H I.e., on this point of distributive justice.
CHAPTER V.
In which the Chronicler speaketh briefly of the notable matters which the Infant performed for the service of God and the honour of the Kingdom.
Where could this chapter begin better than in speaking of that most glorious conquest of the great city of Ceuta, of which famous victory the heavens felt the glory and the earth the benefit. For it seemeth to me a great glory, for the sacred college of the Celestial Virtues,23 that all those holy sacrifices and blessed ceremonies should have been celebrated in praise of Christ our Lord in that city from that day even until now, and by his grace ever shall be celebrated. And as to the profit of our world from this achievement, East and West alike are good witnesses thereof, since their peoples can now exchange their goods, without any great peril of merchandise—for of a surety no one can deny that Ceuta is the key of all the Mediterranean sea. In the which conquest the Prince was captain of a very great and powerful fleet, and like a brave knight fought and toiled in person on the day when it was taken from the Moors; and under his command were the Count of Barcellos, the King's bastard, and Don Fernando, Lord of Braganza, his nephew, and Gonçalo Vasquez Coutinho, a great and powerful noble, and many other lords and gentlemen with all their men-at-arms, and others who joined the said fleet from the three districts of the Beira, and the Tral-os-Montes and the Entre Douro-e-Minho.24 Now the first Royal Captain who took possession by the walls of Ceuta was this same of whom I write, and his square banner was the first that entered the gates of the city, from whose shadow he was never far off himself. On that day the blows he dealt out were conspicuous beyond those of all other men, since for the space of five hours he never stopped fighting, and neither the heat, though it was very great, nor the amount of his toil, were able to make him retire and take any rest. And in this space of time, the Prince, with four who accompanied him, made a valiant stand. For as to the others who should have followed in his company, some were scattered through that vast city, and others were not able to join him by reason of a gate through which the Infant with the said four companions had passed together with the Moors, which gate was guarded by other Moors on the top of the wall. So for about two hours the Prince and his friends held another gate, which is beyond that one which stands between the two cities25 in a turn of the wall under the shadow of the castle, which gate is now called that of Fernandafonso. And to this had retired the greater part of the Moors who had fled out of the other town from the side of Almina just where the city was entered, but in the end, despite the great multitude of the enemy, they shut that gate. And whether their toil were idle or no could well be seen by those who had fallen and lay dead there, stretched out along that ground. In that city of Ceuta was the Infant knighted, together with his brothers, by his father's hand, with great honour, on the day of the consecration of the Cathedral Church. And the capture was on a Thursday, the 21st day of the month of August, in the year of Christ 1415. And immediately on the return of the King Don John to his kingdom, he made this honoured prince a duke, with the seignory thereof, in a place of the province of the Algarve.26 And afterwards at the end of three years there came against Ceuta a great power of Moors, who were reckoned at a later time by the King's Ransomers of Captives to be 100,000 strong—for there were present the people of the Kings of Fez and of Granada and of Tunis and of Marocco and of Bugya,27 with many engines of war and much artillery, with the which they thought to take the aforesaid city, encircling it by sea and land. Then the Infant was very diligent in succouring it with two of his brothers, that is to say the Infant Don John and the Count of Barcellos, who was afterwards Duke of Braganza, with many lords and gentlemen and with the aid of a great flotilla; and after killing many of the Moors and delivering the city, he repaired it and returned again very honourably to Portugal. Yet he was not well content with his victory, because the chance of taking the town of Gibraltar, for which he had made preparation, did not offer itself to him.28 The chief reason of his being thus hindered was the roughness of the winter, which was just then beginning; for although the sea at that time is dangerous everywhere, it is much more so at that very part because of the great currents that are there. He also fitted out a very great armada against the Canary Islands,29 to shew the natives there the way of the holy faith.
Again, while the King Don Edward was reigning, by his order he passed over a third time into Africa, when he besieged the city of Tangier, and went for nineteen leagues with banners flying through the land of his enemies; and then maintained the leaguer for two and twenty days, in which time were achieved many feats worthy of glorious remembrance, not without great slaughter of the enemy, as in the history of the kingdom you can learn more fully.
He governed Ceuta, by command of the kings, his father, brother and nephew,I for five and thirty years, with such prevision that the crown of the kingdom never suffered loss of honour through any default of his; but at last, because of his great burdens, he left the said government to the King Don Affonso, at the beginning of his reign.30 Moreover, from the time that Ceuta was taken he always kept armed ships at sea to guard against the infidels, who then made very great havoc upon the coasts both on this side the straits and beyond; so that the fear of his vessels kept in security all the shores of our Spain and the greater part of the merchants who traded between East and West.31
Also he caused to be peopled in the great Sea of Ocean five islands, which embraced a goodly number of people at the time of the writing of this book, and especially Madeira;32 and from this isle, as well as the others, our country drew large supplies of wheat, sugar, wax, honey and wood, and many other things, from which not only our own people but also foreigners have gained and are gaining great profit. Also the Infant Don Henry was with the king Don Affonso his nephew, in that army he collected against the Infant Don Pedro, from which followed the battle of Alfarrobeira, where the aforesaid Don Pedro was killed and the Count of Avranches who was with him, and all their host defeated.33 And there, if my understanding suffice for the matter, I may truly say that the loyalty of men of all times was as nothing in comparison of his. Further, although his servicesJ did not occasion him such great labours as those I have mentioned, yet of a certainty the circumstances of the matter gave to them a lustre and a grandeur that exceeded all else: and of these I leave a fuller account to the general history of the Kingdom.
Don Henry also made very great benefactions to the Order of Christ, of which he was ruler and governor by the authority of the Holy Father, for he bestowed upon it all the spiritualties of the islandsK and in the kingdom he made purchases of lands (from which he created new commanderies), as well as of houses and estates, which he annexed to the said Order. And in the Mother-Convent of the Order he built two very fair cloisters and one high choir, with many rich ornaments, which he presented for sacred uses.34 And for that he had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, he built in her honour a very devout house of prayer, one league from Lisbon, near the sea, at Restello, under the title of St. Mary of Belem. And in Pombal and in Soure, he built two very notable churches. Also, he bequeathed many noble houses to the City of Lisbon, being pleased to give his protection for the greater honour of the holy Scriptures; and he ordained a yearly grant of ten marks of silver to the Chair of Theology for ever. And in the same way he gave to his chapel of St. Mary of Victory seven marks of yearly revenue.35 But I know not for