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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Pedro the Cruel Biography PEDRO THE CRUEL (1334-69). King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. He was the son of Alfonso XI and Maria of Portugal, and was born at Burgos, Aug. 30, 1334. On his father's death Pedro succeeded to the throne without opposition. He was greatly influenced by his mother, and by Albuquerque, his favorite. His bastard brother, Henry of Trastamare (q.v.), plotted against him constantly. But the great opposition which he encountered was due to his marriage, in 1353, to Blanche of Bourbon, whom he abandoned after three days, and a second marriage in 1354 to Juana de Castro, whom he abandoned after two days. The friends of both joined his brothers. He was taken prisoner in 1354, but soon escaped and took cruel revenge. From 1357 to 1361 he was engaged in a war with Pedro IV of Aragon. Henry of Trastarnare, who had fled to France, returned (1366) at the head of a body of exiles, reënforeed by Bertrand du Gueselin (q.v.) with an army of mercenaries and aided by Aragon, France, and the Pope. Pedro prevailed upon Edward, the Black Prince, to espouse his cause. Edward invaded Castile in the spring of 1367, defeated Henry and Du Gueselin at Nájera, and restored Pedro to the throne. But the King disgusted his chivalrous ally by his cruelty to the vanquished and paid no heed to his remonstrances; Edward accordingly repassed the Pyrenees and left the treacherous monarch to his fate. The whole Kingdom groaned under his cruelties; rebellions broke out everywhere; and in August, 1369, Henry returned. Pedro's forces were routed at Montiel and he himself was compelled to retire for safety within the town, whence he was treacherously decoyed and captured by Du Gueselin. He was carried to a tent, where a quarrel took place between him and Henry, in which the latter killed Pedro, Consult J. Catalina Garcia, Castilla y León durante los reinados de Pedro I, Enrique II, Juan II, Enrique III, vol. i (Madrid, 1891), and Burke, A History of Spain, vol. i (London, 1895). An entertaining account is to be found in Prosper Merimee, Histoire de Pèdro I, roi de Castille (Paris, 1843). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 250. |