CHAP. and ransomed, was sufficiently tempting, not only to the companies, but also to adventurers of a superior class. An expedition was therefore organised without difficulty. The nominal command was given to a youth, Jaques de Bourbon, with the mission of avenging his sister, the murdered wife of Don Pedro; but the real authority lay with Bertrand Du Guesclin, who, the prisoner of John Chandos since the battle of Auray, was now liberated at the price of a hundred thousand francs, paid conjointly by the King of France, the Pope, and Henry of Trastamare. John Chandos was also asked to be of the expedition, but he had higher than mercenary views, and declined. Sir Hugh Calverly, however, and several of the Gascon chiefs of the Prince of Wales' following, accepted similar offers, and joined Du Guesclin, notwithstanding the prohibition of King Edward. Bertrand Du Guesclin led the assembled bands down the course of the Soane and Rhone. The expedition being announced as a crusade, generals and soldiers required the papal blessing, and marched, not altogether as suppliants, to Avignon to receive it. The Pope, as he afterwards pleaded, always received payment for such religious boons; but Du Guesclin and his bands, on the contrary, insisted on having 200,000 gold pieces as a part or an accompaniment of the papal blessing. The Pope made many protests, and showed great reluctance; but he was told that the army contained a multitude of reprobates who made little account of the papal blessing, but who would be rendered honest and zealous crusaders by the money. According to the poet Cuvellier, who celebrated the feats of Du Guesclin, that commander, even when paid, was discontented at the moneys having been levied upon the people of Avignon, and insisted on having it from the Pope's own coffers. The story may tell honourably for Du Guesclin, but the Pope must have known what, and how to levy, and no doubt indemnified himself for what the crusaders unceremoniously took. At the head of 30,000 of these mercenaries, Du Guesclin advanced by Montpellier and Narbonne, and over the Pyrenees, into Aragon, the king of which received them with open arms, as his allies against Castille. From Aragon the companies sent a derisive message to Don Pedro, saying they were pilgrims, bent on a crusade against the Moors of Grenada, and asking him to furnish provisions for their passage. Don Pedro, for reply, called upon his subjects to aid him in repelling the invaders; but so unpopular was he, that his Castilians refused to obey the summons, and the companies under Du Guesclin met with no resistance whatever. The result of this bloodless campaign was the installation of Henry, called Trastamare, as king of Castille, and of Du Guesclin as his constable. As for Don Pedro, he fled to Andalusia, and embarking thence, stopped for a space at Corunna, and despatched a messenger to the Prince of Wales at Bordeaux, to represent his forlorn condition and the injustice with which he had been ejected from his kingdom by the French, who had enthroned his illegitimate brother in his place, and who, in his name, of course, was disposing of the resources and the navy, then considerable, of the first kingdom of Spain. Don Pedro followed close upon his messenger, and landed at Bayonne, where he was well received. The Prince of Wales, by the advice of his counsellors, Chandos and Fenton, summoned a parliament of the barons of Aquitaine, with whom the first anxiety was to learn the opinion of King Edward. That monarch highly approved of his son's undertaking to replace Don Pedro on the throne, and deprive the French and Du Guesclin of Castille. The Gascon nobles did not object; they only cared for pay and profit, and of this Don Pedro promised a large amount when he should recover CHAP. XII. XII. CHAP. Castille, the Black Prince offering himself and his exchequer as guarantees. The alliance of the King of Navarre was then secured at a certain price. Such of the companies and their chiefs as were attached to England were recalled. At first the Prince of Wales demanded of the Gascon lords all the troops they could furnish. But though he melted his plate and received a large sum from England, he found himself unable to meet all the expenses of the expedition. He therefore begged the Sieur d'Albret, who had engaged to furnish a thousand lances, to bring no more than two hundred. At this the Gascon lord was wroth, and threatened not to come at all. Froissart relates this as the cause of the House of Albret subsequently turning against the English, but D'Albret had already served against the English, and had fought against Chandos in the battle of Auray. There were fierce jealousies, it was evident, between English and Gascon; and the natural preference and confidence shown by the Prince of Wales, to the former, aggravated the jealousy of the latter, and caused them already to look towards the King of France. In February, 1367, the Black Prince mustered 22,000 men at St. Jean Pied de Port, 17,000 of whom were heavily armed, and about 5000 Welsh and English archers. The Gascons accompanied him under Armagnac and D'Albret, and some Bretons under De Clisson. Crossing the pass of Roncesvaux, which the King of Navarre opened to them, Edward reached Pampeluna, with great difficulty obliging his men to respect the neutral or friendly territory through which they passed. The King of Navarre, however, managed to escape from his compromising position as an ally, being captured, with his own connivance, by the French. From Pampeluna the Prince advanced to the Ebro, at Logrogno, whilst Don Henry assembled his forces at San Domingo. These were considerable, 70,000, according to the poetic chronicle of Du Guesclin. This chieftain had been to the court of the Duke of Anjou in Languedoc, and of the King of France, as soon as he learned the Prince of Wales' designs, and had brought a reinforcement of 4000 French knights. Besides these and his Spanish men-at-arms, Henry of Castille had 20,000 light-armed infantry and 40,000 soldiers of his towns, chiefly those of Seville, Toledo, and Burgos. It was, indeed, one symptom of the hopelessness of Don Pedro's final success that the townsfolk were, to a man, against him, whilst he is represented as especially vowing vengeance against them. Notwithstanding his 70,000 soldiers, Du Guesclin and Maréchal d'Andreghen advised the Castilian prince not to fight a battle with the Prince of Wales, whose troops were irresistible in such encounters, but to confine his efforts to holding the mountain passes and cutting off the supplies of the enemy. Henry was too chivalrous to adopt such tactics at the head of forces. triple those of his antagonist. He even sent a regular challenge to the Black Prince, to appoint a day and place for the battle, which Edward expressed himself most willing to assign. The encounter took place on the 3rd of April, between the towns of Navarrete and Najfra, and much nearer to the latter, although it is generally called the battle of Navarrete, from Froissart, who depicts it as fought in its immediate vicinity. The first division of the army of Don Henry consisted of his foreign auxiliaries, the French, who formed his real strength. These, commanded by Du Guesclin, were attacked by the English, under John Chandos and the Duke of Lancaster, the contest being long, fierce, and undecided. Chandos was thrown down in the thick of the fight, a heavy Spaniard, Martin Ferrand, falling on him; but whilst down he contrived to poignard his adversary, and rose again into the action. The Black Prince CHAP. XII. XII. himself led the attack against the enemy's centre, commanded by Don Tello, Henry's brother, and consisting chiefly of Spaniards. These, not able to bear the shock, took to flight; and the English prince, dividing his force, sent a part to take the division of Du Guesclin in flank, whilst with the rest he confronted Don Henry and his town militia. These made use of slings, whilst the English archers poured in arrows much more thick and deadly. The tactics of the English appear, from Cuvelier, to have been first to attack on foot, and then, when the enemy were somewhat in disorder, to mount their heavy-armed horse and drive in amongst them.* Henry of Trastamare led his men three times to the charge, but was unable to withstand the weight and valour of his antagonists. The Spaniards being put to the rout, the English closed around the French division, of which all were either slain or made prisoners. One of the orders of the Black Prince before the battle was, that no one should kill Du Guesclin; and accordingly that gallant chief once more surrendered himself to John Chandos, the Maréchal d'Andreghen being taken with him. Notwithstanding the great number of armed knights engaged, not more than 570 were found dead on the field, whilst of the infantry there were 7500. Don Henry escaped, to the great disappointment of his brother Pedro, who proposed taking vengeance by the slaughter of his prisoners, till he was stopped by the Prince of Wales. Thus, with ten years' interval between each, this great and fortunate captain won three of the greatest battles in European "Le banière au Castal fièrement s'aprocha, Pour percer la bataille, quand temps il en sera." Cuvelier, Chronique de Du Guesclin. |