Selected quad for the lemma: prince_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
prince_n	brother_n	king_n	wales_n	2,591	5	10.1644	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13572	The strangest aduenture that euer happened: either in the ages passed or present Containing a discourse concerning the successe of the King of Portugall Dom Sebastian, from the time of his voyage into Affricke, when he was lost in the battell against the infidels, in the yeare 1578. vnto the sixt of Ianuary this present 1601. In which discourse, is diuerse curious histories, some auncient prophesies, and other matters, whereby most euidently appeareth: that he whom the Seigneurie of Venice hath held as prisoner for the space of two yeres and twentie two dayes, is the right and true king of Portugall Dom Sebastian. More, a letter that declareth, in what maner he was set at libertie the xv. of December last. And beside, how he parted from Venice and came to Florence. All first done in Spanish, then in French, and novv lastly translated into English.; Adventure admirable, par dessus toutes autres des siecles passez & present. English	Teixeira, José, 1543-1604.; Munday, Anthony, 1553-1633.	1601 (1601)	STC 23864; ESTC S118296	67,947	90

himselfe flatly foyled in the field and out of all hope of making head any more fled to Morocco whence he passed to the mountaines called Montes Claros and by this retraite Muley Maluco made himselfe sole Lord of Barbary By this historie is apparantly to be seene with what small helpe a man may game those kingdomes whereto he hath any right In like manner and with much more ease may king Sebastian recouer his because it appertaines to no other but him for he is true Lord and King thereof From the mountaines Muley Mahamet sent his Embassadors to the king Dom Sebastian and desired succour at his hands making him such large offers as were very profitable and greatly for the aduantage of Christendome He gaue him as I haue learned from diuerse credible persons all the shoares which he held on the Ocean sea and sixe leagues into firme land with the townes and cities thereto belonging among which were the cities of Arzile Saphin Larache all very strong places of great importance Some say that he gaue him the abounding Alcacarquibir Tituan and other places more he caused in the field a plaine deliuerie of Arzile to be made by Cid Albequerin brother to his wife who was the gouernour of the sayd city And granted him moreouer that the faith of Iesus Christ should be preached in Barbarie and full power to crowne himselfe Emperour of Morocco This was the reason that made the King Dom Sebastian lo●ke vp his crowne which the Kings his predecessours and himselfe euen vntill that time had openly worne I saw that Crowne lockt vp into peeces of Artillerie which were newly and purposely made for that voyage in like maner I saw the Banners Standards and the ships vnder saile for that armie And I know that the king Dom Sebastian tooke with him an vnkle of mine my mothers brother who was iudge of the Armories in the kingdomes of Portugall to serue him as maister of those ceremonies which were to be vsed in the act of his coronation as Emperour The king Dom Sebastian seeing so great offers and being a Prince of the loftiest enterprises desirous to winne honour and such reputation as should wait on due merit knowing what vertues consisted in himselfe accompanied with such forces couragious fearelesse hardie actiue ●nd presuming in himselfe that he onely was borne to breake downe and squander the infidelles impieties accepted the conditions that were made vnto him And thus iustly deserued the sinnes of Portugall that he should put his person in daunger of losse his kingdomes and Monarchie in the ballance as a pray to strange nations Hence may your worthinesse gather what you desire to know out of the first demand An answere to the second demaund I answere to the second demaund negatiuely that king Sebastian did not die in the battell and that the body which was buried in Bethlehem was none of his But before by manifest reasons I approue my sayings let me intreate your sacred fatherhood to vnderstand that when he began to make his preparation for this voyage I was then a man of yeares and in some authority which admit as spoken betweene our selues because that which oftentimes contenteth friends displeaseth and raiseth a repining nature in such as are not so When he parted from Lisbone to passe into affricke being the yeare 1578. and in the moneth of Iune I was in the 35. yeare of mine age and had the vse of very honorable charges gouerning some couents of mine order and had preached in diuerse places of Portugall with applause and satisfaction of mine auditors The same yeare I was in Lent called from my couent at Santeren where I then aboade to Lisbone by Dom Alphonso de Chasteaublan● chiefe Almoner to the king and Commissary generall of the Bull for the Croisade to preach in the townes of Esbernos Borba Villaricosa Landroal Terena Moncaras Moran Mora and Portel and I was enrolled in the register of them who were appointed to accompany the king in his present voyage which could not by my selfe be performed because my Prelates that had commaund ouer me had consigned me to the gouernement of the Couent of Santeren which is the fourth of our order and the chiefest in Portugall because the Priour there ruling began to find himselfe not well and had accōplished his three yeares iurisdiction in which respect my Prelates prayed the king to pardon me from bearing him company in his purposed voyage and at their requests it was obtained Thus I stayed at home although against my will in Portugal without passing into Affricke I hold the rather this kind of discoursing with your Lordship because you may the better perceiue that I had yeares and authority as before I declared sufficient to know great men and what belonged to state affaires The king parted from Lisbone taking with him about thirty religious persons of my order to whom he bare very kind affection and reposed trust inough in them for he vsed to call them his brethren One of their number was our Prouinciall of Portugal who commanded the orders through all the gouernement of the kingdome and as well in Europe as in Affricke Asia and America named brother Iohn de Silue graund-child or sonne to the Gouernour of Portugal brother to the Bishop of the city called the Port of Portugall and to Fernand de Silue who at that very time was Embassador into Castile brother Manuell de Bosa brother Vincent Afonseca and other religious men of very good discent There was also mine vnckle Manuell Texere of whom I made mention in my first answere a brother of mine likewise called brother Diego Cardose de Mirande that maried with a sister of mine and diuers others of my kindred King Sebastian hauing ioyned with his army in Affricke at the city of Arzile and leauing Larache was gone toward the city of Alcacarquibir there in the field thereto belonging he put his men in order the fourth of the moneth of August When the heauy newes was brought to Portugal and that I had intelligence therof because of the intrest I had in the iourney I was constrained to go to Lisbone being fourteene leagues distant from Santeren to vnderstand whether they were true or no. Where arriuing the 25. of the sayd moneth I met with mine vnckle who was the selfe same day returned from Affricke He by commandement of the Generall of the army that remained behind as Lieutenant generall for the king had brought thither with him vnto Lisbone Cid Albequerin and his nephew the young Xarifa sonne to his sister and Muley Mahamet Xarifa which young Xarifa is now a Christian and liues in Spaine bearing the title of the Prince of Morocco and is commander of the order of Saint Iames a Prince of many excellent partes and singular hope Being thus with mine vncle he told me that king Sebastian withdrew himselfe from the battell embarqued in his Galliot but for certaintie that he was aliue If I would know

say some but repented afterward that they laboured not to contend rather by law or warre which questionlesse had not wanted because the Lord Dom Edward sonne to the infant Dom Edward brother to the said King D. Iohn 3. then liued who was a Lord endued with many singular vertues and as a legitimate Prince borne of Kings by the ligue masculine did euermore claime the succession of his ancestors in the said kingdome which neuer yet fell vnto the distaffe Hereupon the Portuguezes prayed to God so instantly with so many processions fasts prayers and teares that it might please him to giue them a Lord and Prince Thus by diuine grace was Dom Sebastian giuen to the Portuguezes the first time and thus now againe he giues him the second time An answere to the third demand For manie causes right reuerend Lord it was not necessarie for the King Dom Sebastian to discouer himselfe in Barbary of al which we wil alleage but two The first if he had manifested himselfe he had run into great danger of his lifes losse for his enemie could not more easily haue put him to death then in Barbarie There are a great number of officers kept in pay who giue them such morsels which is called the Boccon or poisoned bit as the poore patient cannot by anie meanes escape they limit them to the yeare moneth daies what shall I say to verie houres and moments The second if Muley Hamet had got him into his power the least that he would haue demaunded for his ransome had been the cities and townes which the Portuguezes possesse in Barbarie This had beene a small gift for him Tanger Arzile Mazagan and the other places which the Kings of Portugall do hold in Barbarie Neuerthelesse Septa had bin great losse to Christendom for it is the key of Affricke and Europe And the Moores hauing that in their own power at all times and whensoeuer they were thereto disposed they might passe into Spaine an hundred thousand horse and more and from Spaine post to other parts of Europe as somtimes they did when they were not so well inured to warre nor expert in Armes Our histories of Portugall doe tell vs that the infant Dom Fernand being taken by the Moores in the field of the citie of Tanger as he there held his siege some few daies after they came to demaund for his raunsome onely the citie of Septa which his father the King Dom Iohn of worthie memorie the Bastard had won from the Mores The king that then was Dom Edward for the singular loue he bare to his brother resolued with his people who loued the Prince entirely to giue what they had demaunded The infant Dom Fernand being aduertised of his brothers kind respect and the peoples goodwill to him likewise found the meanes to write secretly vnto them that they should be very carefull what they did saying God forbid that by my occasion Christendome should endure such a damage I had rather be partaker among an hundred thousand martyrs or die in captiuitie in the Infidels custodie then cause such a manifest daunger to all Christendome The Mores following still their motion yet vsing the infant and his companie with extreame crueltie came to the knowledge that it was hindred much more by the said infant then the king his brother whereupon they began to intreate him in farre better manner that he might the gladlier consent to his owne redemption But they could no way worke him to preferre his owne particular benefite before the weale publique of Christendome So that the Moores growing much displeased hereat put him into an iron prison without any bed or seate and so placed him before the gates of the citie of Marocco giuing him daily to eate certaine ounces of bread and a little water to drinke After some few moneths this holy Lord rendred his spirit to his Creator in that rigorous prison suffering a glorious martirdome for the common good of all Christians after the example of his Lord Iesus Christ redeemer of the whole world His bodie is buried in the Couent of our Ladie of victorie which is of mine Order commonly called de la Battaille in the Chappell of king D. Iohn his father where God in regard of him did continually many miracles for aduancement of the Christian faith The religious Fathers of the said Couent on the day of his death do not vse to sing any Masse of Requiem but that of all Saints because he was not canonized nor yet beatified wherin he is contained amongst them Frier Ierome de Ramos a religious man of mine Order writ a booke concerning the life of this glorious Saint in the Portugall language Which booke I beleeue that the king Dom Sebastian hath both seene and read and that in imitation of the said Saint who was brother to his fourth grandfather I am certainely perswaded that he hauing so apt meanes to conceale himselfe would not be discouered for should he haue there bene reuealed to the Mores they might haue come and demaunded for his ransome the townes and cities elsewhere set downe nay the citie of Septa it selfe And doubtlesse the Portuguezes would haue giuen them all nay rather much more for the libertie of a King so good so vertuous and so holy whome they loued with such and so great affection as if he had bene a God and their redeemer The king Dom Sebastian most worthie Lord was naturally so Catholike and christianly addicted that for the adding but of a very pulse breadth of ground to Christendome he would most gladly haue yeelded himselfe captiue And therefore we may well coniecture and credit his good nature that when he could not get away without danger of his life and likewise in respect of Christendomes generall benefite he held it much more glorious for him to die in prison and slauerie in Barbarie then to liue at libertie being Lord and Monarch of the world Thus right reuerend Lord giue we end to the answer of your third demaund An answer to the fourth demaund Some do coniecture that he hath bene amongst the Moores in Barbarie many yeares Which very well be so although such as haue not bene accustomed to frequent that countrey do imagine it impossible and oftentimes it hath so happened to the Portuguezes that they haue liued captiues in Barbarie for the space of 10.12.15.20.25 and 30. yeares without any tidings heard of them all The reason is that al slaues Noble do appertain to the King and such as hold them in their custodie are bound to make like deliuerie to him of them Whereby very often the Lords of the Moores knowing their slaues to be of noble race dissemble with them that they may not lose them and that they may find meanes to be rid of them graunting them for their libertie some reasonable ransome So got out of captiuitie the Prince my Lord Dom Antonio who died at Paris with the title of King of Portugall because he had bene elected

vse this language to you I trust God him selfe will illuminate your reuerend vnderstanding to behold how deare an interest you haue in this cause From Venice the xii of October 1600. The seruant and brother to your fatherhood Frier Stephen de Sampayo Another Letter from Dom Iohn de Castro To the worthie Sir Docto● Texere Counsellour and Almoner to the most Christ●n King chiefe Almoner to my Lord the Prince and Confessour to Madame the Princesse his mother At Paris in the couent of the Iacobius SIR I am extremely astonished being the man that you are and so well knowne for a Portuguese that you should at anie time couet anie thing more then the freedome of Portugall that you make so small account of this incredible maruell concerning the king Dom Sebastian the only prize of all that kingdomes best aduentures considering it is now so manie yeares since that you employed yourselfe in this businesse with no small seruice vnto the said Lord. You haue seene the whole discourse along of this matter by letters as well from my selfe as others and because the former which I writ vnto you were but briefly handled as committing what remained ouerplus to better leisure I am now determined for diuerse good respectes to touch more largely yet as briefly as I can the verie foundation and ground of the whole worke The King Dom Sebastian who in the yeare 1578. lost himselfe in the battell of Affricke he whom the enemie cals a Ca●a●o●s is the verie same prisoner which is now detained here euen as certainly as you are Frier Ioseph and my selfe Dom Iohn He departed safe and aliue from the battell but verie sore woūded God hauing so deliuered him with some other of his companie among whom was the Duke of Aueyro And hauing gone the better part of the world about the end of his peregrination he resolued to liue priuate in an Hermitage where after some time passed he was inspired by God that he should returne again● to Portugall to gouerne his kingdome The selfe same inspiration was likewise giuen to an Hermite in the companie of whom he ●ad liued which Hermite reuealed many things very secret to him touching this matter for which cause he departed from the place where he abode to accomplish what the Spirit of God had inspired and enioyned him to So he arriued in Sicilie in the yeare 1598. where he entertained foure or fiue seruants for he went before without companie with whom he embarked himselfe at Messina in a Galley belonging to his Holinesse to 〈◊〉 for Rome purposing to discouer himselfe to his said Holi● When he was come neare Rome those fellowes 〈…〉 entertained for his seruants robbed and despoiled him of 〈◊〉 had leauing him both poore and naked so that he was 〈◊〉 to seeke to needie and verie wretched people who besto● 〈◊〉 ●omewhat on him for the honor of God This mishap made him alter his former purpose and th● poore miserable man was glad to trace all Italie in hope to find the theeues that had thus despoiled him In the end hearing no tidings at all of them he retired to this Citie the aboue named yeare in the moneth of Iune hauing about him but one poore Gazete a peece of mony valuing three Liards of France In this maner he lodged at a needie wretched house where he remained some dayes not being knowne Afterward diuerse particularly began to listen after him for they heard that he called himselfe first a Knight of the Crosse and then afterward the King Dom Sebastian As this brute ran abrode Antonio de Brito Pimentel Pantaleon Pessoa and many others came oftentimes to see him at his lodging and by occasion of this rumour which spread it selfe more and more through the Citie chaunging his lodging he fell by misfortune into the hands of vile men which being but verie bare themselues yet gaue him clothes and food at their charges He got verie euill reputation by the companie of such people which was the principal cause or his strange misaduenture He was with those companions at Padoa whereof this Seigneurie being aduertised by the Ambassador of Castille and of some tumults made among them to forestall such inconueniences as might ensue they sent to the Podestat of Padoa that he should by cōmandement cause him to auoid the Towne within certaine houres and by like certaine dayes to depart the places belonging to their Estate Hereupon for some speciall reasons best knowne to himself he returned againe vnto this Citie where the Seigneurs thereof at the instance of the said Ambassadour who assured them that he was but a thiefe and a seductour prouing it by the testimony of Iewish merchants Portugueses and other persons of selfsame honest qualitie who tooke their oathes he was not the King Sebastian because the true King died in the battell of Affricke neither did he resemble him in any degree imputing to him many and verie enormous crimes they sent to apprehend him and as a malefactour committed him to verie close imprisonment notwithstanding there were many persons both before and since his commitment that had knowne him verie well in Portugall and affirmed him to be the true king Dom Sebastian At his first questioning withall he declared to the Lords his mishap in Affrica and in what maner God had deliuered him After to diuerse others he did the like and perceiuing they would search into all his secrets yet vsing him verie hardly being a King and one that had no way preiudiced their estate vpon his naturall and wonted inclination to choler moued in a subiect of such iustice and equitie he refused to make them anie more direct answers but one while said one thing then againe another neuerthelesse he euermore maintained him selfe to be the true king Dom Sebastian desiring the Lords therein to beleeue him and if they approued him not to be the same then to chastise him iustly as a false deceiuer which as yet to this instant they would neuer do nor yet permit him to be seene by any He is in a certaine prison where no man may enter or speake to the prisoners neither may one write vnto him on perill of the saylours life if he should but consent thereto He hath endured verie great pouerties and passed through many hard trauerses being no lesse reproched and misprised then the basest prisoners with him His life is very religious addicted altogether to prayer and fasting feeding but on bread water most dayes in the weeke And yet notwithstanding this austere abstinence he is verie strong as I haue heard by one of the prisoners released out of that prison who departed thence greatly affectionate to him seeming to loue him highly and reported matters maruellous of his strength and other good parts As for the exteriour markes of his bodie he wants not one of them which he had when as he raigned the selfe same lip looke head bodie armes thighes legges and feete not fayling of anie one

an vnity together rent forth of his hands whatsoeuer he had insulted on and chased him out of the kingdome after they had ouerthrowne him in the battell of Aljibarota albeit he had in his army foure and thirty thousand men and they were but 7. thousand onely afterward they gaue him defiance againe at Valverde at Trancoso and elsewhere as is to be seene in our histories if your reuerend selfe but please to reade you shall there find it agreeing with my words and in pursuite they gaue him law at their owne pleasure as anon we shall tell you more in this answere Thus we may easily perceiue that it consists not in the strengh of the king Catholicke Dom Philip both to guard Portugall and keepe all the kingdome thereof vnder bridle though he assembled all Spaine and all his other commaund Wherefore I am of the mind most worthy Lord that so soone as his Maiesty Catholicke is giuen to vnderstand how that the King Dom Sebastian is come into Fraunce he will immediatly send his Embassadours to him and offer him the reintegration of his realme in quiet swept cleane already of corne and chaffe as much as to say as without pretending any thing to him but loue and kindnesse And I thinke his Councel wil therto aduise him if they haue any feare of God if they be wise discreet or friends to the seruice welfare of their king For if king Sebastian come with strong hand to the restauration of Portugall no way can hinder him the entrance of Portugall then into Castile and from thence through all Sapine whereby he will bring Dom Philip into such distresse as doubtlesse he will go neare to make ruine of all And when he shall come to vrge his agreement Dom Sebastian not onely will bind him to pay all his dispence domages and wrongs endured by occasion of the warre but likewise to restore him those reuenues and profits which the king his father and himselfe haue hald out of Portugall for the space of more then twenty yeares which will amount to more then forty millions Nay that which is more to destroy him and be gratefull to his friends and them that aided him in the recouerie of his kingdome he will constraine him to render the realme of Nauarre to the king most Christian that of Aragon to the Duke of Lorraine those of Naples and Sicilie to his holinesse and likewise to the other Princes of Europe all that he hath held from them perforce for the flower they are in comming to peace and concord the swifter ensues the great losse and mishap of Spaine This which I say reuerend Sir is not in bare and simple words onely nor shall this be the first time that Portugall hath taught law to Castile such as are pleased in reading histories shall find this very true and of many that we might report and set downe in account we will alleadge but onely one Dom Peter King of Castile sirnamed the cruell who was slaine by his bastard brother that came to raigne afterward and named himselfe Henry the II. left two daughters the first called Constance the second Isabel wife to Edmond of Langley brother to Iohn of Gaunt the husband to the elder daughter Constance of whom was borne a daughter named Catharine The sayd Iohn of Gaunt in the regard of his wife Constance qualified the king of Castile and Leon and made his direct passage from Gascoigne which then was in the rule of the English into Spaine with eighteene thousand foote and two thousand horse and tooke the Groigne with the ayde of Iohn the bastard elected King of Portugall receiued sworne confirmed and obeyed by the Portuguezes who were to him very good friends Thence he went on to Portugall whence he entred into Castile and so on to the City of Burgos distant from the place where he parted more then twentie sixe leagues tooke it at his arriuall and made himselfe maister of all the cities townes and castles he came to moreouer they that were further off came and for feare submitted themselues And easily had he attained to a larger aduantage but that his men died who through their neglect in ordering thēselues and small prouidence in good husbandry were ouertaken by famine whereon a pestilence ensued among thē and they were brought to such scarsity of victuals as they were forced to run to the enemies campe which was vnder the guide of Lewes Duke of Bourbon who in fauor of king Iohn of Castile came thither well accōpanied with the Frēch to request wherewithal to saue their liues Which the sayd Iohn of Portugall beholding complained to the Duke saying that it was not good for his souldiers to treate with the enemy affirming that they would cause more preiudice then all the other therefore he should repeale them presently forbid all community of speech with the contrary part Otherwise when they should enter fight all would by the edge of the sword be destroyed the one in regard of loue to the other Thomas Walsingham an English historian deliuers it in the selfe same termes and sayth that the king of Portugall had with him foure thousand Portuguezes and all of them very well armed Within few dayes after certaine Embassadors sent by the king of Castile came to the Duke desiring peace of him in all humility to whom the Duke wold giue no audience Notwithstanding the hunger pestilēce did enforce him to withdraw thēce into Portugall to the towne of Trancoso whither they came againe seeking to him being sent the second time from the said Iohn king of Castile to vrge once more the same request shewing the Duke by many reasons the great profit might be drawne out of a kind peace betweene them The Duke then gaue them the hearing condiscended to their demand although it was greatly against his will chiefly because he heard that the king hf Portugall was willing thereto and then being touched therein by a more effectuall cause namely the intelligēce of the troubles beginning in France among the French and English and some seditions at home in England all which shewed him that he could draw no fresh supplies thence because that there seemed to be greater need and the mortality in his army did most of all require it The accord betweene the King and the Duke was made in this manner That Henrie eldest sonne to King Iohn named Prince of Castile should espouse Catherine the onely daughter of the sayd Duke Iohn of Gaunt and Constance his wife and should succeed in the kingdomes of Castile Leon and other Seigneuries that the king should endowe the mother and daughter and so he did giuing to the mother the citie of Guadalajata Medina del Campo and Olmiedo afterward being with her in the sayd Medina he gaue her likewise Hueta To the daughter he gaue the Esturies creating and naming her Princesse and his sonne Prince thereof So from thence forward the eldest sonne euer bare the

sirname of this principalitie as of Daulphinies in Fraunce of Wales in England of Girona in Aragon of Vienna in Nauarre c. Moreouer he should giue the Duke sixe hundreth thousand Franckes of gold for his returne into England and fortie thousand Franckes in name of rent beside the sayd cities and townes during the liues of him an her Iohn of Castile accepted of all these conditions with right good will yet he had Fraunce and the French on his side and the King of Aragon with whose sister he was maried of whom was borne the sayd Prince Dom Henrie and Fernand that after was king of Aragon against the right of the true heires indeed and Charles the III. king of Nauarre his brother but he knew notwithstanding all these that hauing ciuill wars in Castile and Portugall for an enemy fortune wold forsake him in all his realmes Seigneuries Thus could and can the kingdome of Portugall beare head against the rest of Spaine It is most certaine that at all times and as often as Portugall hath the fauour of Fraunce of England or some other straunge Prince whosoeuer it be it compels the king of Castile to whom that is a bridle to make him yeeld to reason and come at commaund nay to accept of conditions very ignominious and preiudiciall And those of the Duke might haue bene much more aduantageable to this agreement if the king of Portugall had bene willing because hauing the sword in his hand he might haue cut out his partage at his owne pleasure He was the Iudge and it was done with his will Qui habet gladium potest diuidere campos And hence it came that the Duke departed not very well contented with him although he gaue him in mariage his eldest daughter Philippe By this already rehearsed worthy Lord may be vnderstood that they who haue not the pearles of spotted affection in their eyes may discerne and others whose harts are not fatted with hate to this good king may know that my wordes are neither bourdings nor songs For if this King Dom Iohn the bastard hauing all Spaine all Fraunce and some of Castile his allies banding against him for himselfe only foure thousand Portuguezes and some English in weake estate and yet then suspected to being withdrawne from Castile into Portugall could make lawes to his enemies what shall Sebastian do accompanied with a great number of Princes of Europe with his Portuguezes and his owne person which degenerates not a iot from that of his graundfather Dom Iohn the bastard who for his faire deedes was sirnamed Of worthy memory against a young king slenderly experimented and but badly armed It is not to be doubted but he shall restore Portugall seeing God and the prophesies haue so made him promise and that he shall cleanse and purge the Spaniards of their vices and abuses according as S. Isidore hath prophesied who since he florished it is more then a thousand yeres What contentment what ioy shall the world receiue by sight hereof and namely they that are the children of God What felicitie for the Romane Church What good for the weale publike of Christendome Let the enemie iudge this cause and as one said in Portugall let them cracke this nut and know that yet at this daye Portugall is farre stronger then Spaine yea all Spaine in the time of the said Bastard Then all that were souldiers were skilful in handling the sword the launce the halbard and the crosse or long bow now at this day they can not be drawne from the harquebuse or musket for this reason the Portugals haue yet more souldiers then Spaine Because the Castilians yea or the Spaniards that come from the garrisons of the king of Castile do neuer part thence but lame and maimed except it be some of the principal Gentlemen Of the Portugueses sent from Portugall to the East Indies there comes backe commonly the third part of them and of them that are scattered in diuerse places of Affricke the second part This is most certaine for in the beginning of the raigne of our Lord D. Antonio I found a rolle of the souldiers that were to be had in Portugall wherein it was assured me that within the prouince d'Entre Douro and Migno which is called in Latine Interamnis which containes no more then eighteene leagues in length twelue in breadth at the most three thousand old souldiers were to be found To this aunswere it remaines for me yet to satisfie another obiection which your reuered sanctitie may make vnto me to wit Some that haue a mightie opinion of the King of Castilles strength would make the world beleeue that he is infinitely powerfull and can inuade Portugall with huge numbers of souldiers To the first point I aunswere briefely and succinctly That the King of Castille is in no place more weake then in Spaine To the second Whence shall hee gather such supplies of souldiours Shall hee furnish him selfe out of those garrisons and forces which hee hath from Spaine Not so If in case he will cull out of the said garrisons some souldiers to forrage Portugall hee must at the least haue foure moneths time to do it In lesse then foure dayes may men passe frō Brittanie to Lisbone Could he bring fiftie thousand men into Portugall wherewithall wil he feed them I would onely twentie thousand Moreouer what would auaile fiftie thousand soldiers in Portugal All those being there could not impeach the King Don Sebastian from landing for Portugall hath an hundred and fortie leagues on the coast and throughout is landing easily to be had In some parts they that are on land in one place cannot in a day giue succour to the other albeit they are distant but two leagues If king Sebastian did but set foote on land all Portugall would presently run to him by which reason strange souldiers would be forced to yeeld themselues or throw themselues headlong into the sea or die with famine or else by the hands of their enemies Now giue I conclusion to this present discourse humbly beseeching your worthie Lordship to hold excused such slips as are therein because in the writing thereof I haue bene driuen to some nightly houres which could not be verie manie since I receiued your last letter for so long a certification by pen and but that I was enioyned thereto by your expresse commaund I could gladly haue excused my selfe from so tedious a trauel But the honors and graces receiued from so worthie a person haue bene so great and continued in such sort as they bound me to obey without all excuse If my pen haue erred in anie point whereof I doubt not this hope is left me that one day I may giue your Lordship more ample certaine assured satisfaction in all whatsoeuer shall please you to require I write in the Castilian language because your worthie selfe did so commaund me and in regard you take some delight therein as it hath bene often told me