Azurara begins (Chapter I) by some reflections on well-doing and gratitude, the conclusion to which he illustrates by quotations, and then goes on to tell the origin of his work, which lay in the King's desire that the great and very notable deeds of D. Henrique should be remembered, and that there should be an authorised memorial of him, even as there was in Spain of the Cid, and in Portugal itself of the Holy Constable, Nun' Alvarez Pereira.[[24]] The Chronicler justifies his task by summing up the profits that had accrued from the Prince's efforts—firstly, the salvation of the souls of the captives taken by the Portuguese in their expeditions; secondly, the benefit which their services brought to their captors; and thirdly, the honour acquired by the fatherland in the conquest of such distant territories and numerous enemies.
Chapter II consists of a long and most eloquent invocation to D. Henrique, and a recital of his manifold good deeds to all sorts and conditions of men and his mighty accomplishments. Azurara presents them to us as in a panorama, and his simple, direct language reveals a true, though unconscious, artist in words.
Chapter III deals with the ancestry of D. Henrique, and Chapter IV describes the man himself, "constant in adversity and humble in prosperity", his appearance, habits, and manner of life, all with much force of diction.
In Chapter V we have an account of the early life of D. Henrique, of his prowess at the capture of Ceuta, and during its siege by the Moors, with his fruitless assault on Tangiers, which resulted in the captivity of the Holy Infant. His peopling of Madeira and other islands in "the great Ocean sea", and presence at the gathering that ended in the battle of Alfarrobeira are referred to, as also his governorship of the Order of Christ and the services he rendered to religion by the erection and endowment of churches and professorial chairs. The chapter ends with a description of the Town of the Infant at Cape St. Vincent, "there where both the seas meet in combat, that is to say, the great Ocean sea with the Mediterranean sea", a place designed by the Prince to be a great mercantile centre, and a safe harbour for ships from East and West.
In Chapter VI, Azurara returns to his laudations of the Infant, whom he apostrophises thus: "I know that the seas and lands are full of your praises, for that you, by numberless voyages, have joined the East to the West, in order that the peoples might learn to exchange their riches"; and he winds up with some remarks on "distributive justice", the non-exercise of which had been attributed to D. Henrique as a fault by some of his contemporaries.
Chapter VII is occupied with a recital of the reasons that impelled the Infant to send out his expeditions. They were shortly as follows. First and foremost, pure zeal for knowledge; secondly, commercial considerations; thirdly, his desire to ascertain the extent of the Moorish power in Africa; fourthly, his wish to find some Christian King in those parts who would assist in warring down the Moors; and last but not least, his purpose to extend the Faith. To these reasons Azurara, quite characteristically, adds a sixth, which he calls the root from which they all proceeded—the influence of the heavenly bodies, and he essays to prove it by the Prince's horoscope.
The narrative of the expeditions really begins in Chapter VIII, which opens with an account of the reasons why no ship had hitherto dared to pass Cape Bojador, some of them being at first sight as sensible as others are absurd. The fears of the mariners prevented for twelve years the realisation of their master's wish, and for so long the annual voyages were never carried beyond the terrible cape.
Chapter IX relates how at length, in 1434, Cape Bojador was doubled by Gil Eannes, a squire of D. Henrique, and how, on a second voyage with one Affonso Gonçalvez Baldaya, Eannes reached the Angra dos Ruivos, fifty leagues beyond it.
In the next Chapter (X) Baldaya passes one hundred and twenty leagues beyond Cape Bojador to the Rio d'Ouro, and a short way beyond; but failing to take any captives, as the Prince wished him to do, he loads his ship with the skins of sea-calves and returns to Portugal in 1436.
Chapter XI is a short one, and merely tells that for three years, i.e., from 1437 to 1440, the voyages were interrupted by the affairs of the Kingdom, which required all the attention of D. Henrique. These affairs were the death of D. Duarte, and the struggle that followed between the Queen, supported by a small section of the nobles, and the Infant D. Pedro, backed by Lisbon and the people as a whole, over the question of the Regency and the education of the young King Affonso.