The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c27.118

v1.c27.118

“Its cause”, says the letter, “was greed of money; for the old King dotes sometimes, and on such occasions those who govern the kingdom do as they please. Once they demanded from the citizens of St. Thome an enormous amount of money. They (the Portuguese) refused (to pay) such an extraordinary exaction; then they were attacked (by the King's soldiers), and defended themselves; both parties fought courageously; many of the enemies and some Portuguese were killed" 1. In the city, which was not yet fortified 2, the besiegers resisted for several months, according to a letter of Fr. Laerzio 3. Fr. Queyroz, who supposes that Venkata himself was commanding the beleaguering army, relates that in the course of the siege, his Queen brought forth a child whose legitimacy was doubtful 4; this seems to indicate that the siege lasted about nine months. The same author records that the army of Venkata contained two hundred and twenty thousand soldiers, who were finally repulsed with heavy losses by the Portuguese under the command of Manoel de Frias, Captain of St. Thome 5. From a letter of Philip III to his Viceroy, dated March 6th, 1613, it appears that the Bishop Fr. Sebastiao de Sao Pedro had a large share in the hardships of the siege, the success of which was partly due to him: "I highly appreciate the person and the services of the Bishop", says His Majesty, "and his conduct during the siege" 6. And on February 20th, 1614, the King writes again to his Viceroy as follows: "The Bishop of Meliapor (Mylapore) wrote to me describing his action in my royal service during the siege of that city" 7. The same letter speaks of the aid given to the Portuguese by Raghunatha Nayaka of Tanjore: