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User:Metroxed/Tribes

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Henry I
King of Navarre
Count of Champagne
Reign1270–1274
PredecessorTheobald II
SuccessorJoan I
Bornc. 1244
Died(1274-07-22)22 July 1274
Pamplona
Burial
Pamplona Cathedral
SpouseBlanche of Artois
IssueTheobald of Navarre
Joan I of Navarre
HouseHouse of Blois
FatherTheobald I of Navarre
MotherMargaret of Bourbon
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Henry I (Basque: Henrike I.a, Spanish: Enrique I; c. 1244 - 22 July 1274), called the Fat (Basque: Gizena, Spanish: el Gordo) was King of Navarre from 1270 until his death. He also ruled as the Count of Champagne and Brie as Henry III (French: Henri III). He inherited both titles from his older brother, Theobald II after he died childless. He was the third ruling monarch of Navarre coming from the House of Blois.

Biography edit

Early life edit

Henry was the youngest son of Theobald I of Navarre and Margaret of Bourbon.[1] During the reign of his childless older brother Theobald II he held the regency during many of Theobald's numerous absences. In 1269, Henry married Blanche of Artois, daughter of the then-reigning King Louis IX of France's brother Count Robert I of Artois.[2] He was thus in the "Angevin" circle in international politics.

Reign edit

 
Coat of arms

Recognized as heir presumptive during his brother's reign, Henry succeeded to the thrones of the Kingdom of Navarre and County of Champagne upon Theobald II's death in December 1270. Henry I's proclamation at Pamplona, however, did not take place till the following year, 1 March 1271,[3] and his coronation was delayed until May 1273. His first act was the swear to uphold the Fueros of Navarre and then go to perform homage to Philip III of France for Champagne.

Henry came to the throne at the height of an economic boom in Navarre that was not happening elsewhere in Iberia at as great a rate. But by the Treaty of Paris (1259), the English had been ceded rights in Gascony that effectively cut off Navarrese access to the ocean (since France, Navarre's ally, was at odds with England). Henry allowed the Pamplonese burg of Navarrería to disentangle itself from the union of San Cernin and San Nicolás, effected in 1266. He also granted privileges to the towns of Estella, Los Arcos, and Viana, fostering urban growth. His relations with the nobility were, on the whole, friendly, though he was prepared to maintain the peace of his realm at nearly any cost.

Henry initially sought to recover territory lost to Castile by assisting the revolt of King Alfonso X of Castile's brother Philip in 1270. He eventually declined, preferring to establish an alliance with Castile through the marriage of his son Theobald to Alfonso X's daughter Violant in September 1272.[4] This failed with the death of the young Theobald after he fell from a battlement at the castle of Estella in 1273.[5]

Death and legacy edit

Henry did not long outlive his son. He was suffocated, according to the generally received accounts, by his own fat. His only legitimate child, a one-year-old daughter named Joan, succeeded him under the regency of her mother Blanche. Joan's 1284 marriage to Philip the Fair, the future King of France, in the same year united the crown of Navarre to that of France and saw Champagne devolve to the French royal domain.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, a younger contemporary, sees Henry's spirit outside the gates of Purgatory, where he is grouped with a number of other European monarchs of the 13th century. Henry is not named directly, but is referred to as "the kindly-faced" and "the father-in-law of the Plague of France".[6]

Marriage and family edit

Henry married Blanche of Artois, daughter of Robert I, Count of Artois and Matilda of Brabant. They had two children.

  • Theobald, the eldest son and first heir apparent to the throne, died as a child.
  • Joan, who succeeded him as Queen of Navarre.

Ancestry edit

Metroxed/Tribes
Born: 1244 Died: 22 Jul 1274
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Navarre
Count of Champagne
1270-1274 		Succeeded by

References edit

  1. ^ Evergates 2007, p. 248.
  2. ^ Gee 2002, p. 141.
  3. ^ Proctor 1980, p. 255.
  4. ^ Kinkade 1992, p. 294.
  5. ^ Woodacre 2013, p. 25.
  6. ^ Alighieri 2003, p. 122.
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