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ABSTRACT
Navarre has long been seen as a liminal state, torn between influence and interference from its French and Iberian neighbors. The five regnant queens of Navarre exemplify this situation through their own lives which saw them pulled politically and even physically between France and Iberia—from Juana I who lived the whole of her life in France, to queens like Juana II and Catalina I who moved back and forth over the Pyrenees during their reign, to the queens Blanca I and her daughter Leonor who spent their reigns (though not their whole lives) largely in Iberia. The diverse location of these queens’ death and burial reflect the geographical context of their lives—significantly, none of the regnant queens of Navarre are buried in their own capital city of Pamplona and only one is buried in Navarre itself. This article will examine the tombs of these five women, unpicking the situational, dynastic and political context which resulted in their virtual absence from the kingdom they ruled in death and the individuals and factors involved in the shaping of their memory.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Leroy, Navarre, 186. All translations are mine unless otherwise noted.
2 See Woodacre, Queens Regnant. After the annexation there was one further regnant queen, Juana III or Jeanne d’Albret (r. 1555–1572), who is not included here as she did not hold the Iberian kingdom itself.
3 Booton, “Commemorating Duke John IV,” 157–86.
4 Ramírez Vaquero et al., “Materiales para analizar,” 127.
5 Woodacre, Queens Regnant, 25–29.
6 See Herreros Lopetegui, “Navarra,” 193–208. On Juana’s engagement with her Champenois territories, see Lalou, “Le gouvernement,” 16–30.
7 For a discussion of their power-sharing dynamic and that of the other regnant queens of Navarre and their husbands, see Woodacre, “The Kings Consort of Navarre,” 11–32.
8 Louis X of France (Luis I of Navarre, r. 1305–1316) r. 1314–1316; Philip V of France (Felipe II of Navarre) r. 1316–1322; Charles IV of France (Carlos I of Navarre) r. 1322–1328.
9 For an excellent brief biography of Isabella of France, see Evans, “Isabella of France,” 27–48.
10 The year of Juana’s death is sometimes given as 1304 due to differences in the dating systems and the reckoning of Easter, see Herreros Lopetegui, “Juana I,” 460n7. Juana’s final will of 1305 is reproduced in full in Albertos San José, García-Alonso Montoya, and Ortiz Ibarz, “París 1304,” 58–63. See also Brown, “La mort,” 508–09.
11 Brown, “La mort,” 124–25, gives a thorough discussion of Juana’s will and the action taken after her death by her husband, Philip IV of France, regarding her testamentary wishes.
12 Brown, “La mort,” 136.
13 Slater, “Defining Queenship,” 53–76.
14 Gaude-Ferragu, Queenship, 142. Juana’s son Philip V of France (husband of Jeanne de Bourgogne) had his heart buried at the Cordeliers church, and his son Louis was buried there as well; see Robson, The Franciscans, 168; Brown “Royal Succession,” 275–76, 281–82.
15 Leprévost, “Objets divers,” 549.
16 Brown, Capetian France, 256. For a discussion of the erroneous inscription at Avon, see Leprévost, “Objets divers,” 548–53.
17 See Brown, “Death and the Human Body,” 221–70, and “Authority, the Family, and the Dead,” 803–32, for the controversy surrounding the division of the body and heart burial for those in the French royal family. The text of Detestande feritatis is reproduced in Bande, Le coeur du roi, 79–80.
18 Nagle, La civilisation du coeur, 141.
19 Duch, “My Crown Is in My Heart,” 1–4.
20 See Woodacre, Queens Regnant, 51–63; Whaley, “Salic Law,” 443–64.
21 Beroiz Lazcano, Crimen y castigo; Miranda García, Felipe III y Juana II; Segura Urra, Fazer justicia.
22 While the Black Death is often given as the cause of her death, Miranda García, “Juana II,” 605, notes she had been suffering from ill health previously and had asked the king of Castile in June 1349 to send her his Jewish doctor Salomón.
23 See Azcárate Aguilar-Amat, “Aportación y muerte,” 61–76.
24 Pavón Benito, “Felipe III,” 260.
25 Bande, Le coeur du roi, 101, has noted that the couple, “Sépares par-delà la mort, les deux époux étaient pourtant réunis par leur tombeau de coeur.”
26 Barker, Stone Fidelity, 94–95.
27 Keane, Material Culture, 46–50.
28 My thanks to Tracy Chapman Hamilton for these insights based on the medieval maps of Paris she has created and presented in her paper “Mapping the Global Premodern Woman.” See also Davis, “A Gift from the Queen,” 76.
29 Keane, Material Culture, 49–50. Juana and Philip’s inscriptions from their heart tombs at the convent of the Jacobins are reprinted in Millin, Antiquités Nationales, 80.
30 Ramírez Vaquero, “Memoria del rey,” 293, has noted that neither Philip d’Evreux nor Juana II’s will survives, thus we cannot be certain of their own preferences for burial.
31 Miret y Sans, “Lettres closes,” 56.
32 Keane, “Louis IX,” 237–52; Mertzman, “An Examination,” 19–25.
33 Nagle, La civilisation du coeur, 142. See also Keane, Material Culture, 34, for excerpts from Blanche’s will specifying entire burial. See also Graña, “Isabel la Católica” for a comparison with Isabel I of Castile.
34 The children of Carlos III of Navarre and Leonor de Trastamara were Juana (b. 9 November 1382), Maria (b. 1383/1384), Blanca (b. 1385/1386), Beatriz (b. 1386, possibly one of twins), Isabel (b. July 1396), Carlos (b. June 1397), and Luis (b. 1401).
35 For a brief overview of this period of Blanca’s life and the challenges she faced as viceroy, see Fodale, “Blanca de Navarra,” 311–22.
36 Her children were Carlos, Princípe de Viana (b. 1421), Juana (b. 1423, d. 1425), Blanca, later Princesa de Asturias during her brief marriage to Enrique (later IV) of Castile (b. 1424) and Leonor, later Countess of Foix, governor and ultimately Queen of Navarre (b. 1425).
37 Ramírez Vaquero, “Blanca de Navarra,” 704: “No es casual la muerte de Blanca en Nieva: la villa y santuario está en un punto neurálogico entre los focos principales de la política castellana … La reina no estaba simplemente de camino hacia Navarra, peregrinando como otras tantas veces y al paso de una vista al santuario; estaba allí ejerciendo una labor política … ”
38 For more on the surviving copies of the will and a full transcription of the Pau version, see Virto Ibáñez, “El testamento,” 131–58.
39 See Testament of Blanca I (17 February 1439), in Virto Ibáñez, “El testamento,” 138: “una sepultura de pietra labastro que sia sobre seis colupnas, bien fecha e ordenada, e sobre aquella sia fecha e labrada nuestra ymagin bien e devidamente et alderredor de nuestra dicha sepultura sea [p]uesta una rexa de fierro bien labrada e ordenada, segun cumple a la onrra de nuestra dignidat real.”
40 Testament of Blanca I (17 February 1439), in Virto Ibáñez, “El testamento,” 139. The queen noted she wanted to be seen “as she was on Earth” (e que este assi tanto como sera sobre terra).
41 See Woods, Cut in Alabaster, 193–99. On the significance of green cloth, see Ruiz Domingo, “The Fabrics and Colours of Power.” On Carlos II’s heart burial, see Osés Urricelqui, “Ceremonias funerarias,” 106.
42 Pavón Benito and García de la Borbolla, Morir en la Edad Media, 174.
43 Lucía Gómez-Chacón, Santa Maria la Real de Nieva, 56.
44 Ramírez Vaquero, “Los restos de la reina Blanca,” 357.
45 Osés Urricelqui, “Ceremonias funerarias,” 118.
46 Archivo General de Navarra (AGN). Catálogo, vol. XLIII, no. 224, 30 October 1437, 90–91.
47 Ramírez Vaquero, “Los restos de la reina Blanca,” 352–57.
48 Pavón Benito and García de la Borbolla, Morir en la Edad Media, 58.
49 Ramírez Vaquero, “Los restos de la reina Blanca,” 346–50. See also Moret and Aleson, Anales, 6:335–36.
50 Forjas, “Navarra reclama los restos.”
51 Martín, “Los restos atribuidos a doña Blanca.”
52 Encuentra, “Ni él es el principe.”
53 Encuentra, “Ni él es el príncipe.” Mariona Ibars has suggested that the signage around the tomb at Nieva should be adjusted to reflect these new discoveries, but the official website of Santa Maria de Nieva still claims that the queen is buried at the monastery. See “Monasterio de Santa María,” Portal Oficial de Turismo de la Junta de Castilla y León.
54 Their children were Gaston, Principe de Viana (b. 1444), Pedro (Pierre) (b. 1449, Cardinal), Jean de Narbonne (b. c. 1450), Marie (b. c. 1452; m. William X of Montferrat), Jeanne (b. c. 1454; m. Jean V of Armagnac), Marguerite (b. c. 1458; m. François II of Brittany), Catherine (b. c. 1460; m. Gaston de Foix-Candale), Leonor (b/d young, dates uncertain), Jacques (Jaime) (b. 1469), and Anne (possibly Isabel or even conflated with Leonor above) (dates uncertain).
55 For more on the civil war and Leonor’s life, see Ramírez Vaquero, Leonor.
56 The original 1427 agreement is AGN Comptos, Caj.104, no. 23, 1, dated 9 August 1427 at Pamplona.
57 See Woodacre, “Leonor of Navarre,” 161–82.
58 Lacarra, Historia del reino de Navarra, 341.
59 Ramírez Vaquero, “Leonor, reina titular de Navarra,” 729.
60 Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 166.
61 See documents in Cierbide and Ramos, Archivo Municipal de Tafalla: Papal Bull of Paul II (July 1468), Document 56, 206–07. Permission ratified (28 June 1470), Document 58, 208–11. Consent given by the city to build the convent (18 May 1470), Document 65, 246–49. Confirmation of the city’s renunciation of the church of San Andrés (9 December 1490), Document 70, 262–66.
62 Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 167–68.
63 Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 168.
64 For more on the cult see Marcotegui, “Algunos fundamentos históricos,” 63–84.
65 Bull of Innocent VIII to unite the church of San Sebastian with the convent (14 November 1489), Document 69, in Cierbide and Ramos, Archivo Municipal de Tafalla, 260–61.
66 Tafalla Libro de Actas de 1491, in Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 169.
67 Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 170.
68 Donation of Jean d’Albret and Catalina I to Tafalla (13 November 1511), Document 75 in Cierbide and Ramos, Archivo Municipal de Tafalla, 294–96: no en lugar nj manera condescente a tales personas … la reyna dona Leonor, de gloriosa memoria, nuestra aguela, y la jnfante, su fija.
69 Cabezudo Astráin, “Historia del Real Convento,” 183.
70 For Catalina’s life and reign see Adot Lerga, Juan de Albret y Catalina de Foix; Usunariz, “Catalina de Foix.”
71 There are two slightly different versions of the will made at the same time, in Pamplona on 25 June 1504, and a 1505 codicil appears to have been lost. Anthony and Courteault, Les testaments des derniers rois, 63–90.
72 Anthony and Courteault, Les testaments des derniers rois, 65: “Item, elegim nostre sepulture en la glisie cathedral de Sancte Marie de Pampalona, ont nostres predecessors reys de Navarre, de gloriosa memori, se an acostumat sepelir au davant de l’autar maior.”
73 Ramírez Vaquero, “Memoria del rey,” 285. See also Ramírez Vaquero, Osés Urricelqui, and Herreros Lopetegui, “Materiales para analizar,” 126.
74 Lamazou-Duplan, “Enterrer les Foix-Béarn-Navarre,” 327.
75 Wills of Francisco Febo (François Phébus), 29 January 1482 and 1483, in Anthony and Courteault, Les testaments des derniers rois, 27. See also Dubarat, “Découverte des tombeaux,” 451.
76 Will of Magdalena (Madeleine) of France, in Anthony and Courteault, Les testaments des derniers rois, 51. See also Lamazou-Duplan, “Enterrer les Foix-Béarn-Navarre,” 327.
77 Anthony, Identification et étude, 48–92, goes into considerable detail enumerating and analyzing all of the individual bones found in the excavations. See also Dubarat, “Découverte des tombeaux,” 462–63.
78 Usunáriz, “Catalina de Foix,” 817.
79 Anthony, Identification et étude, 51–52.
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Elena Woodacre
Dr. Elena (Ellie) Woodacre is a Reader in Renaissance History at the University of Winchester. She is a specialist in queenship and royal studies and has published extensively in this area including her recent monographs, Queens and Queenship (ARC Humanities Press) and a biography of Joan of Navarre. She is currently leading a project (“The Queen’s Resources”) on the economic aspect of queenship. Elena is the organizer of the “Kings & Queens” conference series, founder of the Royal Studies Network, Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Studies Journal and the editor of two book series with Routledge and ARC Humanities Press.