bfe_681215 - BEARN - CATHERINE Vaquette

BEARN - CATHERINE

(1483-1516)

The history of Navarre is complex at the end of the 15th century. After the death of Charles II of Navarre in 1425, his daughter Blanche became Queen of Navarre and married Jean II King of Aragon (1397-1479) in 1420. Blanche died in 1441, her husband kept Navarre on behalf of his daughter Éléonore (1420-1479) who married Gaston IV, Count of Foix (+1472). When Éléonore died in 1479, her grandson, François Phébus, succeeded her, but he died in 1483. Her sister, Catherine de Foix, became queen of Navarre. She married Jean d'Albret in 1484. The two spouses were king and queen of Navarre. Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516), son of Jean of Aragon, disputed the throne of Navarre with Catherine, his great-niece. Ferdinand, the very Catholic king, and his wife Isabelle seized Navarre beyond the Pyrenees in 1512 and attached it to the Kingdom of Spain. Jean d'Albret died in 1516 and Catherine in 1517. Their son Henri d'Albret succeeded them (1516-1555). He is the grandfather of Henri IV.