22 - Concerning the discussions held between Men Rodríguez de Sanabria and Sir Bertrand du Guesclin about the besieged King Pedro

Summary

After the battle was over and King Pedro had taken refuge in the castle of Montiel, King Enrique then very swiftly ordered the construction of a wall of mud and dry stones, with which he surrounded the place in such a way that King Pedro could not escape. With King Pedro in the castle was a Galician knight named Men Rodríguez de Sanabria, who had been taken captive in the town of Bribiesca when King Enrique had re-entered the kingdom. Having been captured by a knight named Sir Beltrán de la Sala, Sir Bertrand du Guesclin ransomed him for 5,000 francs, because Men Rodríguez told him that he was a native of Trastámara, which Sir Bertrand had recently been granted as his own county. For this reason, Men Rodríguez spent some time with Sir Bertrand before leaving to join King Pedro, and, owing to his acquaintance with Sir Bertrand, he sent him a message from the castle to say that he wished to speak with him in secret if he were happy to do so. Sir Bertrand answered that he was, and so they arranged a time when they could converse. As the guard duty for that section belonged to Sir Bertrand, Men Rodríguez came to speak to him one night, and his argument ran as follows: ‘Sir Bertrand, King Pedro, my liege lord, has commanded me to speak with you and his message to you is that he knows well that you are a very noble knight and that you have always taken pride in carrying out valiant deeds. Furthermore, given the situation in which he finds himself, as you can see, he sends me to tell you that, if you are willing to free him from that situation and bring about his safety and take his side, he will grant to you 200,000 Castilian doblas, plus six towns as a lawful inheritance for you and for your successors. Moreover, I beseech you to do this, for you will achieve great honour in going to the aid of such a king when everybody knows that he will have recovered his life and his kingdom because of you.’