ress, Maria de Pedilla.
Blanche was taken to Toledo, where she was so closely confined that the
people rose and rescued her from the king's guards. Peter marched in anger
against the city, but its people defied him and kept the queen. Then the
crafty villain pretended sorrow and asked for a reconciliation. The queen
consented, went back to him, and was quickly imprisoned in a strong
fortress, where she was murdered by his orders in 1361.

It was this shameful act and the murder of his brother Fadrique that
roused the people to insurrection. Henry of Trastamara, the remaining
brother, headed a revolt against the tyrant and invited the Free Companies
to his aid. These were the circumstances that gave rise to the march of Du
Guesclin and Calverley and their battle-loving bands.

The adventurers wore crosses on their vests and banners, as though they
were a company of crusaders raised in the service of the church. But in
truth they were under the ban of excommunication, for they had no more
spared the church than the castle or the cottage. Du Guesclin, determined
to relieve them from this ban and force the Pope to grant them absolution,
directed his march upon Avignon, the papal residence in France. It was not
only absolution he wanted. The papal coffers were full; his military chest
was empty; his soldiers would not remain tractable unless well paid; the
church should have the privilege of aiding the army.

It was with dismay that the people of Avignon beheld the White Company
encamp before their ramparts, late in the year 1365. An envoy from the
Pope was sent in haste to their camp, with a promise from the Holy Father
that he would remove the ban of excommunication if they would evacuate the
territory of the Church. The envoy's mission was a dangerous one, for the
fierce Free Companions had no reverence for priest or pope. He had hardly
crossed the Rhone before he was confronted by a turbulent band of English
archers, who demanded if he had brought money.

"Money?" he asked, in faltering tones.

"Ay, money!" they insolently cried, impeding his passage.

On reaching Du Guesclin's tent he was treated with more politeness, but
was met with the same demand.

"We cannot control our troops," said some of the chiefs; "and, as they are
ready to hazard their lives for the greater glory of the faith, they well
deserve the aid of the Church."

"The Holy Father will incur much danger if he refuses the demand of our
men," said