Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/794

 NAVARRE

r.JO

NAVARRE

spouitxl for the country its prcatcsl territorial expan- sion. He wre.steil Tiidela from the Moors (1114), re- conquered (he entire eountry of Bureba, which had been lost to Navarre in 1042, and advanced into the Province of Hiirgos; in addition. Hoja, Xajera, Lo- Urofio, Calahorra, and Alfaro were subject to liini, and, for a short time, Hayonne, while his shijxs-of-war lay in the harbour of (.uipuzeoa. As he died without issue (1 lIvH, Navarre and .\ragon separated. In .dra- gon, Alfonso's brother Ramiro became king; in Na- varre, Ciarela Ramirez, a grand.son of Sancho the (Ireat, who wa.s obliged to .surrender Rioja to Castile in \l'M\, and Taragona to .Ar.agon in llTu, and to de- clare himself a va.ssal of King .Vlfon.so VII of Castile, lie was utterly incompetent, and at various times was dependent ujion the revenues of churches and convents. Ilis son. Sancho (iarcia el Saliio (the Wise— ll,-)0-94), a patron of learning, as well as an accomplished states- man, fortified Xavarre within and without, gave char- ters ifueron) to a number of towns, and Wijs never de- feated in battle. The reign of his successor, the last king of the race of Sancho the Great (1194-12.34), Sancho el Fuerte (the Strong), was more troubled. He ajiijropriated the revenues of churches and con- vents, granting them instead important privileges; in 1 198 he presented to the See of Pamplona his palaces and possessions in that city, this gift being confirmed by Pope Innocent III on 29 January, 1199. While he was absent in Africa, whither he had been induced to go on an adventurous expedition, the Kings of Cas- tile and Aragon invaded Navarre, and as a conse- quence, the Pro\-inces of Alava and Guipuzcoa were lost to him.

The greatest glorj- of Sancho el Fuerte was the part he took in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), where, through his valour, the victory of the Chris- tians over the Calif En-Nasir was made decisive. When in 1234 he died in retirement (el Knccrrado), the Navarrese chose to succeed him Thibault de Cham- pagne, son of Sancho's .si-ster Blanca, who, from 1234 to 12.53, made of his Court a centre where the poetry of the Troubadours was welcomed and fostered, and whose reign was peaceful. His son, Theobald II (12.5.3-70), married Isabel, the second daughter of St. Louis of France, and accompanied the saint upon his crusade to Tunis. On the homeward journey, he died at Trapani in Sicily, and was .succeeded by his brother, Henry I, who had already assumed the reins of gov- ernment during his absence, but reigned only three years (1271-74). His daughter Juana not yet being of age, the count rj' was once more invaded from all sides, and the queen mother, Blanca, sought refuge with her daughter at the court of Philip the Bold of France, whose son, Philip the J'air, had already married Juana in 1284. In 1276, at the time of thenegotiations for this marriage, Navarre passed under French domin- ion, and, until 1.328, was subject to Kings Philip the Fair (d. 1314), Louis X Hutin (1314-1(5), his brother, Philip the Tall (131(>-22), and Charles the Fair (1322- 28). _ As Charles died without male i.ssue, and Philip of Valois became King of France, the Navarrese de- clared themselves independent and called to the throne Joanna II, daughter of Louis Hutin, and her husband Philip of Evrouix (132S-i;543), surnamed the Wise. Joanna waived all (ilaim to the throne of France and accepted for the counties of Champagne and Brie those of Angouleme, Longueville, and Mortain.

Philip devoted himself to the improvement of the law.s of the country, and joined King Alfonso XI of Ca.stile in battle against the Moors (i:i43). After the death of his mother n:i4!l). Charles 11 assumed the reins of government (1349-.S7), and, on ac(tountof his deceit ;ind cruelty received Ihesurnameof the Wicked. His eldest .son, on the other hand, (iuu'les III, sur- named the Noble, gave the land once more a peaceful and happy government (1387-1425), exerted his

strength to the utmost to lift the country from its degenerate condition, reformed the government, built canals, and made navigable the tributaries of the Ebro flowing through Navarre. As he outlived his eons, he was succeeded by his daughter Blanca (142.5- 42) and her husband John II (1429-79), son of Ferdi- nand I of Aragon. As John II ruled Aragon in the name of his brother, Alfonso V, he left his son, Don Carlos (Charles), in Navarre, only with the rank of governor, whereas Blanca had designe<l that Charles should be king. In 1450, John II him.self repaired to Naxarrc, muX, urged on by his ambitious second wife, Juana iMiriquez of Castile, endeavoured to obtain the Buccession for their son Fernando (1452). As a result a violent civil war broke out, in which the powerful family of the Agramontes supported the king and queen, and that of the Beaumonts, called after their leader, the chancellor, John of Beaumont, espoused the cause of Charles; the highlands were on the side of the prince, the plains on that of the king. The un- happy prince was defeated by his father at .\ybar, in 1451, and held a prisoner for two years, during which he wrote his famous Chronicle of Navarre, the source of our present knowledge of this subject. After his release, he sought in vain the assistance of King Charles VII of France and of his uncle Alfonso V of Naples; in 1460 he w;is again imprisoned at the insti- gation of his step-mother, but the Catalonians rose in revolt at this injustice, and he was again liberated and named governor of Catalonia. He died in 1461, with- out having been able to reconquer his kingdom; he named as his heir his sister Blanca, who wa-s, however, immediately imprisoned by John II, and died in 1464.

Her claim descended to her sister Leonor, Countess of Foix and Beam, and, after her death and that of John II, which occurred almost simultaneously, to her grandson, Francis Pha?bus (1479-83). His daughter Catharine, who, as a minor, remained under the guar- dianship of her mother, Madeleine of France, was sought by Ferdinand the Catholic as a bride for his eldest son; but she gave her hand (1491) to the French Count of Perigord, Jean d'Albret, a man of vast pos- sessions. Nevertheless, Ferdinand the Catholic did not reUnquish Ms long -cherished designs on Na- varre. As Navarre refused to join the Holy League against France, declared itself neutral, and would have prevented the passage through the country of Ferdinand's troops, the latter sent his general Don Fabrique de Toledo to invade Navarre in 1512. Jean d'Albret fled, and Pamplona, Estella, Olita, Sanguessa, and Tudela were taken. As the royal House of Na- varre and all opponents of the Holy League were under the ban of the Church, the Navarrese declared for Ferdinand, who took possession of the kingdom on 15 June, 1515. Lower Navarre — the part of the coun- try lying north of the Pyrenees — he generously left to his enemies.

Lower, or French, Navarre, received from Henry, the son of Jean d'Albret. a representative assembly, the clergy being represented by the Bishops of Ba- yonne and Dax, their vicars-general, the parish priest of St -Jean -Pied -de -Port, and the priors of Saint- Palais, d'Utziat and Haraniples. W'hen, in 1589, its administration was united with that of France, it was still called a kingdom. After Henry IV, the kings of France bore also the title King of Navarre. The Basque language is still spoken in most of the prov- inces.

In the field of historical research, the most distinguished inves- tigators have been, for Spanish Navarre, Moret and other Jesuit scholars, one of their pupils, Ferreras, and the Auguatinian M. liLsco; for French Navarre, the Benedictines, de Marca, and others. Chappuy.s, Ilinloire du royaume de Navarre (Paris, 1590: 1016); Favv.n. Histuire de A^ararre (Paris, 1612); Galland, Afi- niijurs sur I.I .\',ir,irre (Paris, 1648); DE Mabca, Hisloire de Btarn M ' p ' I - I '. 1 n, < I : M I .Mil, Nt/tUia lUriusque Vasconiee (Paris, 1G5(>) : M : : / fu^torieas delreino de Navarra {Fami>\oTi&,

!'' Ill 1 i '/. / reino de Navarra (5 vols., Pamplona,

Hr^l I'l; IJ Ml. I'iliisa. 1890-92); Ferrekas, La llistoria de Esijatla (Madrid, 1700-27); Risco, ta Vasconia ia BspaAa Sa-