N
NÁJERA
. Battle of Hundred Years’ War. Following the ouster of Peter the Cruel from the
Castilian throne in 1365 by his French-backed half-brother, Henry of Trastamara, and an
army of routiers led by Bertrand du Guesclin, Peter sought assistance from the English in
Aquitaine. Edward, the Black Prince, agreed to mount an expedition in support of him,
and early in 1367 Edward invaded Spain with English, Gascon, and Breton troops.
Henry’s forces included such French commanders as Du Guesclin and Arnoul
d’Audrehem. The armies met at Nájera, a few miles south of the confluence of the
Najarerille and Ebro rivers in northeastern Castile, on April 3, 1367. The English gained
tactical surprise and managed to surround and defeat Du Guesclin’s vanguard. Henry’s
Castilian main body soon fled in disorder and the Anglo-Gascon victory was complete.
John Bell Henneman, Jr.
[See also: BRIGAND/BRIGANDAGE; GUESCLIN, BERTRAND DU]
Russell, Peter E. The English Intervention in Spain and Portugal in the Time of Edward III and
Richard II. Oxford: Clarendon, 1955.
NANCY
. Founded in the 11th century by Gérard d’Alsace to be the capital of his newly
established duchy of Lorraine, Nancy was a small bourg composed essentially of the du-
cal castle and a few monasteries. A fire in 1228 destroyed the town, but it was quickly
rebuilt, then surrounded by ramparts in the 14th century, of which only the Porte de la
Crafte remains. Nancy was the scene of an important battle between the Burgundian and
Swiss armies at the beginning of 1477. Having seized Lorraine from Duke René II in
1475 because it lay between his territories of Bur-gundy and Flanders, Charles the Bold,
duke of Burgundy, suffered two serious defeats at the hands of the Swiss in 1476, and
local opposition began to oust Burgundians from Lorraine. Against advice, Charles was
determined to take the offensive immediately and regain Nancy. He besieged it in
November, but the inhabitants gave stubborn resis tance until a Swiss army advanced to
their relief at the beginning of January. On January 5, 1477, the Swiss inflicted another
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