Joan II of Navarre
Joan II of Navarre (January 28, 1312 – October 6, 1349) was Queen of Navarre 1328–1349. She was the only daughter of King Louis X of France (Louis I of Navarre) and his first wife, Margaret of Burgundy. She was a member of the House of Capet.
Life
On the deaths of her father (1316) and her half-brother, John I (also 1316), both of whom had been kings of France and Navarre, she was excluded from the succession in favor of her uncle Philip V of France (Philip II of Navarre), a brother of Louis X and son of Philip IV of France. Philip V prevailed for a number of reasons, including her youth, doubts raised about her paternity, and the Estates-General's determination that women should not be allowed to rule France. The last reason, however, was not applicable to Navarre because there was already precedent there for succession by a female. After Philip V's brother and successor Charles IV of France (Charles I of Navarre) died in 1328, there was no male heir to either crown in the direct line from Philip IV. Instead, a more distant Philip, a descendant of Philip IV's younger brother Charles of Valois, successfully claimed the throne as Philip VI of France in preference to Joan and a number of other females closer to the line of succession.
Joan did become Queen of Navarre through a treaty with Philip VI, who was not a descendant of the later Kings of Navarre through Garcia Ramírez of Navarre and who could not invoke a rule against female succession in Navarre. In the treaty, she had to renounce her claims not only to the crown of France but also to her grandmother's estates in Brie and Champagne (which were merged in the French royal domain). In compensation, she received the counties of Angoulême and Mortain as well as a portion of Cotentin (Longueville). Later on she exchanged Angouleme for three estates in Vexin:- Pontoise, Beaumont-sur-Oise, and Asnière-sur-Oise.
She reigned as Queen of Navarre until her death in 1349, together with her husband, Philip III of Navarre as de jure uxoris king, 1329–1343. Philip was also Count of Évreux, the heir of Count Louis of Évreux (youngest son of Philip III of France), and thus of Capetian male blood. Because of his patrimonial lands, together with Joan's gains in Normandy and her rights in Champagne, the couple had extensive possessions in Northern France.
Altogether, Joan and Philip had eight children. She was succeeded by their son Charles II of Navarre. Their daughter Blanche d'Evreux became the second wife of Philip VI of France.
Although Joan never ascended the French throne, her descendants and heirs, the Kings of Navarre, were to eventually reach the throne of France when Henry IV of France inherited the crown two centuries later, in 1589. From then onwards, all Kings of France carried Joan's blood and were her heirs. The Kings of France had already been descended from her since the ascension of Henry II (who was Joan's issue in 8th generation, through for example his maternal great-grandmother Margaret of Foix-Navarre, duchess consort of Brittany, and through Margaret's husband's great-grandmother Joan of Navarre, queen of England and also duchess consort of Brittany, who herself was Joan's granddaughter); these were not, however, senior descendants of Joan.
Children
| French Monarchy |
| Direct Capetians |
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| Hugh Capet |
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| Robert II |
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| Henry I |
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| Philip I |
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| Louis VI |
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| Louis VII |
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| Philip II |
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| Louis VIII |
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| Louis IX |
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| Philip III |
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| Philip IV |
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| Louis X |
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| John I |
| Philip V |
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| Charles IV |
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- Maria of Navarre (c. 1329–1347), first wife of King Pedro IV of Aragon (1319–1387).
- Blanche d’Évreux (1331–1398), second wife of the much older King Philip VI of France (1293–1350).
- Charles II of Navarre (1332–1387), King of Navarre, known as Charles le Mauvais, i.e. Charles the Bad.
- Agnès of Navarre (1334–1396), married Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391).
- Philip, Count of Longueville (1336–1363), married Yolande de Dampierre (1331–1395.
- Joan of Navarre (1339–1403), married John I, Viscount of Rohan (d. 1395).
- Louis, Count of Beaumont-le-Roger (1341–1372), married 1358 Maria de Lizarazu, married 1366 Joanna of Durazzo (1344–1387)