Henry of Trastámara: brothers at war, from Nájera to Montiel, and our 28mm models

Henry of Trastámara was a king's son who could never inherit. Born on the wrong side of the blanket, he spent the best part of twenty years at war with his half-brother, King Peter I of Castile, lost a throne at Nájera to Peter and the Black Prince, then won it back at Montiel and killed Peter with his own hands. Our two 28mm Reconquer Designs models show him mounted under the castles and lions of Castile and León, and on foot beside his squire. Here's his story, what the chronicles record and what grew into legend, what every piece of his kit is, and how to paint those arms.

Lived

1333 or 1334 to 1379

King of Castile

1366 to 1367, then 1369 to 1379

Battles

Nájera 1367 (lost), Montiel 1369 (won)

Our models

28mm, mounted, and on foot with his squire

Who was Henry of Trastámara?

Henry was the eldest surviving son of King Alfonso XI of Castile and his mistress, Leonor de Guzmán, the third of their ten children. He was born in Seville in 1333 or 1334, a little before Alfonso's only legitimate son, the future Peter I. Alfonso showered Leonor's children with lands: Henry received lordships as an infant, was adopted by the Asturian magnate Rodrigo Álvarez, and in the 1340s became count of Trastámara, a county in Galicia that gave his dynasty its name (Real Academia de la Historia, Enrique II; Biografías y Vidas). In 1350 he married Juana Manuel, from one of the greatest families in Castile.

That same year Alfonso died of plague at the siege of Gibraltar, and everything changed. Peter, aged fifteen, was king, and the half-brothers his father had favoured over him and his mother were suddenly the most dangerous men in his kingdom (Devia).

Why did Henry fight his brother, Peter the Cruel?

Because the feud was personal before it was political. In 1351, a year into Peter's reign, Henry's mother Leonor was executed (RAH). Henry rose against Peter in 1352 and again in 1354, made peace, broke it, and fled abroad, to France and then to Aragon (Enciclopèdia Catalana). When Castile and Aragon went to war in 1356, the so-called War of the Two Peters, Henry fought for Peter IV of Aragon against his own brother, and on 22 September 1359 he beat a Castilian force under Juan Fernández de Henestrosa at Araviana, near Ágreda (Battle of Araviana).

Peter answered with blood. Henry's twin brother Fadrique, Master of the Order of Santiago, was killed on Peter's orders in 1358, and two younger half-brothers, Juan and Pedro, were murdered too (Devia, Universidad Católica Argentina). Peter's enemies called him "the Cruel". Later admirers called him "the Just" (Britannica, Peter).

How did Henry first take the crown in 1366?

With French help. The Hundred Years' War was in a lull, and France was plagued by the Free Companies, bands of unpaid soldiers living off the country. In 1366 they were hired to fight for Henry under Bertrand du Guesclin, paid for by France, Aragon and the pope, which rid France of them and promised it a friendly Castile (Enciclopèdia Catalana). Peter's support melted away. Henry proclaimed himself king at Calahorra and was crowned at the royal monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos that spring, while Peter fled to English-held Gascony (Biografías y Vidas; RAH). There he bought the help of Edward, the Black Prince, with promises of money he would never pay.

Read du Guesclin's side of the story, and how to paint his black eagle, in Bertrand du Guesclin, the Eagle of Brittany.

What happened at the Battle of Nájera?

On 3 April 1367, near Nájera in La Rioja, the Black Prince's Anglo-Gascon army, with Peter beside him, routed Henry's Castilians and their French allies (Britannica, Peter). The historian John France points out that the Black Prince chose to attack, something outnumbered English armies seldom did, so the two sides were probably close in size (John France, reviewing Villalon and Kagay's study of the battle).

• Before the battle, Henry's jinetes, Castilian light horse who had learned their trade fighting Granada, beat the Anglo-Gascons in a run of skirmishes. Our 14th Century Jinetes are riders of this kind.
• In the centre, professional French and English troops fought hand to hand on foot. Our dismounted Henry and the Mid 14th Century Knights Wrestling pairs suit that moment perfectly.
• On the flanks, English longbowmen helped drive off Henry's mounted attacks, and his army broke.

Du Guesclin was captured, and so was Ayala. Henry escaped the field. Peter had many prisoners killed in front of the Black Prince, men whose ransoms the Prince's soldiers were counting on, and then never paid the army he had promised to pay (De Re Militari). The prince caught an illness in Spain that he never shook off, his army was wasted by dysentery, and he went back to Aquitaine deep in debt (Edward the Black Prince). For all his great victory, France concludes, he gained very little from it (De Re Militari).

How did Peter the Cruel die? Montiel, 1369

Henry was back within months: Charles V of France sent him into Spain again with more French troops (Britannica, Henry II; Britannica, Peter). City by city Castile went over to him, and in 1369, with du Guesclin ransomed and at his side again, he caught Peter's army at Montiel in La Mancha on 14 March and beat it. Peter shut himself in the castle of Montiel, and Henry's men surrounded it (Biografías y Vidas). What happened next is one of the most famous scenes in Spanish history, and the sources disagree on the details.

• Recorded, and agreed: on the night of 22 to 23 March 1369 Peter left the castle hoping to escape, and Henry killed him in the besiegers' camp (Britannica, Henry II; Britannica, Peter; Medievalists.net).
• Ayala's version: Peter offered du Guesclin six towns and 200,000 gold doubles to let him escape, and Henry promised him the same towns and money if he would lure Peter out instead. Peter came to du Guesclin's lodging in the siege camp, and there the brothers did not recognise each other at first, after years apart. A knight pointed Peter out, Peter shouted that it was him, and Henry struck him across the face with a dagger. They fell grappling, and Henry stabbed him again until he died (Medievalists.net; Devia).
• Froissart's version: the French chronicler has the Bègue de Villaines, a French captain on watch, catch Peter slipping out by night and take him to his tent, where Henry finds him. Henry opens with a taunt; Peter, the stronger man, throws him down, and a knight of Henry's party, the viscount of Rocaberti, seizes Peter by the legs and turns him over so that Henry, now on top, can kill him with a long dagger (Froissart, chapter 245, Johnes translation). Froissart even puts the battle in the wrong year, so his details need a pinch of salt.
• The tent: the popular picture of the brothers fighting in du Guesclin's tent blends the two. The tent is Froissart's, and he makes it the Bègue de Villaines' tent, while Ayala only says du Guesclin's lodging; later retellings, such as the 1911 Britannica, simply say du Guesclin's tent (Froissart; Britannica, 1911).
• Legend: the line that du Guesclin helped by pinning Peter down and said "Ni quito ni pongo rey, pero ayudo a mi señor" ("I neither make nor unmake kings, but I help my lord") is famous in Spain, but we can't find it in the 14th-century accounts. Treat it as later tradition.

Henry is also remembered as "the Fratricide" (Enciclopèdia Catalana). On the table you can stage the scene the popular way, with our Round Early Medieval Tent as the tent in the siege camp, the two Henrys, and a few 14th Century Sergeants on guard.

What kind of king was Henry II?

A king who had to buy his crown, and kept paying for it. To win over the nobles he made huge grants of land, rents and privileges, still called the mercedes enriqueñas, and the Cortes had to meet again and again to find the money (Biografías y Vidas). It earned him the name el de las Mercedes, "he of the largesse" (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911). He kept faith with France, beat Aragon into the Peace of Almazán in 1375, and died at Santo Domingo de la Calzada in late May 1379 (some references give Burgos). In his will he founded a royal chapel in Toledo Cathedral as the burial place of his new line; it was replaced in the 16th century, and his tomb now lies in its successor, the Capilla de Reyes Nuevos (Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 2021).

The quarrel outlived both brothers. John of Gaunt, the Black Prince's brother, married Peter's daughter Constance in 1371 and claimed the crown of Castile. He gave the claim up when his daughter Catherine married Henry's grandson, the future Henry III, joining the two lines (Britannica, John of Gaunt; Britannica, Henry III). The house of Trastámara went on to rule Castile until Isabella the Catholic's death in 1504 (Britannica, Henry II).

What do the castles and lions on his horse mean?

They're the royal arms of Castile and León. The two kingdoms were finally united in 1230 under Ferdinand III, who combined his mother's castle of Castile and his father's lion of León in one shield, split into quarters (Flags of the World; blason.es). Both sites call it the first quartered shield in heraldry. It's a popular claim, so take it as that. In heraldic language the arms read:

• First and fourth quarters: gules, a castle or: a gold castle with three towers on red (modern blazons add a blue gate and windows and black masonry).
• Second and third quarters: argent, a lion rampant purpure: a purple lion standing on its hind legs on silver (white), with red claws and tongue.

Both are canting arms, puns on the names: Castile is the land of castles, and León sounds like león, the Spanish for lion. A late-14th-century Castilian book, the Book of All Kingdoms, describes the royal banner as two castles and two lions on quarters (Flags of the World). Today's Spanish coat of arms still carries both, but it gives the lion a gold crown (Ley 33/1981, BOE). The blue gate and windows and the black masonry come from modern blazons too. Medieval painters were freer: they often drew the castle as a three-towered wall and showed the lion uncrowned, sometimes in a red-purple rather than a true purple (Flags of the World). Leave the crown off for a 14th-century look.

There's a sharp point here for a royal bastard. Before 1366 Henry was a count, not a king, and we haven't found a reliable source for the arms he bore then. Our sculpt shows him under the full arms of the kingdom, the arms of King Henry II, the man he made himself, which is a fitting choice for a model of the man who took the crown. The same quartered banner flies on our Mid 14th Century Castilian Standard Bearer, so the two belong side by side on a command base.

What is Henry wearing? The kit on our model

The sculpt is a great lord of the 1360s, from the top down:

• Bascinet and aventail. The rounded open helmet was the standard knightly helmet of the 14th century. The row of holes round its edge is for laces or studs that held the aventail, the curtain of mail that guards the neck and shoulders (The Met, Italian bascinet, 1350 to 1400). On Henry the mail ends in a band of small square pieces, which you can paint as brass or leather.
• Or a great helm. Both Henry kits include a second version of Henry in a flat-topped great helm, pierced with holes to breathe and see through. It's heavier and harder to see out of, the kind of helmet a knight might keep for the charge or the joust.
• Brigandine. The designer calls the body armour studded with rivet heads a brigandine: small steel plates riveted to the inside of a cloth coat, so only the rivets show. In the 1360s armour of this kind was usually a coat of plates with fewer, larger plates; the brigandine of many small plates grew out of it later in the century (The Met, Italian brigandine armour of about 1400; The Met, Spanish brigandine of about 1470). Rich men covered theirs in fine cloth such as velvet, which makes it a free choice of colour for the painter.
• A crucifix hangs on a cord at his chest, between the mail and the first row of rivets.
• A knightly belt of square plaques sits low on the hips, with his sword hung from it, over plate on his arms and legs and a cloak thrown back over his shoulder.
• The horse wears a full caparison carved with the arms, a breast strap hung with dagged pendants and a decorated headpiece. The kit also has a heater shield carved with the same quartered arms, slung on his far side in our renders.

On foot, Henry leans on his sword, a lord waiting for the fight to come to him, in the same two versions. His squire shades his eyes to watch the field and holds his master's great helm under his arm, the squire's job in a single pose. He wears a short riveted coat over quilted sleeves, with a dagger and a sword at his belt. For a fuller household, add our 14th Century Page and Squire.

How do you paint the arms of Castile and León on a 28mm model?

The quarters on Henry's caparison and shield are carved in low relief, which does half the work for you: the castles and lions stand up from the cloth, so you paint fields first and the charges last.

1. Prime light and map the quarters

   Prime grey or white. Before any colour goes on, look at the caparison from each side and find which panels carry castles and which carry lions: the castles sit on red and the lions on white, so it's easy to paint a field the wrong colour on a busy sculpt.

2. Paint the red fields

   Base the castle quarters Khorne Red, then two thin layers of Mephiston Red, leaving the deepest folds dark. Touch Evil Sunz Scarlet on the raised folds and the dagged edges.

3. Paint the white fields

   Base the lion quarters Ulthuan Grey, in a few thin coats, which leaves room for a highlight, then pick out the raised folds with White Scar. Tidy any red that strayed across the line now, before the charges go on.

4. Paint the castles

   Yellow reads as gold at 28mm and is the cleaner choice: Averland Sunset, then Yriel Yellow on the tops of the towers. For real metal, use Retributor Armour, shade with Reikland Fleshshade and edge with Liberator Gold. Dot the gates and windows Kantor Blue.

5. Paint the lions

   Base each lion Xereus Purple, give it a careful wash of Druchii Violet kept off the white field, and highlight the mane, legs and tail with Genestealer Purple. For the redder purple many medieval painters used, mix a little Mephiston Red into the base. Finish with a dot of Evil Sunz Scarlet for the tongue and on the claws.

6. The shield and the brigandine

   Paint the shield (on his far side in our renders) to match, quarter for quarter. For the brigandine, choose a cloth colour that doesn't fight the arms: a deep blue, a dark green or black lets the red and gold of the caparison lead. Paint the rivets Balthasar Gold and shade them with Reikland Fleshshade, then do the mail, helmet and plate in Leadbelcher, Nuln Oil and edges of Stormhost Silver.

Which army can you field Henry in?

Henry leads a Castilian army of the 1350s and 1360s, for him or against his brother. Everything here is in our 28mm Reconquista range from Reconquer Designs:

• Command: Henry mounted, Henry on foot with his squire, the Castilian Standard Bearer and Bertrand du Guesclin for the French contingent.
• Men-at-arms: Mid 14th Century Knights Set B, Charging, with caparisons to paint in your lords' arms, plus Knights Clashing and Knights Wrestling for the mêlée at Nájera.
• Foot: 14th Century Sergeants (also in 15mm) and Mid-Late 14th Century Crossbowmen behind their pavises.
• Light horse: 14th Century Jinetes, the riders who won the skirmishes before Nájera.
• Your own heraldry: the Reconquista Weapon and Shield Pack for spare shields, and Reconquista Jagged Bases for a command stand.

For an opponent closer to home, Castile's southern neighbour, the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, is in the same range, starting with the 14th Century Grenadine Armoured Infantry; read about them in the Nasrid army of Granada. For another 14th-century king who settled things personally, read Robert the Bruce vs Sir Henry de Bohun.

Sources and further reading

• Real Academia de la Historia, Historia Hispánica: Enrique II (in Spanish)
• Britannica: Henry II, king of Castile
• Britannica: Peter, king of Castile and León
• Britannica: Black Prince's ruby and Wikipedia: Black Prince's Ruby (the stone's later history)
• Wikipedia: Edward the Black Prince (the aftermath of the Spanish campaign)
• Wikipedia: Battle of Araviana
• Britannica: John of Gaunt and Henry III of Castile
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911): Henry II of Castile
• Enciclopèdia Catalana: Enric II de Castella (in Catalan)
• Biografías y Vidas: Enrique II de Castilla (in Spanish)
• De Re Militari: John France reviews Villalon and Kagay, To Win and Lose a Medieval Battle: Nájera
• Cecilia Devia, Los regicidios de Zamora y de Montiel en las crónicas castellanas (PDF, in Spanish)
• Medievalists.net: the death of Peter at Montiel in Ayala and Froissart
• Froissart's Chronicles, chapter 245 (Thomas Johnes translation)
• Encyclopedia of World Biography: Pedro López de Ayala
• Anuario de Estudios Medievales (2021): the royal chapel of Henry II in Toledo Cathedral
• Flags of the World: historical flags of Castile and León
• blason.es: Ferdinand III and the quartered arms
• BOE: Ley 33/1981, the coat of arms of Spain (in Spanish)
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Bascinet, Italian, 1350 to 1400
• The Met: Brigandine armor, Italian, about 1400 and Brigandine, Spanish
• Jesús D. Rodríguez-Velasco, Order and Chivalry (Penn Press): knighthood in Castile under Alfonso XI and his sons, including the Order of the Band founded by Henry's father, Alfonso XI