Charles III of Navarre

Charles III of Navarre, called the Nobleman (Mantes-la-Jolie, July 22, 1361-Olite, December 8, September 1425), was King of Navarre (1387-1425), Count of Evreux (1387-1404) and Duke of Nemours (1404-1425). He was the son and successor of Carlos II of Navarre and Juana de Valois.

Carlos as an infant: early years

Glass of the Capilla Navarra located in the Colegiata de Notre-Dame de Mantes-la-Jolie where several kings and queens of Navarre of the House of Évreux are shown.

Mantes and the House of Évreux

The city of Mantes, at the gates of Paris, was his parents' place of residence during the long stays outside Navarre that the issues raised in the context of the Hundred Years War forced them to take care of their interests in the County of Évreux and other patrimonial possessions in the surroundings of the French capital having recently signed the Treaty of Brétigny (May 8, 1360) and the kings of France and Navarre had met again in Saint-Denis (December 12, 1360). Thus, with peace signed and his son born, in November 1361 he returned to Navarre after ten years of absence but leaving the queen, Juana, and the newborn infant, Carlos, in France.

A little later it will be the queen who sets foot on Navarrese soil for the first time (January 1363) but having left little Carlos in Évreux with his aunt Blanca de Évreux, widow of the King of France, Felipe VI. Until 28 December 1365 Queen Juana did not return to the county and was reunited with an infant Carlos four years older. That same year the King of France, Charles V, had definitively deprived his brother-in-law Charles II of his belongings in Mantes and Meulan.In April 1366, his brother Pedro de Navarra, future Count of Mortain, was born in Évreux.

The infant Carlos arrives in Navarra. Death of the queen.

In August of the following year (1366) the infants Carlos and Pedro set foot on Navarrese soil for the first time. Carlos was already five years old. Carlos II went out to receive them at San Juan de Pie de Puerto since he hardly knew any of his two sons.

In 1369, during his father's trip to France, he already entitles himself, despite his young age, as a lieutenant of the kingdom. It will be years in which his parents will be forced to return to France on a recurring basis, thus being that his mother Juana died suddenly on November 3, 1373 in Évreux while carrying out a mission entrusted by her husband in front of his royal brother.

Marriage with Leonor

His marriage to Leonor de Trastámara, daughter of King Enrique II of Castile, on May 27, 1375 in Soria put an end to the conflicts between the two kingdoms and created a friendship that continued into the times of the kings of Castile John I and Henry III. Leonor was the daughter of Enrique II and Juana Manuel, therefore the grandson of don Juan Manuel.

Ambassador and prisoner

As an infant, in 1378, by order of his father (Charles II), he headed an embassy to parley with Charles V of France. The latter arrested him and ordered the embargo of the Navarrese possessions in France, saving only the impregnable Cherbourg. In the interrogation the plans of the Navarrese king to get the town of Logroño were discovered. Alerted by King Enrique II of Castile, he ordered the invasion of Navarra, forcing Carlos II to sign the Treaty of Briones. The infante Carlos was freed in 1380.

Carlos III de Navarra

Charles as King: Ascension to the Throne

At the beginning of 1387 Carlos died in Pamplona. His son Carlos was in Castile. At the time of his accession to the throne, the kingdom "was exhausted: several places had Castilian garrisons, the sovereign had hardly any friends or foreign ally, epidemic and climatic crises had decimated the population and its resources over several seasons, and the excellent financial organization did not have many resources to deal with so many problems."

In a context of economic crisis, foreign pacifism and growing aristocratization of society (parallel to that of Aragon), Carlos III addressed a policy in accordance with the possibilities and resources of Navarre.

He sought to relax relations with Castile, Aragon, France and England through a policy of collaboration, support for the Avignon papacy and matrimonial relations.

He collaborated with Castile in the wars against Granada and led to the marriage of the infante Juan, son of Fernando de Antequera, with the infantas Isabel and Blanca (1412).

He also sought peace with Aragon through the marriage of the Infanta Blanca with Martín the Younger (1402), then heir to the Aragonese throne. The same happened with France and England.

The link between Navarre and the French house of Foix (through the marriage of his daughter Juana with Juan I de Foix) was his work. Said marriage had been prepared before the death of the heir to the Navarrese throne, Carlos, and it was celebrated a posteriori, although this meant that his son-in-law added Navarre to his domains, which is interpreted as meaning that the monarch did not care that his kingdom passed to become part of the French feudal world. In any event, Joan's death without issue frustrated that possibility.

Among his political reforms, the ordinances of the Cort or supreme court in 1413 stand out.

The abandonment of his father's expansionism allowed him to personalize a process of estrangement from France and the Évreux Dynasty's Navarreization. By the Treaty of Paris of 1404, the differences with Carlos VI of France were resolved, renouncing the French fiefdoms of his house (Champagne, Brie) and the appointment of Navarrese for the main government posts.

He instituted the title of Prince of Viana in 1423 for the heirs to the throne of the Navarrese kingdom. The first to hold this title was his grandson Carlos de él. Also in this year he signed the Union Privilege. At the beginning of his reign he created the order of the White Greyhound, which bore the motto "In Good Faith" ( Bonne foy ).

In 1415, he raised the question of whom to marry his daughter Blanca, now heiress. The Foix presented the widower of their eldest daughter Juana, Juan III, as a candidate, and Fernando de Antequera proposed his second son, the future Juan, twelve years younger than his possible wife. Finally, between being included in the network of French lordships and continuing as a kingdom (although under the political network of Aragon), the monarch opted for the latter. The conditions for the celebration of the link, established in the Olite treaty signed on 6 November 1419) and that of Guadalajara on February 18, 1420 were as follows: the throne would go to Blanca (who would receive the dukedom of Nemours) and her descendants, no part of Navarre could be annexed to another kingdom, and public offices They should be only for Navarrese. The kingdom was thus linked to the powerful Trastámara dynasty, but with safeguards for its permanence.

He stood out as a promoter of the arts, as he completed the reconstruction works of the Cathedral of Pamplona, which had sunk on July 1, 1380, and had the royal palaces of Tafalla and Olite built, where he died in 1425 a the 64 years.

Estatua de Carlos III el Noble en Pamplona

Offspring

He married Leonor de Trastámara, daughter of King Enrique II of Castile, in Soria on May 27, 1375. He had the following children:

• Juana (1383-July 1413), married to Juan I de Foix.
• Blanca (1385 -Santa Maria de Nieva, April 3, 1441). He succeeded his father in 1424 as the queen of Navarre.
• Maria (1388-Pamplona, January 6, 1406).
• Margarita (1390-1403/25).
• Beatriz (1392-November -December 1407), married in 1402 with Jaime II de Borbón, Count de la Marche. From this marriage was born Leonor de Borbón and Evreux (Burlada, 1407-?, 1464), the first granddaughter of Carlos and Leonor, who would end up inheriting the Duke of Nemours, La Marche County and Castres, having married Bernardo VIII Count of Armañac.
• Isabel (1395-after August 31, 1435), married to Juan IV, Count of Armagnac.
• Carlos (Pamplona, June 30, 1397-Estella, August 12, 1402), jury heir to the throne in 1398 and died at five years.
• Luis (Olite, 1401-14 October 1402), died before completing a year.

He had several illegitimate children, "born by leading ladies":

• Juana de Navarra, the oldest daughter out of marriage with Gracia del Verde. On March 8, 1396 the marriage capitulations were signed for his wedding with Íñigo Ortiz de Zúñiga, legitimate son Diego López de Zúñiga, the king's greatest justice. Both were minors. The deposoriums were signed on 26 August 1403 and the marriage was not held until about five years later.
• Lancelot (c. 1386-8 January 1420), vicar general and apostolic administrator of the Pamplona bishop when he was vacant, between 1408 and 1420.
• Godofre de Navarra, Conde de Cortes y mariscal de Navarra. He contracted marriage in first marriages with Teresa Ramirez of Arellano who had a daughter, Blanca who died young. Once Godofredo arrived in Castile, he married Elvira de Torres de Navarra, his debt, with great age difference but he became interested in it to ensure his influences in Castile and Andalusia because the House of Torres was one of the most powerful. Godofredo had lost great influence at that time by having reached the throne his half sister. With Elvira he had a son, Carlos de Navarra, also called Carlos de Cortes, who served in the court of Castilla. He was the one who welcomed his uncles from the House of Torres with great splendor to the Catholic Kings when they arrived in the Kingdom of Jaen.
• Juana de Navarra, sister of the eldest daughter of children born out of wedlock. He married Luis de Beaumont, created Count of Lerín on the occasion of his wedding for his father-in-law.
• Leonel, deceased after 1441.
• Maria, nun.

Ancestors

Predecessor: Carlos II	King of Navarre 1387-1425	Successor: White I
Predecessor: Carlos II	Count of Évreux 1387-1404	Successor: Return to Royal Dominican Republic
Predecessor: New title	Duke of Nemours 1404-1425	Successor: Jaime de Armagnac (After disputing it with the Kings of Navarre)