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They found that Pedro the Cruel had been driven from his great towns, forced to hide himself in the woods and on the sea-coasts, and once had even been sold as a slave; that he had then escaped to the Saracen King of Granada, and was now in the field again with Moorish troops. Bertrand's arrival was of great use to King Henry; and Pedro was at last completely beaten in a great battle before Toledo. He fled, with only four hundred men, on his swift, piebald horse, the gift of the Moorish King, Mahomed of Granada, and took refuge in the castle of Montiel, upon the Tagus, six miles below Toledo. Here he had time to think of the sad pass to which his crimes and ferocious temper had brought him; for Henry, being determined not to let him get away, brought all his army to encamp in a circle round the foot of the steep hill on which the castle stands. Here, then, was Pedro shut up as if in a cage, with a garrison who could not hold out a fortnight, for want of wood and water. One dark night therefore he made up his mind to attempt to escape, and with only five other people, led his horse softly down the hill to a breach in the

wall, where he hoped to get over; but, being overheard by some of Henry's sentinels, he was seized, made prisoner, and very soon after put to death.

There are many dissimilar accounts of the manner of Don Pedro's capture and death; and the Spanish historians tell the story very differently indeed from the French. But, as the event properly belongs to the history of Spain, it is enough for me to give you the narrative of Du Guesclin's biographer; not only upon this last occasion, but throughout the Castilian civil war, much of which Spanish historians relate differently.

Pedro left children, for whose right, as lawful heirs to the crown, a few cities still held out. But the King of France, considering the war as nearly brought to a close by the death of their father, and the successes of their uncle Henry, wrote letter after letter to Bertrand, ordering him to come back to France, where his services were much more wanted. Bertrand obeyed the summons of his King, and loaded with honours and rewards, took a final leave of Castile and of King Henry.

CHAPTER VI.

BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN CONSTABLE OF
FRANCE.

WHEN Charles V. recalled Bertrand du Guesclin, he offered him the command of all his armies, with the dignity of Constable of France, which is the highest military title that could be bestowed on a French subject. But the difficulty was for the future Constable to reach the King's court, in order to receive this honour. The English had spread themselves all over the country, and were distressing the peasants, as the free bands had done before. Sir Robert Knowles' army was sometimes close under the walls of Paris. In order to get through their squadrons unobserved, Bertrand rode from Languedoc, where he had again visited the Duke of Anjou, with a small party of ten or eleven

people dressed in plain clothes, like private-travellers, and thus passed unnoticed. It was very different when he approached Paris; the King's Chamberlain came to meet him with a guard of honour. The people in the streets thronged to see and touch the indomitable man who was to deliver them from the invaders.

At the Hotel de St. Paul, where Charles the Wise lived, Bertrand alighted from his horse, was ushered into the King's apartment and fell on his knees before him. Many of his old friends, the knights, were standing round. Charles said that Paris swarmed with soldiers ready to go out and fight, but that he would not let them stir till Bertrand could arrive to take the command as Constable. Bertrand observed that the Lord of Fiennes held that office. The King replied that Fiennes was grown old, and feeling his infirmities, had besought him to take back his sword of office; but that the next day he would ask the advice of his counsellors as to who should succeed him. They all agreed that Du Guesclin was the man.

When, A. D. 1370, he

took the sword from the King's hand, he said, that "he only accepted it on condition that the

King would never listen to reports against him, nor believe harm of him till they had met face to face to explain."

The new Constable then asked for money to pay the troops, whom he had already appointed to meet him at Caen; and, as the King could not give him enough, he sold all the treasure, and employed all the gold he had brought from Spain, in enlisting fresh levies. All the chief generals hastened to meet him at Caen, when he gave them a great entertainment, rendered more agreeable by the company of his beautiful and sensible wife. He then appointed them all to meet him at Vire; and, three days after, leaving his wife to continue at Caen, or at Roche d'Arien, he again bade her farewell, entreating her with his last words, as he mounted his horse, never to forget him, or the just cause of France, in her daily prayers.

Bertrand du Guesclin and all Frenchmen thought that this was the time to drive the English out of France. The Black Prince was ill, Chandos was absent; the vassals of Aquitaine were discontented, and their troops had spread themselves, too wide for safety, beyond

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