The Dead Queen

5 - The Dungeons

It was already night when Father Uria returned from his usual walks in the gardens of the royal castle. He went down the narrow stairs towards the dungeons that inhabited the basement of the castle. That was where the five women of Prince Peter were. The sinners that the chief of the guard arrested and interrogated under his supervision.

As soon as he entered the dungeon, he held his breath. Uria hated that place. He preferred to leave the dirty work to the guards, as he was not used to that smell of rotting meat. Especially after walking outdoors on a sunny autumn afternoon.

The castle's inhabitants believed that Uria's walks were moments of introspection, of contact with the divine. He liked people to think so. But a quick scan of his back and arms, covered by his black Dominican habit, would reveal the lashes he inflicted on himself almost always during his walks.

All were sinners by nature, but only a few people were aware of the mistakes they made. Uria was one of them. He knew the seriousness of the guilt he carried and, whenever he exceeded himself in the role of inquisitor, he self-inflicted. At the end of a walk, he felt a mixture of pain and pleasure. Pain in the body, pleasure in the soul, for having been freed from new sins.

Alfonso IV knew that Uria sometimes went overboard, and that the dungeons in the castle were underground nightmares. He knew that sending people to prison was like sentencing them to death, due not only to the pestilent conditions of the place, but to the excesses that Uria could commit.

But Afonso IV felt it necessary for everyone to fear the power of the king, just as they feared God. Much of that fear came from Uria. He was a necessary evil. And despite everything, he was a good priest.

When the king started to fight his father, Uria already gave him good advice in the confessional. Then Afonso had fought against his illegitimate brothers, so that they would not usurp the throne, and Uria had been essential.

When his brother John Afonso was executed, when he exiled and confiscated the other's assets - his father's favorite, Sanches - everything had been thought and done with Uria.

He was an extremely well-educated priest in many areas, knowledgeable about the laws of the Church and men, and who proved to be a great strategist after years of king's confessions.

He was also the negotiator between the crown and the church, whenever there were disagreements. He had power among the bishops, some close to the pope. More than an inquisitor, he became his chancellor.

Now Uria would help Afonso IV in a new war against the King of Castile. The damned man was dedicated to publicly humiliating his daughter, Maria of Portugal, showing his lover Leonor de Guzmán as his official wife at court, as well as his bastards. He would not tolerate this. Maria sent letters that made her mother cry many times.

Alfonso IV repeated that he did not admit bigamies, betrayals and illegitimate children. "I'm a king who never produced illegitimate sons, never humiliated my wife", he was proud. The Queen liked to hear that. She felt privileged. Uria, on the other hand, was flattered by having contributed so much to morality in that reign. A reign without adultery, without illegitimate bastards, was something worthy of God.

Both believed that bigamy was capable of destroying families and entire kingdoms. And Afonso would never forgive his father for publicly offending his holy mother Isabel, for having to face his illegitimate brothers that King Dinis generated. And even worse, for leaving the Kingdom of Portugal in testament to one of them! To a bastard like Sanches, his favorite one.

Uria pledged to help in the fight against Alfonso XI, avenging the king's daughter. He dreamed of the day when he would see Eleanor de Guzmán tortured, dead and the pieces of his body exposed at the squares of Castile.