War of the Two Peters

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War of the Two Peters
Date 1356 to 1375
Location mostly towns in the Crown of Aragon; kingdom of Valencia
Result inconclusive
Belligerents
Kingdom of Castile;
With the support of:
Granada;
England;
Republic of Genoa;
Navarre		 Crown of Aragon;
With the support of:
pretender Henry of Trastámara;
France
Commanders
Pedro of Castile Peter IV of Aragon
v • d • e
Hundred Years' War
Edwardian – Breton Succession – Castilian – Two Peters – Caroline – Lancastrian

The War of the Two Peters (Spanish: La Guerra de los Dos Pedros, Catalan: Guerra dels dos Peres) was a war fought from 1356 to 1375 between the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Its name refers to the two rulers of these countries: Peter of Castile and Peter IV of Aragon, respectively. One historian has written that "all of the centuries-old lessons of border fighting were used as two evenly matched opponents dueled across frontiers that could change hands with lightning speed."[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

Pedro of Castile
Pedro of Castile

At the beginning of the 14th century, Castile was suffering from unrest caused by its civil war, which was fought between the local and allied forces of the reigning king, Pedro of Castile, and his illegitimate brother Henry of Trastámara over the right to the crown.

[edit] Casus belli

Peter IV of Aragon supported Henry of Trastámara. Henry was, in turn, supported by the French in the form of Bertrand du Guesclin and his "free companies" of troops. Pedro of Castile was supported by the English. The War of the Two Peters can thus be considered an extension of the wider Hundred Years' War as well as the Iberian Castilian Civil War.

The Castilian king's aims were to lay claim to the kingdom of Valencia, which included parts of Murcia, Elche, Alicante, and Oriola.

Pedro of Aragon wished to dominate the Mediterranean in opposition to Castile and Castile's ally Genoa.[2] A naval incident between the two powers had already caused tension: Catalan galleys, armed by Mossèn Francisco de Perellós, who had letters of marque from the Aragonese king, aided France against England, and also managed to capture two Genoese ships at Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Genoa was an ally of Castile. Pedro of Castile, leading the Castilian fleet, caught up to Perellós at Tavira, but was unable to capture him.

[edit] War 1356-1363

The war lasted from 1356 to 1375. Prolonged due to the fact that Pedro of Castile ended up losing his throne to Henry of Trastámara, the war primarily took place on the border between Castile and Aragon, namely Aragonese border towns such as Teruel, which fell to the Castilians.

In 1357, Castile penetrated Aragon and conquered Tarazona on March 9. On May 8, they arranged a temporary truce.[3]

At the beginning of 1361, the Castilians conquered the fortresses of Verdejo, Torrijos, Alhama, and other places. However, the Peace of Terrer (sometimes called the Peace of Deza) was negotiated on May 18, 1361, in which all conquered places and castles were returned to their original lords. Bernardo de Cabrera, ambassador of the Aragonese king, negotiated the peace. Pedro IV married his daughter Constança to Frederick III the Simple.[4]

In June 1362, Pedro of Castile met with Charles II of Navarre at Soria, in which mutual aid was promised. He also contracted an alliance with Edward III of England and Edward's son The Black Prince.

With these negotiations complete, the Castilian king invaded Aragonese territory without officially declaring war, and the conflict commenced again. The Aragonese king was at Perpignan without troops, and thus caught off guard. The Castilians took the castles of Arize, Atece, Terrer, Moros, Cetina and Alhama. Pedro of Castile was unable to take Calatayud, even though he attacked it with all types of siege machines. Without taking his conquests any further, he returned to Seville.

The next year (1363) Castile continued the war against Aragon, and won Tarazona. Pedro of Castile received reinforcements from Portugal and Navarre. Meanwhile, the Aragonese king negotiated a treaty with France and a secret treaty with Henry II of Castile.

Pedro of Castile then conquered Cariñena, Terol, Segorbe, Murviedro, Almenara, Xiva, and Bunyol.

The papal nuncio Jean de la Grange arranged the peace of Murviedro (Sagunt/o) (July 2, 1363) between the two kings. However, it was not ratified, and hostilities continued. The Castilians penetrated the kingdom of Valencia in 1363, and conquered Alicante, Elda, Gandia, and other places.

[edit] War 1363-1369

From 1365 to 1369 Pedro of Castile was preoccupied with maintaining his position on the Castilian throne against Henry of Trastámara.

In 1366 began the Castilian Civil War which would see Pedro of Castile dethroned. He was assailed by his bastard brother Henry of Trastamara at the head of a host of soldiers of fortune, including Bertrand du Guesclin and Hugh Calveley, and abandoned the kingdom without daring to give battle, after retreating several times (first from Burgos, then from Toledo, and lastly from Seville) in the face of the oncoming armies. Peter fled, with his treasury, to Portugal, where he was coldly received by his uncle, King Pedro I of Portugal, and thence to Galicia, in northern Spain, where he ordered the murder of Suero, the archbishop of Santiago, and the dean, Peralvarez.

Pedro of Castile was overthrown in 1369.[5]

[edit] Valencia and Granada

The Kingdom of Granada supported Pedro of Castile in this conflict.[6] During the War of the Two Peters, southern Valencia saw a lot of low-level ravaging and political instability as Castilian troops and their Moorish allies invaded this territory. The Castilians unsuccessfully laid siege to Orihuela in 1364.[7]

[edit] The war's end

This border conflict finally ended with the peace of Almazán (1375) leaving no clear victors. Castile recovered comarcas that had passed under Aragonese rule, such as the seignorie of Molina. A marriage was contracted between Eleanor of Aragon, daughter of Peter IV of Aragon, and John I of Castile, the successor of Henry II of Castile.

The misery of this war was worsened by the Black Death and other natural disasters, such as drought and a plague of locusts. The war ruined the Aragonese economy, coinciding with a decrease of the country’s population caused by the war and the Black Death.[8]

However, the war is believed to have led to the establishment of administrative and military forces that would ultimately result in a unified Castile and Aragon in the next century.[9]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Donald J. Kagay, "The Defense of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-1366)," The Journal of Military History, Volume 71, Number 1, January 2007, pp. 11-31.
  2. ^ http://www.dpz.es/ifc/libros/Ubietoweb/fichasubieto/65.html
  3. ^ http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerra_dels_dos_Peres
  4. ^ 1360 - 1365
  5. ^ Guerra de los dos Pedros (1356-1369) - Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa OnLine
  6. ^ Villalon and Kagay - The Hundred Years War: A Wider Focus
  7. ^ If these walls could talk
  8. ^ Histories de Catalunya
  9. ^ Donald J. Kagay, "The Defense of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-1366)," The Journal of Military History, Volume 71, Number 1, January 2007, pp. 11-31.

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