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Chapter 22 - How the year-long truce between the kings came to be broken, and how King Pedro assembled a fleet to wage war on Aragon

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

We have told you about the deaths of the Master Don Fadrique and Prince Joan, which you have just heard about, not because we take any pleasure in relating cruel deeds. Rather, we have presented them at some length and in greater detail than the deaths of others, because they were very important people, and in order to enable you to see exactly how the king had them killed.

For this reason, although the year's truce that the cardinal had brought about between King Pedro [of Castile] and the King of Aragon was still in force, when Count Enrique heard about the death of his brother, Don Fadrique, and when Prince Ferran, the Marquis of Tortosa, was told of the death of his brother, Prince Joan, they decided to join forces and entered Castile.

The count entered via Soria and arrived at the town of Serón, which he plundered; he then made an assault on the castle of Alcázar, with a view to seizing it. Then he returned to Aragon. As for Prince Ferran, he entered via the kingdom of Murcia and caused severe damage there. The king learnt of this while he was in Valladolid and immediately sent troops to protect the borders with Aragon. Then he went to Seville where he ordered twelve galleys to be built post-haste for war. While this was being done, six Genoese galleys arrived (the Genoese were at the time at war against the Catalans). The king was delighted to see these and commissioned them for 1,000 crossed doblas each per month.

With these eighteen galleys the king duly arrived at a town called Guardamar, which belonged to Prince Ferran, and on the morning of 17 August he ordered a substantial number of troops to leave the galleys and attack the town. He took it by force, even though it was well protected by its ramparts, and many of the townspeople took refuge in the castle.

Then, about midday, amidst all the fighting, as frequently happens in this region, a mighty onshore wind began to rage. As the galleys were unmanned the wind blew them all ashore. Only two escaped this fate because they were further out to sea, one belonging to the king and one to the Genoese.

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The Chronicles of Fernão Lopes
Volume 1. The Chronicle of King Pedro of Portugal
, pp. 116 - 117
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2023

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