Note 30 — GOMES EANNES DE AZURARA; (continued 2)
C. Raymond (Charles Raymond) Beazley translation
(p. 18). Governed Ceuta ... left the government to King Affonso at the beginning of his reign.—On this, Santarem has the following note:—
[The 35 years during which the Infant governed Ceuta must be understood in the sense that during the reigns of his father and brother and nephew (till Affonso V reached his majority) he directed the affairs of Ceuta, but not that he governed that place by residing there. The dates and facts recorded show that we must understand what is here said in this sense, seeing that the Infant, after the capture of that city (Ceuta) in August 1415, returned to the Kingdom (of Portugal); and there was left as Governor of Ceuta D. Pedro de Menezes, who held this command for twenty-two years (D. N. do Leão, cap. 97). The Infant returned to Africa in 1437 for the unfortunate campaign of Tangier. After this expedition he fell ill in Ceuta and stayed there only five months, and thence again returned to Portugal, and spent the greater part of his time in the Algarve, occupied with his maritime expeditions. He went back for the third time to Africa with King D. Affonso V for the campaign of Alcacer in 1456, returning immediately afterwards to Sagres.
Beyond this, it should be noticed that the sons of King D. John I had charge of the presidency and direction of various branches of State administration. D. Duarte (Edward) was, in the life of the King his father, entrusted with the presidency of the Supreme Court of Judicature and with the duty of despatching business in Council, as is recorded by him in detail in ch. xxx of the Leal Conselheiro. The Infant D. Henry had charge of all African business, and so by implication of everything relating to Ceuta.
Finally, the sublime words of King D. Duarte to D. Duarte de Menezes, when he said, "If I am not deceived in you, not even to give it to a son of mine will I deprive you of the captaincy of Ceuta" (Azurara, Chronica de D. Duarte, ch. xliii), show that the Infant D. Henry was not then properly Governor of Ceuta; although he was formally appointed to that post on July 5th, 1450, he never actually occupied it (see Souza, prov. of Bk. v, No. 51).]—S.