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Don Henry, the eldest, the county of Trastamare for heritage. This Don Henry was an intrepid and enterprising knight, popular, fond of adventure, and of a high and chivalrous spirit. He served under John of France at Poictiers, and was much beloved by that king. Don Pedro again and again sought his life. He was not even content to strip him of his province, but pursued him wherever he went. As for Don Frederick, the King seized him without ceremony, and at once put him to death. Eleanora, the mother of the unfortunate princes, had likewise fallen a victim to his thirst for blood, and his hatred for all who were in any way related to him.

After Pope Urban had declared Pedro a heretic and infidel, his Holiness summoned the King of Aragon and Don Henry to Avignon. The birth of Henry was legitimated, and he was declared the heir to the Castilian throne. Pedro the Cruel began at last to quake with apprehension, for he knew that beneath and around him was a grumbling volcano of popular hatred near to its crisis, which in the presence of a champion would hasten to burst forth. All the neighboring potentates detested him; the Church was most bitter against him; his barons waited and longed and prayed for vengeance; the people, broken in spirit by his outrageous tyranny, had laid up the long account of his oppressions in their memory, and watched for the signal to rise and annihilate him. The Count of Trastamare at once made preparations to invade his brother's territory. He had the hearty coöperation of the Pope, the King of France, and the King of Aragon. The "independent companies,” which had served under the Black Prince in the late wars, were enlisted in the cause. Sir Bertrand du

Guesclin, Constable of France, an old and famous warrior, became one of the leaders of the expedition. Thirty thousand men were assembled, devoted to the cause of Henry of Trastamare. One hundred thousand francs were supplied by the Pope, the French King, and the great barons. These crusaders for liberty and usurpation, under the young John de Bourbon, Count of La Marche, set out on a sort of triumphal journey through the friendly domain of Aragon. Everywhere they were received with joy, and filled with substantial plenty by the inhabitants; while Peter the Ceremonious, King of Aragon, encouraged them with informal welcome, in their pas sage over against Pedro the Cruel, his neighbor. The tyrant was in a great rage; but it was an impotent rage, and availed him nothing. He summoned his barons and peasants; they not only did not obey, they hastened to join the invading army in multitudes. Bourbon passed the Ebro-the Rubicon of the undertaking. Pedro fled to his lovely Seville, thence to the small fortress of Corunna, in Galicia. There he crouched, with no companions but his wife and his young daughters, Constance and Isabella. We shall hear of these damsels hereafter.

Meanwhile the bastard brother made a gala march, a bloodless campaign, through the kingdom without a king. The people met him and cried, "Long live King Henry! Down with Don Pedro, who has treated us so cruelly and wickedly!" It was not a sudden frenzy, it was the deliberate and practical election of a sovereign. Without a battle the Count took possession of the country, and at the

city of Burgos he was crowned by Castilian prelates, and received homage from Castilian princes and

generals. He made a progress through the cities, and insured the confidence of his new subjects. No opposition manifested itself; a peaceful revolution had established a new dynasty upon the throne of Castile. Pedro the Cruel, undismayed by misfortune, cast about him for help. The Black Prince had been his friend; to him he sent an embassy of knights to beg the Prince's assistance. Edward received them at the monastery of St. Andrew, near Bordeaux. Meanwhile Pedro, becoming alarmed for his personal safety at Corunna, followed upon the heels of his embassy, and appeared unexpectedly before the Black Prince. The dethroned King was met by his host on the road, and conducted with great pomp into the city. After several conferences, both at London and at Bordeaux, it was resolved that the English should attempt Pedro's restoration. The barons of Aquitaine and the King of Navarre were induced to join in the enterprise. Many of Edward's barons and lieutenants had gone with the expedition of Henry, and were now at his court. These were summoned away by their chief, and left the Castilian court regretful, but obedient. King Henry generously gave them presents, and his free permission to depart.

The "independent companies," composed of adventurous soldiers of all nations, also set out from Castile, to return to the service of the Prince of Wales, twelve thousand strong. Sir John Chandos, a general well beloved by the Prince, brought them through the unfriendly county of Foix. After a successful battle with the French, who would not have them pass their territory, at Montauban, the companies reached the Prince with but little diminution of force, and were put into quarters in the mountains. Men-at-arms began to

flock to his standard from all quarters, eager to participate in an enterprise which seemed to promise so much romance, adventure, and plunder. Many were sent away, for Edward was distrustful of strange soldiers. Provisions were gathered with alacrity and in abundance. And now John of Gaunt appears upon the scene. The King of England, when the preparations were nearly complete, sent over eight hundred men under his younger son, as his contribution to the cause. John of Gaunt, whom we shall now call the Duke of Lancaster, was in his twentyseventh year; and, although not popular with the people, was much beloved and trusted by his father and eldest brother. He crossed the Channel with his armament, and landed on the French coast at St. Mahé de fine Pôterne, whence he marched to Nantes. There he was sumptuously feasted and entertained by the Duke of Brittany, who was a malcontent vassal of France, and a brother-in-law of the English prince.

When he arrived at Bordeaux, he went to the monastery of St. Andrew, where the Princess of Wales, famous as Joan the Fair Maid of Kent, had recently given birth to her first son, afterward King Richard the Second. After a short visit to the Princess, he proceeded on his march, and was received with joyful welcome by Edward at Dax. Here he first met with Pedro the Cruel; and it is probable that at this time he was first attracted to the infanta Constance, daughter of that king, whom he afterward espoused. The Duke was first employed by his brother as an envoy to the King of Navarre, whom he sought to gain as an ally, and through whose dominion he wished to pass. The mission was successfully accomplished.

The Prince of Wales commenced the march of his well appointed army in the month of February, through the dangerous defiles and over the cold passes of Navarre. The whole army were in exuberant spirits, confident, eager for the onset. Since so great a force could not make the passage of the mountains simultaneously, it was divided into three divisions; these crossed on three successive days. The van body was led by the Duke of Lancaster; with him as lieutenants were Sir John Chandos, the confidant of the Black Prince, who had twelve hundred pennons with his arms emblazoned thereon; Sir Guiscard d'Angle and Sir Stephen Cossington, marshals of Aquitaine; and scions of the noble and chivalrous English houses of Beauchamp, Hastings, and Neville. Under these were ten thousand cavalry. The Prince of Wales and Don Pedro, with about an equal number, crossed on the day after; and on the third day followed the titular King of Majorca with the remainder of the army.

Henry the Bastard was sustained on the throne by the mass of his subjects, by the neighboring Kings of France and Aragon, and by the lesser potentates whose territory lay upon the confines of Castile. He had, above all, the hearty coöperation and advice of the renowned Du Guesclin, a man venerable both as a warrior and as a counsellor. He soon raised an army of one hundred thousand men; treble the number of that under the English Prince. But contrary to Du Guesclin's earnest advice, Henry resolved to give offensive battle to the invading host.

The great conflict took place near the village of Navaretta, early in the morning of the 3d of April, 1367. The Duke of Lancaster was first attacked

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