The Defense of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-1366)

This article focuses on the general strategy of defense developed by the Aragonese king Pere III during the War of the Two Pedros (1356-66) between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, headed by Pedro I “the Cruel.” After eight years of fiscal creativity and defensive luck, Pere retained most of his territory but had lost some sovereignty to his parliaments. He then went on the offensive but never effectively defeated Pedro; this was achieved by his ally Enrique de Trastámara, Pedro’s stepbrother. What the war did accomplish, however, was the establishment of administrative and military forces that would ultimately lead toward a Spanish statehood in the fifteenth century.