Catherine of Navarre

Catherine (in Spanish, Catalina de Foix) (1468-1518), was Queen of Navarre (1483-1518), duchess of Gandia, Montblanc, and Peñafiel, countess of Foix, Bigorre, and Ribagorza, and viscountess of Béarn.

The younger daughter of Gaston de Foix, Prince of Viana, and Magdalena of Valois, the sister of Louis XI. She was thus granddaughter of Eleanor of Navarre. She married John III d'Albret in 1484, duke of Gause, when she was only sixteen. From this marriage sprang eleven children.

The premature death of her brother, Francis Phoebus, made her queen under the regency of her mother. Her uncle, John of Foix appealing to the Salic Law, which had never been applied in Navarre, claimed the throne and ignited a civil war that reignited the old Beaumontese-Agromontese conflict.

The death of her mother in 1504, a hostage of Ferdinand the Catholic in Medina del Campo, provoked new wars between the Navarrese and the count of Lerín (1506-1508).

The political alliance between the houses of Valois and Foix led to marriage negotiations between Catherine and Louis XII. It was suggested that Henry, prince of Viana, first son and heir presumptive of Catherine, marry a daughter of the French king. These were the negotiations which led Ferdinand the Catholic to send the Duke of Alba to conquer Pamplona in 1512. On 25 July of that year, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, occupied Pamplona. The royal family fled to refuge in France.

On 23 March, 1513, the Cortes of Navarre, reunited in Pamplona, proclaimed Ferdinand "King of Navarre". Since then, Upper Navarre has been an integral part of Spain.

All subsequent attempts by Catherine and John III to reassemble their kingdom were futile. From 1513 to her death in 1518, Catherine was Queen in Baja Navarra, or Lower Navarre, north of the Pyrenees, alone.

Ancestors

Children

She and John III of Navarre were parents to thirteen children:

*Ana d'Albret of Navarre (19 May, 1492 - 15 August, 1532).
*Madealena d'Albret of Navarre (29 March, 1494 - May, 1504).
*Catalina d'Albret of Navarre (1495 - November, 1532). Abbess of the Trinity at Caen.
*Juana d'Albret of Navarre (15 June, 1496 - last mentioned in November, 1496).
*Quiteria d'Albret of Navarre (1499 - September/October, 1536). Abbess at Montivilliers.
*A stillborn son in 1500.
*Andres Febo d'Albret of Navarre (14 October, 1501 - 17 April, 1503).
*Henry II of Navarre (18 April, 1503 - 25 May, 1555).
*Buenaventura d'Albret of Navarre (14 July, 1505 - 1510/1511).
*Martin d'Albret of Navarre (c. 1506 - last mentioned in 1512).
*Francisco d'Albret of Navarre (1508 - last mentioned in 1512).
*Carlos d'Albret of Navarre (12 December, 1510 - September, 1528). Took part in the Siege of Naples during the War of the League of Cognac but was captured. Died while still held as a prisoner of war.
*Isabel d'Albret of Navarre (1513/1514 - last mentioned in 1555). Married Rene I, Viscount of Rohan.

External links

* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NAVARRE.htm List and genealogy of the Kings of Navarre]