The Last Knight Errant

It was at this stage that Edward and his company arrived. They had sailed with some merchants. The ships had called at Lisbon and then sailed down the coast to Seville where Edward's arrival was reported to King Ferdinand in a letter dated 1 March 1486. Edward and his troop disembarked at Seville5 which was at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. It had been captured from the Moors in 1248, was one of Spain's important cities and would be a good place to gather news of when and where the Christian army was assembling.

Edward and his troop disembarked at Seville5 which was at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. It had been captured from the Moors in 1248, was one of Spain's important cities and would be a good place to gather news of when and where the Christian army was assembling. The answer was Cordoba, 85 miles upriver, where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were due on 28 April. By March the rains have stopped in the Guadalquivir valley where Cordoba sits, the sun is bright, the orange trees heavy with fruit and, in the fifteenth century, the hills were covered with ilex interspersed with almond and apple blossom.

At the west end is the Alcazar, the fortress palace with high crenulated walls, where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella held court and where Edward was received. He must have walked in the gardens – which still survive – amongst the orange trees that line the pools, canal and terraces. The 28-year-old was a popular recruit, 'Young, wealthy, high born and related to the blood royal of England.

Coincidentally the forward pickets of the main army arrived on the plain and broke ranks to make camp. It was then that the Moors sprang their ambush. They had been waiting for such a moment. Two divisions charged out of the city, one to take the heights and roll the supposedly surprise attack back down the escarpment while the other attacked the disorganized men on the plain. At this juncture it seems that King Ferdinand and Edward rode over a hill and saw the fighting on the plain below them. They sat on their horses watching the Moors driving the Christians off the plain. Many Moors came out on foot and on horseback to prevent the royal camp being established and fired arrows and gunshot from the fruit groves.

There were certainly some who were badly wounded. Meanwhile the artillery had arrived, and six days after the capture of the suburbs the lombards19 began a bombardment. 'A great stretch of the city's walls' was soon demolished. The defenders knew they were beaten and the following day they surrendered. The citadel was captured and with it came an unexpected prize, King Boabdil, the young Moorish monarch – his mother's boy – who shared the throne so uneasily with his father. King Ferdinand, wise in politics (his statecraft was much admired by Machiavelli), magnanimously released Boabdil and sent him back to Granada so that the internal feuding could continue in that unfortunate emirate. The surrender terms for Loja allowed the inhabitants to leave 'with whatever they could carry of theirs … and these Moors and Mooresses wept and wailed bitterly as they went'.

One of the Counts Sforza observed, 'the security of states is like happiness in love; a happy miracle which it is necessary to create anew every day'. Convoluted diplomacy and good intelligence were the ingredients for the happy miracle of state security. Anthony's next stop was in Naples where he visited shrines and, given the nature of his journey, would have talked to King Ferdinand who had a treaty of friendship with England. The King's son was leading a contingent in the Burgundian army and Ferdinand was uneasy about Duke Charles. He too was corresponding with King Louis.

The problems of the late Castilian King Henry IV ('the Impotent') and the validity of Isabella's right to his throne were grist for the mill, as was the offence caused to Isabella by King Edward's rejection of her hand 20 years earlier, particularly as he had chosen instead Edward Woodville's sister, 'a mere widow of England'. King Ferdinand of Aragon's antipathy to the French would be of particular interest, as would both of their views of English politics and King Henry himself.

This marked the start of the so-called 'Mad War'. They prepared a full-scale invasion. Louis de la Trémoille was appointed commander-in-chief with instructions to take the whole duchy. He was 28, methodical and a first-rate strategist who was to become one of France's great generals. This was his first major command. Coincidental to the French preparations, Ambassador Urswick set out for Paris and Rennes on his mission of reconciliation while King Ferdinand of Spain and envoys from Brittany urged King Henry and their English friends to take firm action. Urswick found the Regent very receptive to the offer of mediation, which was 'readily embraced'. However, his reception in Brittany was less enthusiastic.

If the French had moved then, they might have walked in, but either they observed the truce or were not yet ready. By the beginning of July the Bretons had gathered their harvest and suddenly 'realising the danger which threatened their homeland, the gentlemen and irregular troops gathered in Rennes to the number of about 7,000'. They joined Edward's troops while other foreign contingents were arriving: 1,500 Swiss lansquenets (halberdiers) from Emperor Maximilian, 1,000 Spaniards from King Ferdinand and 1,500 Gascons, who had landed near Quimper under the leadership of Alain d'Albret. The Breton army assembled at Rennes in early July totalled around 11,500 men, of whom 4,600 were English, German and Spanish.19 The French army had stayed firmly in Brittany during the truce.

It seems King Henry was remembering his obligations to Brittany, always provided the duchy could pay. In the spring of 1489 Spain and England agreed the Treaty of Medina del Campo, which was about good relations. Coincidently they acted on Brittany; King Henry sent 6,000 soldiers and King Ferdinand 2,000. However, it was too little and too late. Twelve months later the troops were still there and King Henry was declaring he would not make peace or truce with France unless the Duchess be included. However, the duchy was doomed and the young Duchess at odds with de Rieux over whom she should marry. Not only that, but she had run out of money, sold her jewels and her country was sick of war.