PT/TT/CHR/I/0008/000021 (1464) acessível em https://digitarq.arquivos.pt/details?id=7678778 Painel do Infante acessivel em: https://goo.gl/AQTRFb acedido em 29/05/2018
D. Afonso V, King of Portugal and Algarves, who reigned from 1438 to 1481, granted many letters forgiving civilians and ex-soldiers that had fought alongside the king in Ceuta and Castille, and also to civilians living in Tavira.
Many letters of forgiveness were granted to cases of adultery and murder, as the following examples prove:
Violante Fernandes, widow and resident in Tavira, was accused of adultery “with joy “ with a Jew, also resident in Tavira, and was pardoned by the king after having payed 2000 “reais brancos “ for the "Ark of Mercy".
Diogo Afonso, butcher, resident in Tavira, was granted forgiveness though having murdered his wife, Catarina Martins, and then having fled from Tavira's castle prison, in the sequence of the pardons given by the king to former soldiers.
The pardon was also given to former sailors who had served in the royal army in Ceuta. Estevão Fortuna, squire of the count of Monsanto, resident in Tavira, was forgiven for the death of João Vasques Lambaz. The squire of the admiral had been exiled to Ceuta and Alcácer, in North Africa.
Finally, João Rodrigues, peasant of Martim Ichoa, resident in Tavira, was accused of cheating on his wife by his father in law, Pero Fernandes of Praga, and he was also granted the pardon by King Afonso V.
In fact, in the 16th century, there was no independent Justice, the King always interfered and pardoned or condemned.
Pardon could be granted either to adulteries, which were then considered
D. Afonso V torna-se rei aos 14 anos,
Painel do Infante (Século XVI), por Nuno Gonçalves, Museu de Arte Antiga - Lisboa
D. Afonso V became king at the age of fourteen
Painel do Infante (16th century), by the painter Nuno Gonçalves, Museum of Ancient Art - Lisbon
Forgiveness granted by the King
serious crimes or proven guilt murders. In those days, even when two non married people betrayed one another, it was adultery. Exile, deportation to another county and fines were common punishments.
23