BIRTH OF JEANNE II (Joan) OF NAVARRE
On 28th January 1312 a baby girl was born into the French royal family.
Jeanne de France was to be the only surviving child of her parents, Louis of France and Margaret of Burgundy.
Jeanne’s father Louis was the Dauphin of France.
In 1314 a scandal rocked the French monarchy to its very core, leaving a question mark over Jeanne’s legitimacy, that is still there today.
Jeanne’s mother, Margaret, was convicted of adultery, and imprisoned in the Chateau-Gaillard for the rest of her life.
The two knights in question of committing adultery with the queen, were the D’Aunay brothers.
The brothers were tortured and castrated before being brutally exEcuted by being ‘broken on the wheel’ and d~capitated.
After the discovery of her mother’s adultery, Jeanne’s legitimacy was now in question.
In November 1314, Jeanne’s grandfather Philip IV died, and her father succeeded to the French throne as King Louis X.
Louis was now desperate to produce a male heir.
Louis then married Clementia of Hungary and the couple were crowned jointly at Reims in August 1315.
Nothing is recorded of the relationship between Jeanne and her stepmother, or of how Jeanne’s status changed as the daughter of the King.
However, doubts over Jeanne’s legitimacy must still have been at the forefront of people’s minds as Louis X, on his deathbed in June 1316, made a point of stating that Jeanne was his legitimate daughter.
On 18th June 1318, at just 6 years old, Jeanne was married to her cousin~ 12-year-old Philip d’Evreux.
Philip was the grandson of Philip III of France.
She was then given into the care of Philip’s grandmother, the dowager queen Marie of Brabant, to continue her education.
Philip V died in 1322 and was succeeded by his brother, Charles IV.
A succession crisis began, when Charles also died on 1st February 1328, leaving Jeanne as the senior claimant to the French and Navarrese thrones.
However, with Salic Law in place, the French crown was offered to Philip of Valois, a descendant of Philip III, who acceded to the throne as Philip VI.
Navarre was not subject to Salic Law however, and the crown of Navarre finally came to Jeanne.
Her inheritance was publicly acknowledged by the new king of France.
After years in the shadows and aged just 17, Jeanne and her husband were crowned jointly, as King Philip III and Queen Jeanne II of Navarre, at Pamplona on 5th March 1329.
Jeanne’s marriage also appears to have been successful, with at least 7 children being born between 1326 and 1341, 3 of which were boys.
Jeanne and Philip shared their time between all their lands, with French governors installed to rule Navarre during their absences.
As rulers of Navarre, Jeanne and Philip had active legislation and building programmes, and tried to maintain peaceful relations with neighbouring states.
Philip died in 1343, aged 37, whilst on Crusade against the Muslim Kingdom of Granada in Spain.
He was mortally wounded by an arrow during the Siege of Algeciras, and died shortly after.
His body was returned to Pamplona for burial, while his heart was taken to Paris and interred at the Couvent des Jacobins.
From then on Jeanne ruled alone, dying of the plague on 6th October 1349.
She was just months short of her 38th birthday, having ruled Navarre for 21 of her 38 years.
Jeanne was buried in the royal Basilica of St Denis but her heart was laid to rest beside her husband’s in the Couvent des Jacobins ~ proof that the taint of bastardy that plagued Jeanne throughout her life, was no longer an issue.
