Peter of Castile

[[File:War of Peter The Cruel in Castle.jpg|thumb|War of Peter The Cruel in Castile.''The illustrated history of the world for the English people.'' Painting of 1884.]]

[[File:War of Peter The Cruel in Castle.jpg|thumb|War of Peter The Cruel in Castile.''The illustrated history of the world for the English people.'' Painting of 1884.]]

From 1356 to 1366, Peter engaged in constant wars with [[Aragon]] in the "[[War of the Two Peters]]". The Catholic Church’s French pope in Avignon, responded to the multiple pleas to have the border war cease. France and Aragon had been losing valuable lands and men to Castile. Pope Innocent VI played peacemaker, using his authority with a papal legate. He sent Cardinal Guillaume to discuss a truce, stopping the war for one year between the two Catholic kings named Pedro. The king of Aragon supported Peter's bastard brothers against him. It was during this period that Peter perpetrated the series of murders which made him notorious.{{Clarification needed|date=September 2023}}

From 1356 to 1366, Peter engaged in constant wars with [[Aragon]] in the "[[War of the Two Peters]]". The Catholic Church’s French pope in Avignon, responded to the multiple pleas to have the border war cease. France and Aragon had been losing valuable lands and men to Castile. Pope Innocent VI played peacemaker, using his authority with a papal legate. He sent Cardinal Guillaume to discuss a truce, stopping the war for one year between the two Catholic kings named Pedro. The king of Aragon supported Peter's bastard brothers against him. It was during this period that Peter perpetrated the series of murders which made him notorious.{{Clarification needed|date=September 2023}}

In 1366 began the calamitous [[Castilian Civil War of 1351–1369|Castilian Civil War]], at the end of the War of Two Peters (Pedros) which would see him dethroned. He was assailed by his bastard brother [[Henry II of Castile|Henry of Trastámara]] at the head of a host of soldiers of fortune,{{sfn|Tuchman|1978|p=228}} 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, Spain|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 [[Peter I of Portugal]], and thence to [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], in the northern [[Iberian Peninsula]], where he ordered the murder of Suero, the archbishop of [[Santiago de Compostela|Santiago]], and the [[Dean (religion)|dean]], Peralvarez.

In 1366 began the calamitous [[Castilian Civil War of 1351–1369|Castilian Civil War]], at the end of the War of Two Peters (Pedros) which would see him dethroned. He was assailed by his bastard brother [[Henry II of Castile|Henry of Trastámara]] at the head of a host of soldiers of fortune,{{sfn|Tuchman|1978|p=228}} 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, Spain|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 [[Peter I of Portugal]], and thence to [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], in the northern [[Iberian Peninsula]], where he ordered the murder of Suero Gómez de Toledo, the archbishop of [[Santiago de Compostela|Santiago]], and the [[Dean (religion)|dean]], Peralvarez.

[[File:Battle najera froissart.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Nájera]] in a 15th-century manuscript (Peter and the English are on the left).]]

[[File:Battle najera froissart.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Nájera]] in a 15th-century manuscript (Peter and the English are on the left).]]