When the English and Gascon chieftains who had followed Du Guesclin into Spain heard of the resolutions of their king, Edward III., and the preparations made by the Prince of Wales for going and restoring Don Pedro to the throne of Castile, they withdrew from the cause which they had just brought to an issue to the advantage of Henry of Transtamare, separated from the French captain who had been their leader, and marched back into Aquitaine, quite ready to adopt the contrary cause, and follow the Prince of Wales in the service of Don Pedro.  The greater part of the adventurers, Burgundian, Picard, Champagnese, Norman, and others who had enlisted in the bands which Du Guesclin had marched out of France, likewise quitted him, after reaping the fruits of their raid, and recrossed the Pyrenees to go and resume in France their life of roving and pillage.  There remained in Spain about fifteen hundred men-at-arms faithful to Du Guesclin, himself faithful to Henry of Transtamare, who had made him Constable of Castile.

Amidst all these vicissitudes, and at the bottom of all events as well as of all hearts, there still remained the great fact of the period, the struggle between the two kings of France and England for dominion in that beautiful country which, in spite of its dismemberment, kept the name of France.  Edward III. in London, and the Prince of Wales at Bordeaux, could not see, without serious disquietude, the most famous warrior amongst the French crossing the Pyrenees with a following for the most part French, and setting upon the throne of Castile a prince necessarily allied to the King of France.  The question of rivalry between the two kings and the two peoples had thus been transferred into Spain, and for the moment the victory remained with France.  After several months’ preparation the prince of Wales, purchasing the complicity of the King of Navarre, marched into Spain in February, 1367, with an army of twenty-seven thousand men, and John Chandos, the most able of the English warriors.  Henry of Transtamare had troops more numerous, but less disciplined and experienced.  The two armies joined battle on the 3d of April, 1367, at Najara or Navarette, not far from the Ebro.  Disorder and even sheer rout soon took place amongst that of Henry, who flung himself before the fugitives, shouting, “Why would ye thus desert and betray me, ye who have made me King of Castile?  Turn back and stand by me; and by the grace of God the day shall be ours.”  Du Guesclin and his men-at-arms maintained the fight with stubborn courage, but at last they were beaten, and either slain or taken.  To the last moment Du Guesclin, with his back against a wall, defended himself heroically against a host of assailants.  The Prince of Wales, coming up, cried out, “Gentle marshals of France, and you too, Bertrand, yield yourselves to me.”  “Why, yonder men are my foes,” cried the king, Don Pedro; “it is they who took from me my kingdom, and on them I mean to take vengeance.”