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Charles II (10 October 1332 – 1 January 1387), known as the Bad, was King of Navarre beginning in 1349, as well as Count of Évreux beginning in 1343, holding both titles until his death in 1387.
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Joan was a daughter of Charles II of Navarre and Joan of...
- Joan II of Navarre
Joan II (French: Jeanne; 28 January 1312 – 6 October 1349)...
- Charles III of Navarre
Charles III (Basque: Karlos, Spanish: Carlos; 22 July 1361 –...
- Joan, Queen of England
Feb 21, 2024 · Charles II (born 1332—died Jan. 1, 1387) was the king of Navarre from 1349, who made various short-lived attempts to expand Navarrese power in both France and Spain. He was the son and successor of Joan of France, queen of Navarre, and Philip, count of Évreux. Married in 1352 to Joan, daughter of John II of France, he demanded Champagne ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Charles II (10 October 1332 – 1 January 1387), known as the Bad, was King of Navarre beginning in 1349, as well as Count of Évreux beginning in 1343, holding both titles until his death in 1387.
- Overview
- Geography
- History
- Administration
Kingdom of Navarre, former independent kingdom of Spain (known until the last half of the 12th century as the Kingdom of Pamplona, after its capital and chief city), which, at the time it ceased to exist as such (1512), occupied the area of the present province of Navarra (about 4,000 square miles [10,390 square km]) together with the Tierra de All...
This was a small region between Labourd and Béarn whose capital was at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. In the Middle Ages much of Navarre was Basque-speaking. The other language used was the Navarro-Aragonese dialect, which, together with French (after 1234), was the language of the administration. The whole kingdom was mountainous except for the Tudela salient in the southeast, where the dry plains called Las Bardenas provided an important grazing region.
Though Navarre ceased to have a frontier with the Moors at a relatively early date, a considerable Moorish population lived there, notably in Tudela. The Navarrese Moors were allowed to serve in the army and provided an important source of skilled artisans. Large Jewish aljamas (congregations) existed in the chief towns and were protected by the Navarrese kings when persecution became serious elsewhere. Another important population were the francos—mostly French and Gascon immigrants—who inhabited separate quarters in Pamplona and other towns. Their relations with the native Navarrese population were often strained.
Pamplona was Moorish territory after 711, but its Basque rulers achieved some degree of autonomy. In about 798 one of them, Iñigo Arista, established himself as an independent ruler. For a time, Iñigo accepted Frankish suzerainty, and by the time Garcia Iñiguez took power in the late ninth century, this dynasty was strong enough to assume regal titles and to establish diplomatic and family relations with Asturias. Under Sancho Garcés the rulers of Pamplona extended their dominions south of the Ebro, capturing Nájera and much of La Rioja. Under him and his immediate successors Navarre reached the height of its power. By a combination of diplomatic dexterity and military strength, the kingdom survived, relatively unscathed, the peak of the caliphate’s influence in Spain in the 10th century. During the reign of Sancho III Garcés (“the Great”) from about 1000 to 1035, the Navarrese were able to establish a brief hegemony over all Christian Spain. Sancho’s empire was, however, short-lived, and in 1076 Sancho Ramírez of Aragon occupied Pamplona.
The Aragonese ruled Navarre until 1134. It recovered its independence when the Navarrese proclaimed García V (“the Restorer”) as king. An entirely new orientation was given to Navarrese history in 1234 when Sancho VII was succeeded by his nephew, Theobald I, count of Champagne, and a succession of French rulers with important possessions in France ruled the kingdom. They included, at times, the kings of France themselves. Historically the most famous of these French rulers was Charles II (“the Bad”), count of Évreux, under whom Navarre became internationally important because of the king’s involvement in French politics and the spread of the Hundred Years’ War to the kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula. Charles himself had ambitions to recover for his kingdom the territories in Spain which had belonged to Sancho the Great. His cognomen “the Bad” was inspired by the brazen way in which he constantly altered Navarrese foreign policy to meet rapidly changing foreign pressures. Charles managed, however, to retain the loyalty of his subjects and to preserve the independence of Navarre. He did, however, lose all his French possessions except Allién Puertos, and in 1379 he was forced to accept Castilian garrisons in his southern castles.
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In the later Middle Ages Navarre was divided administratively into five merindades: La Ribera (Tudela), Sanguesa, Pamplona (La Montana), Estella, and Allién Puertos. In Allién Puertos, the functions of royal merino (administrative official) were carried out by the castelán of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Under the merinos were the sozmerinos and, in the towns, the bailes. The chief military officer of the kingdom was the alférez. The treasury (cámara de comptos) was partly modeled on the French system under a recibidor general (receiver general) or tesorero (treasurer), with recibidores in each merindad.
The somewhat ambiguous international status of Navarre was reflected in its coinage: apart from local currency, French, Gascon, and Aragonese money circulated freely. The law of the land was based on the Fuero General de Navarra (a body of customary law built up before 1155) but much modified in different localities by local fueros. Efforts by some of Navarre’s French rulers to undermine customary law were strongly and effectively resisted, though feudal grants sometimes appeared. In the 14th century one-sixth of the whole population claimed hidalguía (noble descent) and the tax exemption which went with it. The Corte General of Navarre controlled, in theory, not only extraordinary subsidies (pedidos) but also ordinary taxation. However, since it was the king’s prerogative to decide who should be summoned and when, the Navarrese parliament had little real power and its legislative importance was slight.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Aug 24, 2016 · Charles II (Charles the Bad), 1332–87, king of Navarre (1349–87), count of Évreux; grandson of King Louis X of France. He carried on a long feud with his father-in-law, John II, king of France, procuring the assassination (1354) of John's favorite, Charles de La Cerda, and forming an alliance with King Edward III of England.
CHARLES II. (1332-1387), called THE BAD, king of Navarre and count of Evreux, was a son of Jeanne II., queen of Navarre, by her marriage with Philip, count of Evreux (d. 1343). Having become king of Navarre on Jeanne's death in 1349, he suppressed a rising at Pampeluna with much cruelty, and by this and similar actions thoroughly earned his ...
Dec 14, 2022 · This paper explores the possible explanations from arsenic poisoning at the hands of his longtime nemesis Charles II, as many of his contemporaries believed, to an undiagnosed case of hidradenitis suppurativa, to an underlying tuberculosis infection, to the possibility that his condition was entirely self-inflicted.
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