Joan II of Navarre

Joan II of Navarre:

I just want to cut in momentarily on Joan II’s story. As I mentioned in Empress Matilda Part Three, I am recording my first special episode and it should be out this week. The subject is Simon de Montfort. This will be available via Patreon at the lowest tier, heir presumptive, which is $2 US per month. Future special episodes will be available at the $5 US per month, the heir apparent tier. When you join Patreon you’ll get a shout-out at the end of the episode I record after you join and you’ll have ad-free episodes in the future. I’ll post announcement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Patreon when the episode is live! Now, on to Joan II of Navarre. 

Joan II of Navarre was born on January 28th 1312, there’s little information about her early life. This was often the norm with daughters, and the events of 1314 would have made it even less likely for there to be records, but it’s equally likely that the French Revolution destroyed any evidence we have for Joan’s early life. As mentioned in the introduction, the Tour de Nesle affair put Joan’s paternity into question. While Louis acknowledged her, there was the possibility that she wasn’t his, and in the world of absolute monarchy this is a matter for the state. A king’s illegitimate children are to be expected, a queen’s are treason and an insult to the king and his realm. Her mother, Margaret of Burgundy, the daughter of the late Duke of Burgundy, and the sister of the sitting duke was imprisoned in Chateau Gaillard where she was killed (or died) not long after Louis’ ascension, Margaret was only 25 and Joan was two. 

Louis the Quarrelsome was 24 when he became king in 1314. He and those around him had every reason to expect that he would live a long life, have many more children, once his first wife was out of the way, and continue the relative stability of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Even if he only lived as long as his father, they were looking at a 22 year reign. Instead his would be the second shortest Capetian reign and the fourth shortest pre-French Revolution reign. Though his reign was short it does have one very strong positive, he ended slavery in France and announced slaves stepping onto French soil were free. As part of this he began the process of abolishing serfdom. 

While he didn’t know how little time he had, he did know he would need more children. One child does not guarantee a secure succession and a daughter is not as secure as a son. He did act quickly after the ‘removal’ of his first wife, and married Clementia of Hungary days after the death of Margaret. Clementia was a royal princess even though her father was not actually or actively ruling Hungary. Sadly, his love a real tennis and ongoing disagreements both inside and outside of his kingdom may have put a damper on securing succession.

In June 1316 Louis’ love of real tennis would cause him to be the first named tennis player, due to his death after a game. His death was most likely caused by pneumonia brought about by drinking too quickly after his last game. He was 26 and Joan found herself an orphan at four. As I mentioned last week, Joan would be first in line if Clementia’s child were a girl and second if a boy were born. Joan’s uncle, Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy and her grandmother, Agnes of France were both ready to support her claim. On November 15th 1316 Clementia gave birth to John I, or Jean the Postume. While regencies are never ideal, his birth was celebrated. Sadly his reign was the shortest in pre-Revolution French history, lasting only five days. Short lives, as John’s was, are why I try to stick to telling stories about adults on this show.

There were, of course, rumours of poisoning, but in reality John most likely died from one of any number of infections that occur around childbirth. Being born in a time before modern medicine did not give the young the best chance for a long life. According to Louis the Quarrelsome’s last wishes Joan should have been crowned, but is not what happened. While many cursory reads of French history will mention ‘Salic Law’ with regards to succession there was no mention of succession in Salic Law. Salic Law mainly deals with property and fines for destruction of property, it was codified, but had nothing to do with royal succession. I will be discussing this much more in our next episode, it is actually a fascinating subject, well, at least in a legal sense. Thus far in French history there had never been a need to enshrine succession into law. Sons followed fathers for the Capetians until this moment. Prior to this there were brother-to-brother successions, new lines were elected by the nobles, as had happened with Hugh Capet more than 300 years earlier. The predecessor line to the Capetians, the Robertians had ruled France, by election, during gaps in Carolingian rule, and Charlemagne himself was descended from an elected king (though he expanded his territory greatly). There is even one historical example of a woman being the ‘bridge’ for a ruler. Rodolph or Raoul, a Robertian king who ruled from 923-936 was the son-in-law of the previous king, but he was elected by the nobles, this would indicate that nothing was prohibitive about choosing a female king or allowing the line to continue through the grandson of a king in the female line. 

Joan had three things going against her other than her sex. First, she was only four, which means others would have had to both advocate for her coronation and then rule for her. She was also way too young to be married or be a mother, so there was no way to know when a son would be born to take over from her. They could have been looking at a thirty year regency period (Joan’s childhood, plus her potential son’s minority). That is a long period without stable leadership. Joan’s maternal uncle, Odo and his mother, were on her side at the start, but eventually Odo would be persuaded to give up her cause. Due to being so young she wasn’t, thankfully, married. It meant, though, that she didn’t have the military might of a husband to assist. This leads to her second strike, her paternal uncle, Philip the Tall. He had been acting as regent for the last five month, keeping things warm waiting for his nephew’s birth. It’s likely he figured he could just keep acting in this role. Her third strike was being an orphan. She didn’t have her mother there to fight for her. The two previous regencies had both started with the queen-mother in control and looking after the interests of her child. Joan didn’t have that advantage.

Here enters this story’s historical villain, Charles of Valois, Philip the Fair’s younger brother. Charles of Valois wanted to be king, not necessarily of France, he was actually very close to his brother and shows no signs of trying to usurp him or even any of his nephews, but he’s often portrayed as the puppet-master. With Charles of Valois backing Philip was able to persuade Joan’s uncle Odo to support his claim to the throne. He further swayed Odo to give up Joan’s claims to Navarre (more on this in a moment, no renunciations are recorded). In exchange Odo would marry Philip’s oldest daughter, Joan III, yes, the second of our passed and one of the subjects of next week’s episode. Philip is the first to use the argument from Salic Law that inheritance should go through men only. Now, for Philip this would end up being an own-goal, but he didn’t know that yet. There were protests in Joan’s maternal lands over this usurpation and Philip’s coronation wasn’t well attended, but he was crowned regardless. Joan was now an orphan, without any titles beyond that of princess. To her advantage no one saw her as much a threat, so she wasn’t killed or sent to a convent. Philip actually, as part of his negotiations with Odo, did arrange a marriage for her, which I’ll come to soon. 

Now, you may have noticed I refer to Joan as Joan II of Navarre, I feel I should explain a little about Navarre before we move on. Navarre was a kingdom on the border of France and Spain. It had been an independent kingdom since around 824. Joan II’s grandmother and Philip the Fair’s wife, Joan I of Navarre brought the kingdom into the French realm with her marriage. Navarre had previously had female rulers and had no problem with Queens regnant, as long as they could maintain their sovereignty. They did, like almost all kingdoms of the time practice male-preference primogenitor, sons first, then daughters oldest to youngest. Joan II’s father had been king of Navarre since his mother’s death in 1305, but Philip the Tall wanted both Navarre and France. 

Odo and Philip negotiated that Joan would marry her half first cousin, once removed, Philip the Wise, yes, another Philip. They would be given a dowry of 15,000 livres (liv-re) and the inheritance of Champagne and Brie is Philip the Tall died without male issue. Odo would marry Philip’s oldest daughter, she would inherit the county of Burgundy if her father died without male issue. Joan was also to renounce her claims to Navarre when she turned twelve, but it appears this last bit never happened, leaving a crucial door open for her future. 

Joan II and Philip the Wise’s marriage was celebrated on the 18th June 1318, but thankfully not consummated until 1324. Joan would be raised near her husband by her step-great grandmother, who was her husband’s grandmother. Having lost both her parents being offered a stable upbringing would have been something worth having and probably explains the rest of Joan II’s life. 

Joan and Philip’s first child, a daughter, was born in 1326. They would go on to have eight more, by all accounts their marriage was harmonious, but romantically unremarkable. This may sound boring, but avoiding the excitement of her parents’ relationship may have been a goal worth having. 

Joan II’s uncle, Philip the Tall, died without male issue in 1322, as I’ve said before, it was an own-goal. He was succeeded in both France and Navarre by his brother, and Joan’s uncle, Charle IV or the Fair. In 1328 he passed without male issue as well. At this point France’s throne was taken by Philip of Valois, the son of Charles of Valois, who became Philip VI or the Fortunate, which is a fitting name. Oddly this will only be the first time that a cousin becomes French king after having being only distantly in line at the start of his life (I’ll get to the other case at the end of this episode, at the time of Philip the Fair’s death Philip the Fortunate was fifth in the of succession using Salic law, or eleventh if tradition, but untested, succession is used). Philip the Tall and Charles the Fair will be discussed a bit more in the next episode, but it’s important to remember that they were the sons of Joan I of Navarre, and therefore acceptable to the Navarrese as kings, but Philip the Fortunate was not a descendant of Joan I, and not Navarrese and therefore unacceptable to the Navarrese. Had Joan renounced her claims properly it’s likely that Isabella of France, our fourth subject, and the Queen of England through her marriage to Edward the II would have had the next best claim.

As an independent kingdom the Navarrese were not willing to submit to French overlordship. They decided they wanted Joan II as their queen. So, yes, technically Joan will be a queen, but not a France. I do plan a future series that includes those that were kings, but not necessarily of the country they wanted to be king of. 

Joan’s ascension was complicated by her husband, Phillip the Wise. As his sobriquet might suggest, there wasn’t anything actually wrong with him, he just wasn’t Navarrese. To this day the inhabitants of this area are, rightly, protective of their language and culture, in Spain it’s even an autonomous area. They were wary of allowing an outsider coming to rule their country. Joan I’s marriage to Philip the Fair was part of treaty undertaken by her mother, Blanche of Artois, to protect Joan I’s rights to her throne after she became queen regnant before her second birthday.The Treaty of Orlean in 1275 would create a personal union by marriage, and hopefully progeny, but allowed Navarre to remain a seperate kingdom. The Navarrese nobility was very supportive of Joan I, blaming all wrongs done to them by the French on Philip the Fair, or before his ascension his father, Philip III. Allowing Philip the Wise to rule as king required careful negotiation, Philip the Fair and his father before him, had their own kingdoms, Philip the Wise did not. Joan II would be the only member of the couple crowned, her coronation was her’s alone. The couple were to renounce their claims once their heir, an unborn son, reached 21. 

By all accounts the couple ruled the kingdom well. They appointed able regents in their absents. Some of the highlights of their reign including punishing those who perpetrated anti-Jewish riots and compensating the victims. This was a time of regular state-sanctioned anti-semitism, to have a royal couple assisting Jews was a progressive moment. They repaired the royal fortresses, which would be symbolic and possibly real in the support of Navarrese sovereignty. And finally they built new irrigation systems in the country’s second largest city. We celebrate large civic projects to this day, and it wasn’t any different at this time. 

Philip the Wise died in 1343, Joan II continued to rule their territories. They had been married for 25 years, though only living as a couple for 19. He was survived by eight of their nine children.

Joan originally supported her cousin, King Philip the Fortunate against their cousin Edward III of England in their dispute over the French throne. Edward’s claims came through his mother, the fourth subject in this mini-series, Isabella of France. This dispute is the start of the Hundred Years War, yes, I do have two mini-series planned for this period, one for the French and one for the English. Due to Philip the Fortunate’s poor military leadership she negotiated a treaty with Edward’s general (and their joint half-cousin) Henry, Earl of Lancaster, soon to be 1st Duke of Lancaster (do remember his name for our next mini-series if you can) in November 1346. This granted the English coastal access through Angouleme and promised to not allow Philip access to her castles. She would receive protection of her lands in exchange. 

Joan died in October of 1349 of the plague. One of the early victims of what this period would be known for. She was succeeded by her son Charles, who would earn the unfortunate sobriquet ‘The Bad’. Charles did attempt to push his claims to France with the goal of building a large empire. His efforts were for naught. The end of Joan’s story is not the end of her family’s story though. Through Charles the Bad, she was the ancestor of Jeanne III or Joan III of Navarre, the mother of the first Bourbon king for France, Henry IV. I mentioned earlier that Philip the Fortunate would not be the last time someone born distantly in line to the throne would succeed. At his birth Henry IV was forth in line for the throne, but would be displaced to fifth the year after. His distant cousin, Henry II had four surviving sons, no one would have imagined Henry IV become both king of Navarre and France, but in 1589 it happened. As the start of this series I opened with Jacques de Molay cursing Philip the Fair, the curse was said to have been placed, screamed from the fire, on the next 13 generations of his line. His powers of cursing may have been off, Henry IV was the 12 generation after Philip the Fair. This furthers my belief that curses are only what one makes of them. 

So would Joan have been a better king than the person she was passed over for. Well, even if she had been king that person would most likely have been her regent. Philip the Tall wasn’t actually a bad king, he’s regularly described as capable and like his father. He probably would have been a perfectly good regent. In addition he did nothing to harm Joan II and even arranged a very well-suited marriage for her. He was just selfish in his usurpation. By making the decision to prevent royal inheritance down a female line he couldn’t have realised that his children would never rule France. He had a son when he was crowned, and like his brother would have no reason to think he couldn’t have more children. But he would only be survived by his daughters, including our next subject. 

At four years old though, no one is a good option as a ruler. However, as she became an adult Joan II showed amazing aptitude for ruling well. She protected Navarrese sovereignty while governing her other lands and was able to negotiate international alliances to protect her small kingdom’s interests. I don’t doubt she would have done well in ruling France had she been given the chance. There is of course the matter of the upcoming Hundred Years War. A war predicated on England’s claim to France from Isabella of France, Joan II’s paternal aunt. Had Joan been named queen Edward III would have had a lot fewer legal arguments to stake a claim on. This may have allowed him and the French to focus on eradicating the plague instead of trying to deal with the plague and fight ongoing wars. It may have prevented the succession crisis in England, the War of the Roses. I have no doubt the kings of Europe would have found something else to fight over, but they would have had to work harder to create a causes beli. 

Out of curiosity I did research cases of minority queenships. I could find two that occurred before Joan II, and were close enough geographically to be relevant to her. The first was her grandmother, Joan I. Joan I’s mother only acted as regent until Philip III of France (Philip the Fair’s father) was able, by treaty, to take over. Joan I also had the advantage of having her mother there to look after her interests. The second is far more fascinating, Petronilla of Aragon, queen of Aragon from 1137-1164. Petronilla’s life itself is a highly unlikely event. Her father, Ramiro Sanchez, was the fourth son of king Sancho Ramirez of Aragon and Pamplona. As a fourth son he was never expected to rule or be needed to have children to carry on the line. As such, his father, in normal practice at the time, sent him into the church, his older brothers Peter and Alfonso would both be king in turn after their father, their brother Fernando likely predeceased their father. Ramiro excelled in the religious field, he was a respected scholar and leader, an elected abbot who had been elected bishop of Barbastro-Roda in 1134. His election happened to coincide with the death of his last brother, Alfonso the Battler, who died childless. Alfonso did try to leave his crown to the Knights Templar, Knights Hospitalar, and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, but his wishes were not respected and his nobles decided to force Ramiro to abandon his vows. They thought he would be easy to control, being a former monk. They underestimated him. The nobles did help him make or made for him a good choice in wife, Agnes of Aquitaine had three surviving children with her first husband and was at the most thirty, a perfectly reasonable age to have further children. Petronilla was the result of this union. She was born less than a year after her parent’s wedding. Her father renounced the throne before her first birthday as part of a deal that saw her promised to Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, who was 23 years her senior. Thankfully their marriage wasn’t consummated until 1151. Count Ramon would rule on his child-wife’s behalf, with the meddling help of her father from his bishopric, until she attended her majority, and then they would rule jointly. Count Ramon passed in 1162 and in 1164 Petronilla abdicated in favour of their seven year old son, whom we know as Alfonso II of Aragon, but whom was originally named after his father. Petronilla acted as her son’s regent until her death in 1173. Petronilla’s inheritance and rule of the kingdom of Aragon was used to set precedent in Spain for succession of queens regnant and succession through female lines. Ferdinand II of Aragon, he of Ferdinand and Isabella fame, was descended through a female line. Obviously his wife set her own precedent as queen of Castile. Petronilla had many advantages over Joan II, no uncles around to usurp her claims, both of her parents were still alive to defend her claims, and her husband was an adult with proven military experience, unlike Philip the Wise who was only twelve at the time of his and Joan II’s marriage. Petronilla may have been used as precedent later, but in her own time she had a lot of military support to back her, Joan lost all hers very quickly. 

I’ll be discussing more on Salic Law (yes, legal talk!) and royal inheritance in the next episode. Sadly, like many women of their time, Joan III of Burgundy and Blanche of France do not have anywhere near as much biographical information as their male contemporaries, or even their cousin, who was a queen after all. This does give me the chance though to discuss how this rule came about. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed Joan II’s story. I really like that she wasn’t completely passed, and that she actually did a great job a queen in the area she was allowed to rule. The book ‘Capetian France 987-1328’ but Elizabeth Hallam and Charles West has been invaluable for this whole mini-series. ‘The Romance of Adultery’ by Peggy McCracken has both a great name and was useful to help frame the Tour de Nesle Affair. The Avalon Project from Yale Law School had translated Salic Law documents, which really show that Philip might have been grasping at straws. Please join me next week. Thank you again for listening.