408

THE GLORY OF CHRISTENDOM

SHADOWAND LIGHTNING
409
Emperor, in December 1355 62 There remained no major obstacle to Turkish expansion in the Balkans or in
Greece. Only the West could stop it, and so far-except for the "Green Count"-no one had really tried.
To the north and east two new Christian powers were developing, one Catholic and one Eastern Orthodox.
Catholic Poland under King Casimir the Great continued very faithful to the Church and strongly supported by all
the Popes of this period. The Lithuanians immediately east of Poland were still pagan, though periodically
considering conversion; the Popes repeatedly aided King Casimir against them with substantial grants of money. 63
The power of the Mongol "Golden Horde" in Russia was weakened by the murder of several of their rulers in
quick succession beginning in 1357, allowing the rise of Orthodox Moscow under its young, aggressive ruler
Dmitri Donskoy and his wise counsellor Archbishop Alexis, the first native Russian (as distinct from Greeks) to
hold that position. Moscow's citadel, the Kremlin, was rebuilt in stone in 1367 and withstood a massive attack by
the pagan Lithuanians late in the following year."
The situation in Spain was little changed during the first years of Urban V's pontificate. The war between
Castile and Aragon continued, waged savagely by Pedro of Castile, who ordered Aragonese prisoners' hands cut
off,
and at least once ordered that no Aragonese prisoners be taken alive 6 5 The war became increasingly involved
with the continuing hostility between France and England as implementation of the terms of the Peace of
Bretigny-notably the formal renunciation by the French King, now Charles V, and Edward III of England of their
claims to Aquitaine and the whole of France, respectively-was delayed again and again." In December 1364
Charles V of France offered to make a military alliance with Pedro IV of Aragon and Henry of Trastamara, the
illegitimate claimant to the Castilian throne. Secret negotiations continued until September 1365, when Pedro IV
reported to the corts of Catalonia that he, Charles and Pope Urban V had each offered 100,000 gold florins to
support Henry of Trastamara. When delegates in the corts objected to bringing the mercenaries who would be
receiving this money into Spain, they were curtly told that the mercenaries were coming anyway, and
would simply ravage Catalonia or take service with King Pedro of Castile if not paid. The alliance was
implemented, the corts reluctantly agreed to pay the 100,000 florins, and before the end of the year an army of
French and English mercenaries under France's best commander, Bertrand du Guesclin, entered Spain. 67
Pedro of Castile was not popular; only in the far northwestern province of Galicia was he solidly and
almost universally supported. In any case he did not have and could not raise an army even close to matching du
Guesclin's. The
invaders carried all before them. On Palm Sunday 1366 Henry was formally crowned King of Castile at Burgos.
By July Pedro had left his last refuge in Galicia for Bayonne in Gascony where he appealed to Edward the Black
Prince under the terms of the alliance of 1362. Edward agreed at once, despite the warnings of his beloved wife
Joan "the fair maid of Kent" whom he had married less than five years before.68
By February 1367, in the dead of winter, the Black Prince crossed the fabled Pass of Roncesvalles with his
veteran English knights and archers. Arriving in Castile, he wrote to Henry calling him a usurper; Henry
responded
tellingly by pointing out that King Pedro had murdered at least ten of his relatives along with many others, was
guilty of rape, and had been excommunicated and was an enemy of the Church. Unheeding, the Black Prince
pressed on; at the Second Battle of Najera in April, he destroyed the Franco-Castilian army. The English
longbowmen, never before seen in Spain, were as deadly as at Crecy and Poitiers (they "shot thicker than rain
falls in winter," wrote the Spanish historian Pero Lopez de Ayala, who was there) and Prince Edward as brilliant
in his generalship. Du Guesclin, Marshal of France d'Audrehem, Henry of Trastamara's brother Sancho, the
Master of Calatrava, the Master of Santiago, and many others fell into his hands as prisoners. But the most
important quarry was missing; Henry of Trastamara got away.69
No one emerged with much credit from these terrible years in Castile, but Henry of Trastamara had more
than his share of a quality burned into Spanish souls by the long crusade: perseverance. He seems never to have
thought of
-6
Fine Late Medieval Balkans, pp. 335-337. As Fine explains, though it was later believed he had actually been on
the march to attack Constantinople when he died, this is unproved and modern research suggests that it is
unlikely.
6
Paul W. Knoll, The Rise of the Polish Monarchy (Chicago, 1972), pp. 161-162, 210, 229.
 6°
Vernadsky, Mongols and Russia, pp. 208, 226, 245-246, 252-253; John Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of
Russia (Cambridge, England, 1981), pp. 185-186,188-190. 6sMenendez Pidal, Historia de Espana, XIV, 82-83;
Russell, English Intervention in Spain, p. 33.
"Perroy, Hundred Years War, p. 142; Barber, Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, p. 175.
Russell, English Intervention in Spain, pp. 33-37, 40; Barber, Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, p. 188.
68
Russell, English Intervention in Spain, pp. 49, 55, 57-58, 62-68; Barber, Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine,
pp. 188-191; Henry D. Sedgwick, The Life of Edward the Black Prince (Indianapolis, 1932), p. 221. Prince Edward's
letter of April 5 telling Joan of his great victory at Najera movingly begins "my dearest and truest sweetheart and
beloved companion." He would have been better advised to listen to her, for in the end his Spanish venture was a
complete failure, and it appears that it was in Spain that he acquired the chronic dysentery that was to kill him
before he could succeed to the throne of his father.
69
Russell, English Intervention in Spain, pp. 83-85, 94-105; O'Callaghan, Medieval Spain, p. 425; Hillgarth,
Spanish Kingdoms, I, 381.