You have already heard how King Enrique pitched his camp on the route that King Pedro was bound to take, so that the River Najerilla ran between one army and the other. He then took counsel about whether he should cross the river to give battle on a great flat and open space opposite Navarrete and towards which his enemies were surely heading. Many of his followers were troubled by this, because they had originally pitched their camp in a more advantageous position than the one they had later. King Enrique, however, was a man of great courage and stern resolve; he declared that he did not wish to go into battle other than on a flat and open space that gave him no advantage.

King Pedro and the prince left Navarrete with all their companies on Saturday morning; they all dismounted and drew up their battle-lines in the way that we have outlined, a good distance before they reached the army of King Enrique. The latter also drew up his forces in the way that we have described, but before battle was joined, a number of horsemen and the soldiers following the banner of the town of Santesteban, all of whom had been with King Enrique, went over to King Pedro. Then the armies moved forward and came to close quarters. Count Sancho, King Enrique's brother, Sir Bertrand, and all the knights who followed the banner of the Sash launched an attack on the vanguard advancing under the Duke of Lancaster and the constable. Those fighting alongside King Pedro and the prince bore red crosses set on white fields, whereas on that day those fighting alongside King Enrique wore sashes. They collided with such ferocity that all their lances fell to the ground, and so they began to strike each other with swords, axes and clubs, King Pedro's men crying out, ‘For Guyenne, Saint George!’, and King Enrique’s troops ‘For Castile, Saint James!’ They struck at each other with such force that the prince's vanguard began to reel back about one pace, some of them being knocked to the ground, so that King Enrique's men started to believe that they were winning and closed in, striking at them once more.