Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-08T14:24:44.956Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 14 - How King Pedro of Portugal made João Afonso Telo a count and dubbed him a knight, and the great feast that he gave for him

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 December 2023

Amélia P. Hutchinson
Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Juliet Perkins
Affiliation:
King's College London
Philip Krummrich
Affiliation:
Morehead State University, Kentucky
Get access

Summary

We consider that there were three matters to which King Pedro of Portugal devoted most of his time. Those were justice and the affairs of the realm, hunting both large and small game, which he relished, and dancing and feasting as practised in those days, in which he took very great pleasure to an extent difficult to imagine today. These dances of his were performed to the music of long trumpets which were played at that time; indeed, he had no liking whatsoever for other instruments, even if available. If somebody ever did want to play another instrument for him, he soon got tired of it, declared that the devil should take it, and sent for the trumpeters again.

Let us now set aside our description of the games and festivities that the king ordered to pass the time and to which he devoted himself night and day in endless dancing. Consider, however, just how pleasurable it would be: he was wont to sail across from Almada to Lisbon in small boats, and the citizens and all the craftsmen came out to greet him, dancing and tumbling as was the custom then. He then left the boats, came ashore and danced with them all the way to the palace.

Consider indeed the pleasure he took when one night he lay in bed in Lisbon, unable to sleep: he roused all the servants and all those who were sleeping in the palace and sent for João Mateus and Lourenço Palos, ordering them to bring their silver trumpets. He had torches lit and set off with all the others [from the palace], dancing through the city. Wrested from their sleep, people went to their windows to see what kind of festivity it could all be and why. When they saw the king dancing, they were delighted to see him so happy. The king spent most of the night in this fashion, then danced back to the palace, requested wine and fruit, and lay down to sleep.

Without talking further about these amusements, we come to when the king ordered that João Afonso Telo be made a count and dubbed a knight: he was the brother of Martim Afonso Telo and received from the king the greatest honour in a celebration that up to that time had never before been vouchsafed by any king to any subject.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Chronicles of Fernão Lopes
Volume 1. The Chronicle of King Pedro of Portugal
, pp. 95 - 96
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×