Kingdom of Navarre

Though the details are largely legendary, the Kingdom of Navarre evolved from the county of Pamplona, its traditional capital, when the Basque leader Enneco Aresta (Iñigo Arista or Aiza in Spanish) was chosen King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824) and led a local revolt against the Franks. For centuries it was the premier independent Basque kingdom in the world, until it was united with Spain in 1515.

The name "Navarre" derives from nava a common name for a flat valley surrounded by hills (compare Las Navas de Tolosa) and Basque herri, a region or country. The name "Navarra" began to appear towards the end of the Visigoth epoch in Spain in the 7th century.

Early history

The kingdom of Pamplona and then Navarre formed part of the traditional territory of the Vascones, a pre-roman tribe; who occupied the southern slope of the western Pyrenees and part of the shore of the Bay of Biscay. Little is known of the earliest history of the country, but it is certain that neither the Romans, nor the Visigoths, nor the Arabs ever succeeded in permanently subjugating the inhabitants of the Western Pyrenee. The pass of Roncevalles in Navarrese territory was the scene of a minor defeat of Charlemagne's baggage train in 778, which features as an epic event in the Chanson de Roland. The pass of Roncesvalles, which leads from France to Navarre, made the region strategically important early in its history. The Vascones from that area and more north, known as the Vascongadas, were never able to fight for themselves, and due to increased pressure ran from the sight of war and defeat, never being able to defend themselves successfully against the Moorish invaders if it had not been for the help of the Navarra King Sancho el Fuerte. The domination of Charlemagne, who conquered Navarre in 778, was short-lived. In 824 the Basque chieftain Iñigo Arista was chosen king of Pamplona, which was expanded under his successors and became known as the kingdom of Navarre.

The capture of Pamplona by Charlemagne was not a lasting victory: in the same year the Navarros defeated him at the Pass of Roncesvalles. In 806 and 812, Pamplona seems to have been again taken by the Franks. When, however, the Frankish emperors, on account of difficulties at home, were no longer able to give their attention to the outlying borderlands of their empire, the country, little by little, entirely withdrew from their allegiance, and about this time began the formation of a Vasconic dynasty which soon became very powerful.

The choice of the Navarrese now fell kinsman Sancho I Garcez (905–25), who fought against the Moors with repeated success and joined Ultra-Puertos, or Basse-Navarre, to his own dominions, also extending its territory as far as Najera. As a thanksgiving for his victories, he founded, in 924, the convent of Albelda. Before his death, all Moors had been driven from the country. His successor, Garcia Sanchez (925–70), who had the support of his energetic and diplomatic mother Toda (Teuda) Aznarez of the royal branch of Larraun, likewise engaged in a number of conflicts with the Moors.

Kingdom

Earliest historic period

The first historic king of Navarre was Garcia Sanchez's son Sancho II Garces, nicknamed Abarca, who ruled from Pamplona as king of Navarre and count of Aragon from 970 to 994. The valley of Aragon he had inherited from his mother. The Historia General de Navarra by Jaime del Burgo says that on the occasion of the donation of the villa of Alastue by the king of Pamplona to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña in 987, he titled himself "King of Navarre," the first time that title had been used. In many places he appears as the first King of Navarre and in others the third; however, he was at least the sixth king of Pamplona, and possibly the ninth.

Under Sancho and his immediate successors, Navarre reached the height of its power and extension. Sancho III el Mayor ("the Great") (reigned 1000–35) married the heiress of the county of Castile. The realm reached its zenith under him; he ruled over nearly all of Christian Spain. Under the sway of Sancho el Mayor, the country attained the greatest prosperity in its history. He seized the country of the Pisuerga and the Cea, which belonged to the Kingdom of Leon, conquered Castile, and ruled the north of Iberia from the boundaries of Galicia to those of the count of Barcelona.

Division of Navarre

On the death of Sancho divided his possessions among his four sons. Sancho the Great's realm was never again united (until Ferdinand the Catholic): Castile was permanently joined to Leon, whereas Aragon enlarged its territory, joining Catalonia through a marriage.

Of Sancho's sons, Garcia of Najera received Navarre, Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya, and small portions of Béarn and Bigorre north of the Pyrenees; Castile and the lands between the Pisuerga and the Cea went to the eldest, Fernando; to Gonzalo were given Sobrarbe and Ribagorza; the County of Aragon was allotted to the bastard son Ramiro. The realm was divided thus once more, into Navarre, Aragón, and Castile. The eldest legitimate son, Ferdinand I ruled as high king having Castile as his seat, and he enlarged his realm by various means. His Navarrese line ruled as kings of Castile and Leon.

The bastard son of Sancho III, Ramiro de Aragon, founded the Navarrese line of Aragon.

Garcia de Najera, the younger legitimate son of Sancho III, founded a new line of rulers of Navarre. The kingdom of Navarre then comprised the present province of Navarre, the Basque Provinces (which were later lost to Castile), and, north of the Pyrenees, the district called Lower Navarre, now a part of France. At its greatest extent the Kingdom of Navarre included all the modern Spanish province; the northern slope of the western Pyrenees called by the Spaniards the ultra puertos ("country beyond the mountain passes") or French Navarre; the Basque provinces of Spain and France; the Bureba, the valley between the Basque mountains and the Montes de Oca to the north of Burgos; the Rioja and Tarazona in the upper valley of the Ebro.

Ecclesiastical affairs

In this period of independence, the ecclesiastical affairs of the country reached a high state of development. Sancho the Great was brought up at Leyra, which was also for a short time the capital of the Diocese of Pamplona. Beside this see, there existed the Bishopric of Oca, which was united in 1079 to that of Burgos. In 1035 Sancho the Great re-established the See of Palencia, which had been laid waste at the time of the Moorish invasion. When, in 1045, the city of Calahorra was wrested from the Moors, under whose dominion it had been for more than three hundred years, a see was also founded here, which in the same year absorbed that of Najera and, in 1088, that of Alava, the jurisdiction of which covered about the same ground as that of the present diocese of Vitoria. To Sancho the Great, also, the See of Pamplona owed its re-establishment, the king having, for this purpose, convoked a synod at Leyra in 1022 and one at Pamplona in 1023. These synods likewise instituted a reform of ecclesiastical life with the above-named convent, as a centre.

Navarre's dismemberment

The small Navarre could no longer extend its dominions, and became in a measure dependent upon its powerful neighbours. Garcia V (1035–54) was succeeded by Sancho IV (1054–76), who was murdered by his brothers. The then king of Aragon, successor of the bastard Ramiro, took much of the Navarrese lands and its royal title. King of Castile took some of the western lands. In the 12th century the kings of Castile gradually annexed the Rioja and Alava. As long as Navarre was united to Aragon (1076–1134) it was free from aggression on the east, but never recovered the western territory taken by Castile. About the year 1200 Alfonso VIII of Castile annexed the other two Basque provinces, Biscay (Vizcaya) and Guipúzcoa. Tarazona remained in possession of Aragon even after Navarre had regained its independence in around 1134. The Basque lordship of soberano of Vizcaya retained its near-independence even under Castilian overlordship, thus its Princes were called as Lords Sovereigns of Biscaye. After the murder of Sancho IV (1076), king Alfonso VI of Castile, and Sancho Ramirez of Aragon, ruled jointly in Navarre; the towns south of the Ebro together with the Basque Provinces fell to Castile, the remainder to Aragon, which retained them until 1134. The three Aragonese rulers, Sancho Ramirez (1076–94) and his son Pedro Sanchez (1094–104) conquered Huesca; Alfonso "the Fighter", 1104–34, brother of Pedro Sanchez, secured for the country its greatest territorial expansion. He wrested Tudela from the Moors (1114), re-conquered the entire country of Bureba, which Navarre had lost in 1042, and advanced into the Province of Burgos; in addition, Roja, Najera, Logrono, Calahorra, and Alfaro were subject to him, and, for a short time, Bayonne, while his ships-of-war lay in the harbour of Guipuzeoa. As he died without issue, Navarre and Aragon separated. In Aragon, Alfonso's ecclesiastic brother Ramiro became king.

In Navarre, Garcia Ramirez, lord of Monzon, a grandson of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid, and a descendant in an illegitimate line of Garcia V of Navarre, a son of Sancho the Great, wrested the kingship from his bastard-line Aragonese cousins in 1134.

He was obliged to surrender Rioja to Castile in 1136, and Tarazona to Aragon in 1157, and to declare himself a vassal of King Alfonso VII of Castile. He was utterly incompetent, and at various times was dependent upon the revenues of churches and convents. His son, Sancho Garcia, known as Sancho VI "the Wise" (1150–94), a patron of learning, as well as an accomplished statesman, fortified Navarre within and without, gave charters (fueros) to a number of towns, and was never defeated in battle.

The rich dowry of Berengaria, the daughter of Sancho VI the Wise, and Blanche of Castile, made her a desirable catch for Richard I of England. His aged mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, crossed the passes to escort Berengaria to Sicily, eventually to wed Richard in Cyprus, May 12, 1191. She is the only Queen of England who never set foot in England.

The reign of Sancho the Wise's successor, the last king of the male line of Sancho the Great and of kings of Pamplona, king Sancho VII the Strong (Sancho el Fuerte) (1194–234), was more troubled. He appropriated the revenues of churches and convents, granting them instead important privileges; in 1198 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 Castile and Aragon invaded Navarre, and as a consequence, the Provinces of Alava and Guipuzcoa were lost. The greatest glory 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 Christians over the Calif En-Nasir was made decisive. He retired and died in el Encerrado. His elder sister Berengaria, Queen of England, had died some years earlier childless. His deceased younger sister Blanca, countess of Champagne, had left a son, Theobald IV of Champagne.

Thus the Kingdom of Navarre, though the crown yet was claimed by the kings of Aragon, passed by marriage to a succession of French lords, firstly to the heirs of Blanca, who simultaneously were counts of Champagne and Brie. They had the support of the Navarrese nobles

Navarre in the High Middle Ages

Thibault, as Teobaldo I, from 1234 to 1253, made of his Court a centre where the poetry of the Troubadours that had developed at the court of the counts of Champagne was welcomed and fostered; his reign was peaceful. His son, Theobald II of Navarre (1253–70), married Isabel, the second daughter of Louis IX of France and accompanied his saintly father-in-law upon his crusade to Tunis. On the homeward journey, he died at Trapani in Sicily, and was succeeded by his brother, Henry I of Navarre, who had already assumed the reins of government during his absence, but reigned only three years (1271–74). His daughter Joanna I of Navarre not yet being of age, the country was once more invaded from all sides, and the queen mother, Blanca, with her daughter sought refuge at the court of Philip the Bold of France, whose son, Philip the Fair, had become engaged to the daughter and married Joanna in 1284. In 1276, at the time of the negotiations for this marriage, Navarre effectively passed under French dominion.

In 1305, Navarre passed to the guardianship of King Philip IV of France. It stayed with the French crown until the death of Charles IV of France at 1328. As Charles died without male issue, when Philip of Valois became king of France, the Navarrese declared themselves independent and called to the throne Joanna II, daughter of Louis Hutin and senior niece of Charles, and her husband Philip of Evreux (reigned 1328–43), called Philip the Wise. Joanna waived all claim to the throne of France and accepted as compensation for the counties of Champagne and Brie those of Angoulême, Longueville, and Mortain.

King-consort Philip III devoted himself to the improvement of the laws of the country, and joined King Alfonso XI of Castile in battle against the Moors of 1343. After the death of his mother (1349), Charles II of Navarre assumed the reins of government (1349–87). He played an important part in the Hundred Years' War and in the French civil unrest of the time, and on account of his deceit and cruelty he received the surname of the Wicked.

His eldest son, on the other hand, Charles III of Navarre, surnamed the Noble, gave the land once more a peaceful and happy government (1387-425), 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 legitimate sons, he was succeeded by his daughter Blanca (1425–42) and her husband John of Penafiel (1397–479), son of king Ferdinand I of Aragon.

As king-consort John II ruled Aragon in the name of his brother, Alfonso V of Aragon. He left his son, Don Carlos (Charles) of Viana, in Navarre, only with the rank of governor, whereas Blanca had designed that Charles of Viana should be king. In 1450, John II himself regained to Navarre, and, urged on by his ambitious second wife, Juana Enriquez of the illegitimate Castile line, endeavoured to obtain the succession for their son Fernando (the future Ferdinand the Catholic). As a result a violent civil war broke out, in which the powerful party of the Agramontes supported the king and queen, and the party 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 unhappy prince was defeated by his father at Aybar, 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 (who resided in Naples). In 1460 he was again imprisoned at the instigation 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, without having been able to reconquer his kingdom of Navarre; he named as his heir his next sister Blanca, who was, however, immediately imprisoned by John II, and died in 1464.

Her claim descended briefly to her sister Eleanor I of Navarre (Leonor), Countess of Foix and Béarn, who had been an ally of her father. After her death, which occurred very soon after that of John II, the claim to the throne of Navarre passed to her grandson, Francis Phoebus of Foix (who reigned over Navarre 1479–83). His sister Catherine I of Navarre, who, as a minor, remained under the guardianship of her mother, Madeleine of France, was sought by Ferdinand the Catholic as a bride for his eldest son; but she gave her hand in 1494 to the French Jean d'Albret, count of Perigord, a man of vast possessions in the south of France.

Nevertheless, Ferdinand the Catholic did not relinquish his long-cherished designs on Navarre, and married secondly Germana, the daughter of Catherine's uncle who had attempted to claim Navarre over his deceased elder brother's under-age children. 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 Navarre 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 country lying north of the Pyrenees — he left to his enemies.

Navarre annexed to Aragon, then to Castile

King Ferdinand the Catholic, after defeating Jean d'Albret, annexed most of Navarre in 1515. In 1511 or 1516 Spanish Navarra, the part of Navarre south of the Pyrenees (the majority of the kingdom), was finally annexed by Ferdinand the Catholic. He later ceded it to his daughter Queen Joanna I of Castile whereby Spanish Navarre was regarded as a dominion of Castile, not of Aragon. Spanish Navarre was governed as a viceroyalty and not formally annexed to the kingdom of Spain until 1833.

The tiny portion of Navarre north of the Pyrenees known as Basse-Navarre, along with the neighboring Principality of Béarn survived as an independent little kingdom which passed by inheritance. Lower, or French, Navarre, received from Henry II of Navarre, the son of Jean d'Albret, a representative assembly, the clergy being represented by the bishops of Bayonne and Dax, their vicars-general, the parish priest of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and the priors of Saint-Palais, d'Utziat and Haramples. The area north of the Pyrenees (Lower Navarre) remained an independent kingdom with large additional French estates until 1589, when it was joined with the French crown because Henry III of Navarre became King Henry IV of France. It was united with Béarn into a French province. After Henry IV, the kings of France bore also the title King of Navarre.

Later history

The last independent king of Navarre, Henry III (reigned 1572–1610), succeeded to the throne of France as Henry IV in 1589, founding the Bourbon dynasty. In 1620, French Navarre and Béarn were incorporated into France proper by Henry's son, Louis XIII of France. The title of King of Navarre continued to be used by the Kings of France until 1791, and was revived again during the Restoration, 1814–30.

As the Kingdom of Navarre was originally organized, it was divided into merindades, districts governed by a merino ("mayorino"), the representative of the king. They were the "Ultrapuertos" (French Navarre), Pamplona, Estella, Tudela and Sangüesa. In 1407 the merindad of Olite was added. The Cortes of Navarre began as the king's council of churchmen and nobles, but in the course of the 14th century the burgesses were added. Their presence was due to the fact that the king had need of their co-operation to raise money by grants and aids, a development that was being paralleled in England. The Cortes henceforth consisted of the churchmen, the nobles and the representatives of twenty-seven (later thirty-eight) "good towns" — towns which were free of a feudal lord, and, therefore, held directly of the king. The independence of the burgesses was better secured in Navarre than in other parliaments of Spain by the constitutional rule which required the consent of a majority of each order to every act of the Cortes. Thus the burgesses could not be outvoted by the nobles and the Church, as they could be elsewhere. Even in the 18th century the Navarrese successfully resisted Bourbon attempts to establish custom houses on the French frontier, dividing French from Spanish Navarre. Yet the Navarrese were loyal to their Spanish sovereigns, and no part of the country offered a more determined or more skilful resistance to Napoleon.

Navarre was staunchly Catholic and much under clerical influence. This, and the resentment felt at the loss of their autonomy when they were incorporated into Spain in 1833, account for the strong support given by many Navarrese to the Carlist cause. Until the French Revolution the kings of France carried the additional title king of Navarre. Since the rest of Navarre was in Spanish hands, the kings of Spain also carried (until 1833) the title king of Navarre. During that period Navarre enjoyed a special status within the Spanish monarchy; it had its own cortes, taxation system, and separate customs laws. In 1833, Navarre became the chief stronghold of the Carlists but recognized Isabella II as queen in 1839. As a reward for their loyalty in the Spanish Civil War, Franco allowed the Navarrese to maintain their ancient fueros, which were charters handed down by the crown outlining a system of self-government.

Territory today

The territory formerly known as Navarre now belongs to two nations, Spain and France, according as it lies south or north of the Western Pyrenees. The Basque language is still spoken in most of the provinces. Today, Navarre is an autonomous community of Spain and Basse-Navarre is part of France's Pyrénées Atlantiques département.

References

Ariqita y Lasa, Colección de documentos para la historia de Navarra (Pamplona, 1900)
Bascle de Lagreze, La Navarre française (Paris, 1881)
Blade, Les Vascons espagnols (Agen, 1891)
Pierre Boissonade, Histoire de la reunion de la Navarre à la Castille (Paris, 1893)
Chappuys, Histoire du royaume de Navarre (Paris, 1590; 1616)
Favyn, Histoire de Navarre (Paris, 1612)
Ferrreras, La Historia de Espana (Madrid, 1700-27)
Galland, Memoires sur la Navarre (Paris, 1648)
Idem, Annales del reino de Navarra (5 vols., Pamplona, 1684-95; 12 vols., Tolosa, 1890-92)
Idem, Diccionario de las antiguedades de Nayanna (Pamplona, 1840-43)
Idem, Historia compendiada del reino de Navarra (S. Sebastian, 1832)
Jaurgain, La Vasconie (Pau, 1898)
de Marca, Histoire de Bearn (Paris, 1640)
Moret, Investigationes historicas del reino de Navarra (Pamplona, 1655)
Oihenart, Notitia utriusque Vasconiae (Paris, 1656)
Risco, La Vasconia in Espana Sagrada, XXXII (Madrid, 1779)
Ruano Prieto, Anexión del Reino de Navarra en tiempo del Rey Catolico (Madrid, 1899)
Yanguas y Miranda, Cronica de los reyes de Navarra (Pamplona, 1843)

External link

Encyclopaedioa Britannica, 1911: Navarre

Navarre | Basque history | History of the Basque Country | Former monarchies | Former countries in Europe

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