This is a list of those men and women who have been royal consorts of the Kingdom of Navarre. Because the laws of Navarre did not prohibit women from inheriting the crown, on a number of occasions, the Kingdom was inherited or transmitted via heiresses. Thus, whilst most of the royal consorts were women, who held the title of queen consort, several were men, who by their marriages held the title of king, and who are given regnal designations in the lists of Navarrese kings and queens regnant.
Most of these men, although granted power through marriage rather than through inheritance, nonetheless were significant or dominant in their marriages and the rule of the country; indeed, one king by marriage, John II of Navarre (who would late in life also become John II of Aragon by rightful inheritance), husband of Blanche I of Navarre, refused to surrender the crown following her death to their son, Charles of Viana, the rightful heir to the Kingdom, instead retaining the power for himself.
Vicissitudes of the crown
From 1285 to 1328, the crowns of Navarre and France were united by virtue of the marriage of Joan I of Navarre, queen regnant of Navarre and queen consort of France, to King Philip IV of France (who became king-by-marriage of Navarre), and by the succession of their three sons, Louis I/X, Philip II/V, and Charles I/IV. Thus, the wives of these three Kings were Queen-consort of both France and Navarre. However, the inheritance of Navarre by Philip II/V and Charles I/IV following the death of Louis I/X, and his son John I, was, strictly speaking, against the laws of Navarre: that realm did not employ salic law, meaning that the Kingdom should have passed to Jeanne, heiress of Louis, rather than to Philip, the next male heir of Joan I. However, Jeanne being a young child still, and her uncles being of Navarrese blood, she was denied her rights until the death of Charles in 1328, at which point the male line of Joan I died out, and Jeanne was allowed to inherit Navarre. Her husband, Philip of Évreux, became King Philip III of Navarre with his wife due to this.
Thereafter, Navarre on several occasions experienced an extinction of its ruling male line, and consequent absorption or inclusion in the lands of other families. In most cases, the beginning of a new dynasty in Navarre was preceded by the father of the new monarch serving as royal consort—the exception being the De Foix family, none of whom ever served as Navarrese consorts (due to the death of Gaston IV, Count of Foix prior to the inheritance of his wife).
In 1512–13, Upper Navarre, the portion of the Kingdom below the Pyrenees and the independent portion of the Kingdom from which the crown derived, was occupied by Spanish forces under Ferdinand the Catholic, the son of John II, and husband of Germaine de Foix (an heiress of Navarre), driving out the king and queen, John III and Catherine I. Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Navarre by the cortes there; his wife became queen consort of the realm, and thereafter the de facto queens consort of Navarre are identical with the queens consort of Spain. John and Catherine maintained claims to Navarre, which were inherited by their heirs, and their line continued to use the titles of King and Queen of Navarre; however, all that remained to them were the feudal lands they held from the French crown, and they ceased to be monarchs other than by right.
The final dynastic change was the marriage of Jeanne III to Antoine de Bourbon, an heir to the French throne, and the subsequent succession to the throne of their son, Henry III. He later became King of France as Henry IV, and French and Navarrese queens consort once again become one and the same. However, the Navarrese crown and lands were merged into the French crown in 1620, and thereafter the French queens consort, though honorifically still queens consort of Navarre, ceased to be so in any real sense.
House of Íñiguez (c. 824 – 905) NameHouseBirthMarriageBecame ConsortCoronationCeased to be ConsortDeathSpouseperhaps Urraca García Íñiguez Auria 880 Fortún Garcés the One-EyedNameHouseBirthMarriageBecame consortCoronationCeased to be consortDeathSpouse
House of Jiménez (905–1234) Picture Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Toda Aznárez Aznar Sánchez, Lord of Larraún(Íñiguez) 885 - 905husband's accession - 11 December 925husband's death after 970 Sancho I Garcés Sancha Aznárez(uncertain) Aznar Sánchez, Lord of Larraún(Íñiguez) - - - - Jimeno Garcés Andregoto Galíndez Galindo Aznárez II, Count of Aragon(Aragon) 900s after 9 March 933 - 940repudiated 972 García Sánchez I Theresa of León Ramiro II of León(Astur-Leonese) 928 943, or before - 22 February 970husband's death after September 957 Urraca Fernández Fernán González, Count of Castile(Castile) 920/35 962 22 February 970husband's accession - December 994husband's death after 1007 Sancho II Garcés Abarca Jimena Fernández Fernando Bermúdez de Cea 970s by August 981 December 994husband's accession - 1004husband's death after 1035 García Sánchez II Muniadona García Sánchez, Count of Castile(Castile) 990/5 before 27 June 1011 - 18 October 1035husband's death after 13 July 1066 Sancho III Garcés Stephanie Ramon Borrell, Count of BarcelonaorBernard-Roger, Count of Bigorre - 1038 - 1 September 1054husband's death after 1066 García Sánchez III Placentia of French or Norman origins - after 1068 - 4 June 1076husband's death after 14 April 1088 Sancho IV Garcés Felicia of Roucy Hilduin IV, Count of Roucy(Montdidier) 1060 1076 - 4 June 1094husband's death 3 May 1123 Sancho V Ramírez Agnes of Aquitaine William VIII, Duke of Aquitaine(Ramnulfids) end 1072 January 1086 4 June 1094husband's accession - 6 June 1097 Peter I Bertha of Aragon of Italian origins 1075 16 August 1097 - 28 September 1104husband's death before 1111 Urraca of León and Castile Alfonso VI of León and Castile(Jiménez) April 1079 October 1109 - 1115marriage annulled 8 March 1126 Alfonso I Margaret of L'Aigle Gilbert of L'Aigle 1104 after 1130 1134husband's accession - 25 May 1141 García Ramírez Urraca the Asturian Alfonso VII of León and Castile(Ivrea) 1132 24 June 1144 - 21 November 1150husband's death 26 October 1164 Sancha of Castile Alfonso VII of León and Castile(Ivrea) 1139 20 July 1153 - 5 August 1177 Sancho VI Garcés Constance of Toulouse Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse(Rouergue) 1180 1195 - 1200marriage annulled after 12 May 1260 Sancho VII Sánchez
House of Champagne (1234–1284) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Margaret of Bourbon Archambaud VIII of Bourbon(Bourbon-Dampierre) 1211 22 September 1232 7 April 1234husband's accession - 8 July 1253husband's death 12 April 1256 Theobald I Isabella of France Louis IX of France(Capet) 2 March 1241 6 April 1255 - 4 December 1270husband's death 17 April 1271 Theobald II Blanche of Artois Robert I, Count of Artois(Artois) 1248 1269 4 December 1270husband's accession - 22 July 1274husband's death 2 May 1302 Henry I
House of Capet (1284–1349) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Margaret of Burgundy Robert II, Duke of Burgundy(Burgundy) 1290 23 September 1305 -Imprisoned from 1314 to her death due to the Tour de Nesle Affair. 14 August 1315 Louis I Clementia of Hungary Charles Martel of Anjou(Anjou) February 1293 19 August 1315 24 August 1315 5 June 1316husband's death 12 October 1328 Joan II, Countess of Burgundy Otto IV, Count of Burgundy(Chalon) 15 January 1292 January 1307 20 November 1316husband's accession 9 January 1317 3 January 1322husband's death 21 January 1330 Philip II Blanche of Burgundy Otto IV, Count of Burgundy(Chalon) 1296 20 May 1308 3 January 1322husband's accession Never crownedImprisoned during her husband's reign due to the Tour de Nesle Affair. 19 May 1322marriage annulled by the Pope 29 April 1326 Charles I Marie of Luxembourg Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor(Luxembourg) 1304 21 September 1322 15 May 1323 26 March 1324 Jeanne d'Évreux Louis, Count of Évreux(Évreux) 1310 5 July 1325 11 May 1326 1 February 1328husband's death 4 March 1371
House of Évreux (1328–1441) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Joan of Valois John II of France(Valois) 24 June 1343 12 February 1352 - 3 November 1373 Charles II Eleanor of Castile Henry II of Castile(Trastámara) after 1363 27 May 1375 1 January 1387husband's accession - 27 February 1416 Charles III John II of Navarre Ferdinand I of Antequera (Trastámara) 29 June 1398 1419 8 September 1425wife's accession - 20 January 1479 Blanche I
House of Trastámara (1425–1479) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Agnes of Clevesde jure Adolph I, Duke of Cleves(La Marck) 24 March 1422 30 September 1439 1 April 1441husband's accession - 6 April 1448 Charles IVde jure Juana Enríquezde facto Fadrique Enríquez, Count of Melba and Rueda(Enríquez) 1425 1 April 1444 - 13 February 1468 John IIde facto
House of Foix (1483–1516) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse John III of Albret Alain I of Albret(Albret) 1469 14 June 1484 - 17 June 1516 Catherine I
In 1512, Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic, militarily conquered the Kingdom of Navarre, incorporating it in 1516 into the Crown of Castile and expelling Queen Catherine and King John. The House of Albret (1516–1572) and the House of Bourbon (1572–1620) kept using the title of King of Navarre, but ruled only a small territory north of the Pyrenees mountains. The rest of the country was ruled by the Spanish Habsburg Kings.
House of Albret (1516–1572) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Margaret of Angoulême Charles, Count of Angoulême(Valois-Angoulême) 11 April 1492 24 January 1527 - 21 December 1549 Henry IIonly the north
House of Bourbon (1572–1620) Picture Arms Name Father Birth Marriage Became Consort Coronation Ceased to be Consort Death Spouse Margaret of France Henry II of France(Valois-Angoulême) 14 May 1553 18 August 1572 - 1599marriage annulled 27 March 1615 Henry IIIonly the north Marie de' Medici Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany(Medici) 26 April 1575 5 October 1600 13 May 1610 14 May 1610husband's death 3 July 1642 Anne of Austria Philip III of Spain(Habsburg) 22 September 1601 24 November 1615 - 20 October 1620Navarre merged into France 20 January 1666 Louis IIonly the north
For the later consorts, see the List of French royal consorts and List of Spanish royal consorts
Monarchs of Navarre since 1620 Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France and thereafter the crown of Navarre passed to the kings of France. In 1620, the Kingdom was merged into France, although the French kings continued to use the title King of Navarre until 1791. The title was revived from 1814 to 1830 during the Restoration. In Spain (which is the actual country to where most of the territories of historical Navarre belong), the monarch uses the title King of Navarre as part of his more extended titulary.
See also List of Navarrese monarchs List of Aragonese royal consorts List of Asturian royal consorts List of Castilian royal consorts List of French royal consorts List of Galician royal consorts List of Leonese royal consorts List of Spanish royal consorts List of consorts of Champagne List of consorts of Foix
References
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