ALBRET. The lordship (seigneurie) of Albret (Labrit, Lebret), situated in the Landes, gave its name to a powerful French family. Arnaud Amanieu, lord of Albret, helped to take Guienne from the English. His son Charles became constable of France, and was killed at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Alain the Great, lord of Albret (d. 1522), wished to marry Anne of Brittany, and to that end fought against Charles VIII. ; but on the betrothal of Anne to Maximilian of Austria, he surrendered Nantes to the French in 1486.
John of Albret, son of Alain, became king of Navarre by his marriage with Catherine of Foix. Their son Henry, king of Na varre, was created duke of Albret and peer of France in 1550. By his wife Margaret, sister of the French king, Francis I., he had a daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, queen of Navarre, who married Anthony de Bourbon, duke of Vendome, and became the mother of Henry IV., king of France.