Biography
Martim Afonso was the Mayordomo of Maria of Portugal,[2] the wife of King Alfonso XI of Castile and mother of the only surviving son of this marriage, Peter of Castile. On 16 January 1356, he and several nobles were at the Alcázar de Toro with the queen when King Peter of Castile arrived, accompanied by several squires, entered the grounds of the fortress and ordered the assassination of several of the men who were there with the queen, including Martim. Pero López de Ayala in his chronicles describes the events as follow:[3]
And then the King ordered that Queen Doña Maria, his mother, who was inside the Alcázar, was to go outside and go to him. And the Queen asked for mercy for the gentlemen who were with her and pleaded on their behalf for the king's forgiveness. And the King told her again to come to him since he would know what should be done with the gentlemen who were at her side (...) and the Queen left the Alcázar, and with her, also countess doña Juana the wife of count Don Henry, Don Pero Estevanez Carpentero Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava, and Ruy González de Castañeda, and Alfonso Téllez Girón, and Martín Alfonso Tello (…) Another squire arrived and killed Martim Afonso Telo (...) and the Queen, Doña María, the king's mother, when she saw that these gentlemen had been killed, fell to the ground, unconscious (...) and when they helped her to get on her feet and she saw all the dead gentlemen, naked, all around her, she started to scream, and coursed the King, her son, telling him to dishonor and hurt her forever, and that she would rather die than live. (loose translation)