Medieval France
. Battle of Hundred Years’ War. Following the ouster of Peter the Cruel from the Castilian throne in 1365 by his French-backed half-brother, Henry of Trastamara, and an army of routiers led by Bertrand du Guesclin, Peter sought assistance from the English in Aquitaine. Edward, the Black Prince, agreed to mount an expedition in support of him, and early in 1367 Edward invaded Spain with English, Gascon, and Breton troops.
Henry’s forces included such French commanders as Du Guesclin and Arnoul d’Audrehem. The armies met at Nájera, a few miles south of the confluence of the Najarerille and Ebro rivers in northeastern Castile, on April 3, 1367. The English gained tactical surprise and managed to surround and defeat Du Guesclin’s vanguard. Henry’s Castilian main body soon fled in disorder and the Anglo-Gascon victory was complete.
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: BRIGAND/BRIGANDAGE; GUESCLIN, BERTRAND DU]
Russell, Peter E. The English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and Richard II. Oxford: Clarendon, 1955.
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