since all the men in his forces had their concubines with them, not just those who were married, but also those who were not, he commanded that thenceforth no man should be accompanied by a woman, and if any woman were found in the encampment, he would at once publicly flog her himself.

So greatly did this order displease all those who had women with them, that not one of them had the patience to tolerate it; rather, when discussing this with the constable, each man put forward so many arguments as to why he needed to have a woman's company, that it appeared clear to everybody present that not one of the women would be ejected from the count's forces.