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Chapter 7 - How the king had wanted to subject a bishop to torture for sleeping with a married woman

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
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Summary

Not only did the king employ justice against those he felt it was right to treat in that way, both secular and similar people, but his heart yearned so much to apply justice to wrongdoers that he refused to respect the clerics’ right, both of minor and major orders, to their own jurisdiction. If he was asked to hand one over to the cleric's vicar, the king would say that the cleric should be sent to the gallows so that he could be handed over to Jesus Christ who was his Vicar, in order that justice should be done to him in the other world. The king wanted to punish and torture bad clerics in person, just as he had wanted to do to a bishop from Oporto, in the manner that we will describe to you.

The story is true, do not doubt it, that the king was leaving the region of the Minho on his way to the city of Oporto, when he was informed that the bishop of that place, who at the time was reputed to be a wealthy and honourable personage, was sleeping with the wife of one of the prominent men in that city. The man did not dare have a confrontation, fearful of the death threats to which the bishop had subjected him.

On hearing this, the king, wanting to find out more about what was happening, could not wait to question him. Then, having arrived at the city and eaten, without further ado the king called the bishop to the palace because he needed him with regard to matters of his concern. Before he arrived, the king instructed his ushers to throw everyone out of the palace, both the bishop's men and any others, once the bishop had entered the royal chamber. Even if someone from the Royal Council should come, they were not to allow anyone inside and they were to tell them to go to their lodgings because he had something to do and he did not want them to be present.

When the bishop came he went into the chamber where the king was. The ushers immediately made all the bishop's men and the others leave, so that not one of the men remained in the palace.

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The Chronicles of Fernão Lopes
Volume 1. The Chronicle of King Pedro of Portugal
, pp. 83 - 84
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2023

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