4 - Concerning a number of things that happened in the same period

Summary

Since one of the clauses granted by the king in these Cortes was that he should abolish the war tax and not levy the taille, because the people were promising to give him all that he needed to pursue the war, the town communities decided among themselves to make an immediate request for the payment of soldiers’ wages and for coins to be issued to the value of 400,000 libras, which roughly amounted to 100,000 dobras, requesting also that this money should be paid over in graves, barbudas and small coinage, or in silver if the king so chose to give it to certain people. From these coins there would be minted another coin of lesser quality, so that by this multiplication of their number there would be sufficient for the soldiers’ pay and for any expenses necessary. The result was that by common agreement the king ordered the minting of standard reais of one dinheiro, which were each worth 10 soldos. The king's treasurers oversaw the coinage: Persifal oversaw what was being minted in Lisbon, and Martim Lourenço, who was the father of the doctors [of laws Gil Martins and Afonso Lourenço], oversaw the minting which took place in Évora. Since the king acknowledged every deed of noble service to him and did not forget the troubles and tribulations suffered by the people of Almada when they were besieged by the King of Castile, he gave orders that the inhabitants of Almada should not, therefore, pay anything corresponding to their share in this request.

In addition, at this time there arrived in Lisbon a galley from Genoa, on board which were a doctor [of laws] and a knight who, as envoys representing the communal republic of Genoa, had come to speak to the Master, now King of Portugal, about the merchandise seized from two of their naos when close to the port of the said city, as you have heard. Having travelled to Coimbra and explained the reason for their mission, they received such a welcome answer that after a few days they returned happily and with high hopes to their own land.