 Joan I leased Achaea to the Knights Hospitallers for five years in the summer of 1376.The Hospitallers hired the Navarrese Companya group of mercenaries from Navarre, Gascogne and Italyin June 1378.Nerio made contact with one of the Navarrese commanders, Juan de Urtubia, and persuaded him to invade the Duchy of Athens in early 1379.