say in the negotiations over Ferdinand. The son of Salah arrived in Fez three months later to open talks, but he was brusquely received and nothing more came of it. Ferdinand was reportedly depressed and exasperated with his relatives; at one point he refused to hear any more news from Portugal. His companions duly kept from him the news of the death of his brother John of Reguengos in 1442. Death Ferdinand's isolation in Fez continued. He only met his physician at mealtimes and his chaplain once every two weeks. By bribing the guards, he was sometimes allowed to meet other members of his entourage. He was not assigned to labor like the others, but spent his days largely confined to his cell, praying and writing prayers. After fifteen months in these conditions, Ferdinand fell ill on 1 June 1443 and died a few days later, on 5 June. According to his hagiographers, on the evening before his death, Ferdinand reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary, the St. Michael the Archangel and St. John the Evangelist. After his death, the Fez authorities had Ferdinand's corpse embalmed with salt, myrtle and bay leaves. Ferdinand's heart, organs and intestines were taken out in the process (and promptly acquired by his fellow prisoners, who hid them in clay pots buried underground in a corner of their dungeon). Ferdinand's naked and disemboweled corpse was subsequently hung upside down from the battlements of the walls of Fez for public display. After four days, the body was placed in a sealed wooden coffin and once again hung from the same battlements "for a long time". In his hagiography, Alvares reports several "miracles" subsequently attributed to the coffin. Ferdinand was unmarried and childless at the time of his death. The lay mastership of his Order of Aviz was passed to his nephew Peter, Constable of Portugal (the son of Peter of Coimbra). Fate of companions Many members of Ferdinand's entourage died in prison in the subsequent years, primarily of disease. Their fates, according to Frei João Álvares, in chronological order, came as follows: Frei Gil Mendes, the confessor, died in Asilah in the winter of 1437–38. Rodrigo Esteves, head of household, fell ill and was released from Asilah in 1438 in return for his son Pedro Rodrigues Diogo Delgado, Portuguese prisoner in Fez, was the first to die in Fez, sometime between 1443 and 1448