Catherine of Navarre

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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.

[edit] Ancestors

Catherine's ancestors in three generations
Catherine of Navarre Father:
Gaston of Foix, Prince of Viana		 Paternal Grandfather:
Gaston IV of Foix		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
John I of Foix-Grailly
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Joan of Albret
Paternal Grandmother:
Eleanor of Navarre		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
John II of Aragon
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Blanche I of Navarre
Mother:
Magdalena of Valois		 Maternal Grandfather:
Charles VII of France		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Charles VI of France
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Isabeau of Bavaria
Maternal Grandmother:
Marie of Anjou		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Louis II of Naples
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Yolande of Aragon


[edit] Children

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

[edit] External links

Catherine of Navarre
Born: 1468 Died: 1518
Preceded by
Francis I		 Queen of Navarre
1483–1518
with John III		 Succeeded by
Henry II
Countess of Foix
1483–1518
with John III