Duarte de Meneses, 3rd Count of Viana

In March 1424, Pedro managed to secure from King John I of Portugal a royal letter legitimizing Duarte to enable him to inherit his titles.

[3] For the next few days, Duarte de Menezes remained in Ceuta organizing his father's affairs and forwarding cannon and supplies to the siege of Tangier.

In the end, the Portuguese refused to honor the treaty, and decided to hold on to Ceuta, leaving the royal hostage Ferdinand the Saint Prince to die in Moroccan captivity.

Back in Portugal, despite his father's efforts and his own illustrious military record, Duarte de Menezes was only able to inherit his family title of Count of Viana do Alentejo.

[1] After Edward's death in September 1438, Duarte de Menezes, re-appointed as alferes-mor, personally carried the royal standard during the acclamation of the young King Afonso V of Portugal.

In the subsequent regency crisis, Duarte de Menezes, like much of the nobility, sided with the queen-regent Eleanor of Aragon against the king's popular uncle, Peter of Coimbra.

At the request of John II of Castile, Duarte de Menezes was subsequently posted to serve on the frontier of the Emirate of Granada, but stayed only a few months.

Afonso V immediately dispatched Duarte de Menezes as military governor of Pombal, a critical fortress on the borderlands of Coimbra, to keep a check on the dismissed regent's movements.

In reward for his loyalty, Duarte de Menezes' royal pensions were expanded, and his crown-granted titles, including alferes-mor, confirmed inheritable in his family.

A Portuguese relief fleet was prevented from reaching the city, leaving Duarte de Menezes and the little garrison to hold out on their own against the Marinid siege for nearly two months.

In April 1460, having engaged in a few more skirmishes around the area, Duarte de Menezes felt the situation secure enough to return to Lisbon, leaving the garrison in the hands of his nephew, Afonso Teles.

But the old veteran's advice was set aside, in large part on account of the jealous intrigues of his nephew, Pedro de Menezes, 3rd Count of Vila Real (then governor of Ceuta) who persuaded the king that Duarte merely sought to prevent anyone but himself from achieving glories in Africa.

Duarte de Menezes, from his perch in Alcácer-Ceguer, caught sight of the king's sail and set out with some vessels to escort the remainder of the fleet safely to Ceuta.

He would send the captain of the fleet, Luíz Mendes de Vasconcelos, with a seaborne contingent to scale a relatively low stretch of wall on the seaward side of the citadel of Tangier, while he would himself lead an infantry column overland and blockade the city on the landward wide.

[7] The assault came to naught - bad weather and Tangier artillery kept the naval squad away, and the king, thinking the guns signalled success of the sea landing, attacked impetuously, before realizing his error.

[8] King Afonso V returned to Ceuta, dispatching his brother, the Infante Ferdinand, with some troops to Duarte in Alcácer-Ceguer in December, while contemplating his next move.

But without awaiting the king's instructions, and against the strenuous objections of Duarte de Menezes, in January 1464, the Infante Ferdinand decided to assault Tangier by himself.