King's terms, these ruffians were obliged to go with the rest.

The captains were soon after invited to visit the King privately in Paris, at the Temple, or Templar's House, where he then dwelt. The King was rather ashamed of the treaty he was forced to enter into with this lawless band; yet some of their captains, who, as I have said, had been liked and respected in former wars, were now kindly greeted by many noblemen at his court,-knights who intended to follow Bertrand into Spain, and therefore probably expected to spend many a day and night on the cold ground, side by side with their old friends and companions.

And now the Free Bands broke up their camp and took their way with Du Guesclin through the country of Avignon, which then belonged to the See of Rome. The Pope, who was residing at Avignon, being afraid of their usual ravages, sent a cardinal to forbid such acts under pain of excommunication. The cardinal was received with great ceremony by Bertrand and his knights, by the free chiefs, and even by many a wild adventurer, who would willingly

have pulled his rich purple cloak off his shoulders; but he was informed by the Marshal d'Andreghem, that as the free bands were leaving France in order to make war partly against the Saracens, the soldiers had hoped that the Pope would not only grant them absolution for all past sins, but add to it a gift of two hundred thousand livres, to enable them to pay their expenses honestly on their journey. Bertrand said the same thing. The Pope was surprised, but agreed to send them one hundred thousand livres; and gave notice to the shopkeepers and citizens of Avignon to subscribe the money. It was accordingly carried to Bertrand; but when he ascertained that the whole sum had been taken from the industrious population, and not one single livre from the Pope's coffers, he sent it all back, declaring that unless it was faithfully restored to the hard-working owners, and the same amount furnished by the Pope himself out of his own treasures, the army should not abide by their promise. As he said, so it was done; and the Pope himself sent the bribe.

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CHAPTER V.

BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN ENGAGED IN THE
CIVIL WARS OF CASTILE.

BERTRAND marched on into Castile without much fighting, the people of Burgos and Toledo having already opened their gates to Henry. Don Pedro the Cruel made his escape, followed by a few mules loaded with precious stones and metals, and above all, with a curious golden table, ornamented with portraits of the twelve peers of France, and with enormous pearls and other jewels, having in the centre a carbuncle reported to be as brilliant by day as by night, but to turn to a black colour if touched by any poisonous substance. Pedro the Cruel wandered on from Cordova to Seville and Lisbon; and thence, finding no hope of help from the King of Portugal, to Corunna, and

then by sea to Bayonne and Bordeaux, where Edward the Black Prince held his court.

The Black Prince had lately married his beautiful cousin, Jane Plantagenet, the fair maid of Kent; and his father, Edward III, had made him governor of his three great French provinces, Poitou, Guienne, and Gascony, all together called the Duchy of Aquitaine. He was at Angoulême, when Don Pedro the Cruel, having landed at Bordeaux with two of his daughters, 'came up the country to visit him, and entered his presence weeping. Edward pitied Don Pedro's distress: probably, too, he longed to be in arms again, and did not like that Bertrand should out-do him. He was partly bound by some treaty to assist the dethroned King of Castile; and perhaps he did not know how very wicked he was. During their conversation in came four Spaniards bearing the precious table, which Don Pedro requested Edward to accept, mentioning that it had been given in ransom to his grandfather by a King of Granada. Edward, thinking it would please the princess, sent it into her apartment, as a present from Don Pedro to herself; but Jane, not less good and

wise than fair, as if foreseeing all the wrong and sorrow that would attend the fatal gift, only expressed her deep regret at her husband's intention to leave his home, and to spend his time, health, and money, and the lives and happiness of his subjects, for the sake of so bad

a man.

Edward, however, was steady to his resolve. He considered that Don Pedro was by law the heir of Castile, and he would not allow that any oppression on his part gave his subjects the right to choose another king in his stead. He therefore wrote to King Henry to surrender the throne at once, or he should come and constrain him so to do; at the same time summoning all his barons and knights to bring up their forces, and also ordering the English warriors, commanding the free companies in Henry's service, to join him, their liege lord, forthwith, on pain of being declared traitors.

He

Sir Hugh Calverley was one of these. determined to comply with the summons of the Black Prince; but he was very sorry to quit Bertrand, and took a most affectionate leave, telling him that, as in every division of booty