Henry II – Historical Context – Part 2

The exiled kings of Navarre never renounced their rights to the crown. During the reigns of Francis I of France and Charles I of Spain (in practice, during the viceroyalty of Cardinal Cisneros), between May and August 1516, the Congresses of Noyon were held to discuss the conflicts between the two great kingdoms. After the second reconquest of the Kingdom of Navarre, Queen Catherine of Foix, the new widow of King John III of Labrit, sent her representatives there. They obtained a single article in the final treaty, a vague promise that the issue would be discussed in due course.

In 1517, Henry was 14 years old and after Catherine's death, he became his mother's heir. Negotiations continued, and Francis I sometimes encouraged and sometimes hindered them, according to the interests of his royal family. Among the proposals was the marriage of the young Navarrese king to Princess Leonor, sister of Charles I, but in the end Leonor married King John III of Portugal. The Navarrese royal family's intention, the return of the kingdom, could not even be put on the table.

King Charles I of Spain and Emperor Charles V of Germany – Titian 1548 – Battle of Mühlberg – Prado Museum

The courts of Valladolid, aware of the negotiations, forced the new king to make a secret guarantee when Charles I first arrived in Castile from Flanders; that is, that he would never break the union of Navarre with Castile and that he would never return the kingdom conquered by his grandfather, the Catholic Ferdinand.

The Navarrese ambassadors continued their efforts, and followed Charles during his court summons, first in Valladolid, then in Aranda de Duero and then in Zaragoza. Finally, at the Montpelier council in July 1519, the emperor's ambassadors proposed Charles' sister, Archduchess Catherine, as a bride and a monetary compensation to the court of Labrit-Foix. The court of Navarre rejected the proposal.

Several years after the failure of the third (and final) attempt at reconquest between 1521 and 1524, and when Charles V had already pardoned the last Navarrese rebels, the Navarrese king wrote a letter to the emperor in 1537. In this letter, he proposed that his heiress Juana marry the emperor's eldest son, Philip (later Philip II), and as a condition, he set the surrender of Upper Navarre. Although the negotiations were carried out in secret, Francis I was aware of it and always tried to go to the extreme.

Marguerite entrusted the guardianship of her daughter, Jeanne, to Ayme de Lafayette, who lived near Alençon. In the early years of Jeanne's life, she had very limited contact with her parents and her education followed the humanist model of the Renaissance. She had no trace of a family life, and spent her childhood surrounded by adults, both at play and at work.

As we have seen, the French king was aware of Henry's relations with Charles V. Concerned about the loyalty and strength of his sister Margaret, he took a decisive step in 1538; he ordered the kidnapping of Joan, who was in the palace of Plessis Les Tours. From this moment on, the Navarrese royal family could no longer use Joan as an element of pressure against the French royal family. Rumors of a planned marriage with the Habsburgs would no longer threaten the Valois family.

Philip, Prince of Asturias (later Philip II) around 1549-1550 – Titian – Prado Museum

At the beginning of 1540, Charles V set off for the city of Ghent in the Netherlands, stopping at the French court. There, he proposed a marriage between Juana and his son and heir through his ambassador. Juan Martinez de Ezcurra, a Navarrese in the emperor's service, was working on a secret treaty project. In this treaty project, the Labritars proposed the possibility of recovering the upper Navarre in exchange for the marriage between Juana and the Prince of Asturias. On the part of the Labritars, in addition to the recovery of sovereignty, the return of all the income generated by the kingdom since the beginning of the conquest and the offer of a permanent alliance treaty were demanded. There was also a demand for a guarantee of the exchange of territories in the Iberian Peninsula in the event that the Labritars lost possession of the territories they had under the French crown.

The French king did not reject the idea of the marriage, he let time pass without a response. But Henry's conditions seemed excessive to the Council of State in Valladolid, and the project was shelved.

A few months later, the Duke of Cleves, heir to the province of Guelders in the Netherlands, made a delicate proposal to marry Joan. Francis I immediately agreed and tried to convince Henry with the promise of a new invasion of Navarre. The marriage contract was signed on 16 July 1540.

Wilhelm or Gilen, Duke of Cleves, first husband of Joanna around 1540 – Engraving – Rijksmuseum

Henry, however, took advantage of the Emperor's anger at his desire for the Dutch province and moved quietly. This time, it was Henry himself who proposed a marriage between Joanna and the future Philip II. To this end, he arranged for Joanna to be removed from Francis I's control and transported by sea or land to the territories of Charles V. Margaret knew nothing of these plans.

Charles V rejected the proposal; he found Henry's terms too high, but above all, he distrusted the proposal; he imagined it to be a conspiracy with the knowledge of Francis and Margaret.

Henry tried to convince her of the mistake of marrying his daughter and heir, the Duke of Cleves. But Margaret was too weak for her brother and after much hesitation she gave in. Angered and discouraged, Henry retired to the castle of Pau and refused the invitation of the French court to meet his daughter. He used as an excuse the refusal of the estates of Béarn to grant permission for the marriage.

Both Francis and his fiancé, when they visited Plessis, rejected the young Joan, who was only twelve years old at the time, his proposed marriage. When Marguerite visited him, her guardian, Madame de Lafayette, with her mother's permission, gave her a good beating. Joan, in her memoirs written years later, expressed the belief that if she continued to reject the Duke, the beatings would lead to her death.

Two days before the wedding, which was to be celebrated on 14 June, Joan wrote a letter expressing her strong disapproval of the arranged marriage. The following morning, in the presence of the same persons who had acted as witnesses, she made a short and firm protest. Henry and the Duke of Cleves agreed not to perform the marriage rites, and the Duke accordingly set out for his own territories, which were threatened by the Emperor's troops, as soon as the wedding festivities were over.

The fourth war between the houses of France and Austria ended in 1544. The two rivals were evenly matched, with no clear winner. But among the losers, one of the clearest was the Duke of Cleves. Defeated and humiliated on the battlefield, he was forced to bow to the emperor and submit to the empire. Joan waited in Alençon for the annulment of her marriage, on the grounds that it had been unfulfilled, forced, unconsensual, and contrary to law. In this case, Margaret was reunited with her daughter.

This annulment was approved by Pope Paul III in October 1545. The King of Navarre and his wife lived at the court of Fontainebleau until February 1546, and when they returned to their lands, Francis I opposed Joan's going with them. Joan therefore remained a hostage of the King of France, who lived in a golden cage.

Her parents did not lose hope in the idea of marrying Juana to the son of the Emperor. Henry, this time with the consent of Margarita and through his ambassador, again contacted Charles V. The latter did not want to reject the idea, but had other priorities at the moment.

Francis I died in 1547 and Henry II, the new king of France, son of Francis and niece of Margaret, announced his intention to marry Joan, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme and head of the House of Bourbon. Remember that from now on we will have two different Henry IIs, one French and the other Navarrese.

Until the last moment, the Navarrese royal court continued to make attempts to obtain the approval of the Habsburg heir to the throne, Philip. But in February 1548, an order arrived from the French court that did not accept any response. Margaret postponed her approval for a month, until spring arrived. The wedding, hastily and without much pomp, was celebrated on October 20, 1548, at the Bourbon palace of Moulins. Joan, at that time, was completely infatuated with her new husband. Margaret and Henry, however, were deeply unhappy and their daughter's marriage only further separated them.

The Palace of the Dukes of Bourbon in Moulins – in a 16th century engraving and today

The response of the Austrian court was immediate. Charles V convened the Navarrese courts, which recognized his son Philip, later Philip IV of Navarre and Philip II of Castile, as heir to the kingdom of Navarre.

Queen Margarita, in poor health, retired to her Pyrenean estates and devoted herself to writing. She died on 21 December 1549. Summoned by the king, her husband was far away and arrived too late to see her alive for the last time. The funeral, in the presence of all her family, was held in the cathedral of Lescar on 10 February 1550.

The widowed king of Navarre secretly proposed to him to marry the Duchess of Lorraine, the emperor's niece. The Duchess, as a dowry, would return the kingdom of Navarre and in exchange, instead of Joan and her husband, a possible son of the couple would inherit the crown of Navarre. In addition, the Austrian monarchy would receive the support of the Navarrese court if it attacked France. This proposal also did not go ahead; Henry was already suffering from the weight of years of work on his health.

In 1551, Juana and Antonio's first son was born, who lived for barely two years. He was named after his grandfather, Henri. Due to a mistake by the nanny Lafayette, he died of suffocation on August 20, 1553. Juana soon rejected the elderly nanny Lafayette.

On December 13, 1553, in the royal castle of Pau, the Prince of Viana and later King Henry III of Navarre was born; the same Henry IV (le bon roi Henri, the good king Henry), the first Bourbon king of France.

Both his father and grandfather were present at the birth, and the grandfather, taking the little prince in his arms, showed him to the rulers and lords of the kingdom who were in the salons and to the people who had gathered in the palace garden.

Now, King Henry could have replied to Charles in this way: "This is a true miracle, the sheep has given birth to a lion!" (In 1528, upon hearing of the birth of Joan, the emperor is said to have uttered the following phrase: "A miracle, the cow has given birth to a sheep, and the shepherd protects his flock!" (The cow is the symbol of Béarn, as we can see on the coins))

Royal Castle of Pau – The tower seen on the right in the photograph was part of the mint

On May 25, 1555, at the age of fifty-two, Henry II, King of Navarre, the last to be born in Navarre, died alone in the castle of Hagetmau. His funeral was held in Lescar on July 25, and his body remains in the cathedral there, awaiting burial in Pamplona, the capital of his kingdom, according to his last wish. Today, his last wish is still about to be fulfilled.

For his part, Charles V, in his last will and testament written in 1554, reflects on his problems of conscience and tells Philip II:

"en lo que toca al reyno de Navarre, haya de mirar y con diligencia examine y averiguar sincerere, si de justice y razón I will be obliged to restore el dicho reyno or otherwise satisfy or compensate some person. And what was found, determined and declared by justice, is fulfilled by effect, so that my soul and conscience are discharged."

We will develop the events surrounding Joan and Anthony, and the details of how Henry III became king of France, in another section.

Lescar Cathedral: The final resting place of the kings of the Foix-Labrit dynasty of Navarre. Joan III was buried in Vendôme, according to her last wishes, awaiting transfer to Lescar, but even in this case her last wishes were not respected.

Bibliography:

THE PROTESTANT COURT OF NAVARRE (1527-1563) - Victor Manuel Arbeloa Muru

HENRY II – KING OF NAVARRE – Wikipedia link

HENRY II OF NAVARRE – Wikipedia – link

BIOGRAPHIES - ENRIQUE II de ALBRET - Royal Academy of History - link

ENRIQUE II de ALBRET – Gran Enciclopedia de Navarre – link

MARGUERITE OF NAVARRE – Wikipedia – link

MARGARITA OF NAVARRA – Gran Enciclopedia de Navarre – link

LOS REYES DE LA BAJA NAVARRA AND SUS DOMINIOS – Blog de Antonio Leon – link

33° REY OF NAVARRA: ENRIQUE II EL SANGÜESINO- casarealnavarra.com – link

THE FIGURE OF THE BLOOD ENRIQUE II OF LABRIT AND MARGARITA OF NAVARRA, IN THE CONGRESS OF HISTORIADORS OF NAVARRA. VIANA. SEPTEMBER 18-19, 2010. – Dr. Jon Oria Osés – link

THE LAST BASQUE HEAD OF STATE – Aitzol Altuna – Nabarralde – link

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