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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 December 2023
Since it is said that the principal fruit of the soul is truth, by which all things should be firmly set – and which has to be clear and without pretence, especially in kings and great lords, in whom any virtue shines most brightly, or its opposite seems most ugly – people were appalled by the much abhorred exchange that took place this year [1360] between the Kings of Portugal and Castile. It was so appalling that, although we have found it written that the King of Portugal was true to everyone, we intend to praise him no longer because he consented against his sworn word to such an ugly thing as this.
It happened, as we have said, that after the murder of Dona Inês, whom King Afonso, the father of King Pedro, ordered to be killed in Coimbra while the latter was a prince, the prince greatly blamed Diogo Lopes Pacheco, Pero Coelho and Álvaro Gonçalves, his chief bailiff. He blamed many others too but was most determined in his bitterness against these three.
To speak the truth, Álvaro Gonçalves and Pero Coelho were very much guilty of this deed, but Diogo Lopes was not because he tried to warn the prince many times, through his counsellor Gonçalo Vasques, that he should protect that woman against the wrath of his father. Yet afterwards the king and his son reached an agreement, the prince pardoning these men and others whom he suspected, and the king likewise waiving all complaints that he had against the prince's men. Great oaths and promises were made about this, as you have heard at length.
Thus, Diogo Lopes and the others lived in safety in the kingdom for as long as King Afonso lived. While the king was sick in Lisbon from his final illness, he called for Diogo Lopes Pacheco and the others to come to him and told them that he knew that Prince Pedro his son harboured ill will towards them despite the oaths and the pardon that he had granted and of which they were well aware. He said that, as he felt himself to be closer to death than to life, they ought to place themselves in safety outside the kingdom because he no longer had any time left to be able to defend them against his son, should he want to do them harm.
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