Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/103

Edward of his lords, both English and Gascon, were unwilling that he should espouse Peter's cause, but he declared that it was not fitting that a bastard should inherit a kingdom, or drive out his lawfully born brother, and that no king or king's son ought to suffer such a despite to royalty; nor could any turn him from his determmation to restore the king. Peter won friends by declaring that he would make Edward's son king of Galicia, and would divide his riches among those who helped him. A parliament was held at Bordeaux, in which it was decided to ask the wishes of the English king. Edward replied that it was right that his son should help Peter, and the prince held another parliament at which the king's letter was read. Then the lords agreed to give their help, provided that their pay was secured to them. In order to give them the required security, the prince agreed to lend Peter whatever money was necessary. He and Peter then held a conference with Charles of Navarre at Bayonne, and agreed with him to allow their troops to pass through his dominions. In order to persuade him to do this, Peter had, besides other grants, to pay him 56,000 florins, and this sum was lent him by the prince. On 23 Sept. a series of agreements were entered into between the prince, Peter, and Charles of Navarre, at Libourne, on the Dordogne, by which Peter covenanted to put the prince in possession of the province of Biscay and the territory and fortress of Castro de Urdialès as pledges for the repayment of this debt, to pay 550,000 florins for six months' wages at specified dates, 250,000 florins being the prince's wages, and 800,000 florins the wages of the lords who were to serve in the expedition. He consented to leave his three daughters in the prince's hands as hostages for the fulfilment of these terms, and further agreed that whenever the king, the prince, or their heirs, the king of England, should march in person against the Moors, they should have the command of the van before all other christian kings, and that if they were not present the banner of the king of England should be carried in the van side by side with the banner of Castile (ib. iii. 799-807). The prince received a hundred thousand francs from his father out of the ransom of the late king of France (ib. p. 787), and broke up his plate to help to pay the soldiers he was taking into his pay. While his army was assembling he remained at Angoulême, and was there visited by Peter. He then stayed over Christmas at Bordeaux, for his wife was there brought to bed of her second son Richard. He left Bordeaux early in February, and joined his army at Dax, where he remained three days, and received a reinforcement of four hundred men-at-arms and four hundred archers sent out by his father under his brother John, duke of Lancaster. From Dax he advanced by St. Jean-Pied-de-Port through Roncesvalles to Pamplona. When Calveley and other English and Gascon leaders of free companies found that he was about to fight for Peter, they threw up the service of Henry of Trastamare, and joined him 'because he was their natural lord' (, xviii. 2). While he was at Pamplona he received a letter of defiance from Henry (, vii. 10). From Pamplona he marched by Arruiz to Salvatierra, which opened its gates to his army, and thence advanced to Vittoria, intending to march on Burgos by this direct route. A body of his knights, which he had sent out to reconnoitre under Sir William Felton, was defeated by a skirmishing party, and he found that Henry had occupied some strong positions, and especially St. Domingo de la Calzada on the right of the Ebro, and Zaldiaran on the left, which made it impossible for him to reach Burgos through Alava. Accordingly he crossed the Ebro, and encamped under the walls of Logroño. During these movements his army had suffered from want of provisions both for men and horses, and from wet and windy weather. At Logroño, however, though provisions were still scarce, they were somewhat better off, and there on 30 March the prince wrote an answer to Henry's letter. On 2 April he quitted Logroño and moved to Navarrete de Rioja. Meanwhile Henry and his French allies had encamped at Nájara, so that the two armies were now near each other. Letters passed between Henry and the prince, for Henry seems to have been anxious to make terms. He declared that Peter was a tyrant, and had shed much innocent blood, to which the prince replied that the king had told him that all the persons he had slain were traitors. The next morning the prince's army marched from Navarrete, and all dismounted while they were yet some distance from Henry's army. The van, in which were three thousand men-at-arms, both English and Bretons, was led by Lancaster, Chandos, Calveley, and Clisson; the right division was commanded by Armagnac and other Gascon lords; the left, in which some German mercenaries marched with the Gascons, by the Captal de Buch and the Count of Foix; and the rear or main battle by the prince, with three thousand lances, and with the prince was Peter and, a little on his right, the dethroned king of Majorca and his company; the numbers, however, are scarcely to be depended