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. He succeeded his mother in 1349, and in 1352 married Jeanne, daughter of John II. of France. Trouble soon arose between King John and his son-in-law. The promised dowry had not been paid, and the county of Angouleme, formerly belonging to Jeanne of Navarre, was then in the possession of John's favourite, the constable Charles la Cerda. In Jan. 1354 the constable was assassinated, and John was forced to make a treaty at Mantes and to compen sate Charles for the loss of Angouleme by a large grant of lands, chiefly in Normandy. In Normandy, Charles was partly re sponsible for some unrest, and in April 1356 was seized by the French king at Rouen, remaining in captivity until Nov. 1357, after John became a prisoner in England. Charles was then con sidered by Etienne Marcel and his party as a suitable rival to the dauphin, afterwards King Charles V. Peace was made, but the dauphin's failure to restore to Charles his confiscated estates led to war, quickly followed by a new treaty, after which Charles took part in suppressing the peasant rising known as the Jac querie. However, in June 1358, he returned to Paris, and became captain-general of the city, which was soon besieged by the dauphin. Charles left Paris just before the murder of Marcel in July and continued his alternate policy of war and peace, until the conclusion of the treaty of Bretigny in May 1360, deprived him of the alliance of the English, and compelled him to make peace with King John. When the duchy of Burgundy became vacant in Nov. 1361, Charles made an unsuccessful claim for it.
In July 1362, in alliance with Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile, he invaded Aragon, soon deserting his new ally for Peter IV., king of Aragon. In turn he made treaties with the kings of Cas tile and Aragon, until he signed a treaty with Edward of England, and then in 1371 he allied himself with Charles V. of France. He was accused of attempting to poison the king of France and other prominent persons, and of other crimes ; his French estates were seized and Cherbourg surrendered. After the death of Charles V., in 1380, the king of Navarre did not interfere in the internal af fairs of France. His lands in France were handed over to his eldest son Charles, who governed them with the consent of the new king, Charles VI. Charles died on Jan. I, 1387, and was suc ceeded by his eldest son Charles ; one of his daughters, Jeanne, became the wife of Henry IV. of England.
See D. F. Secousse, lliemoires pour servir a l'histoire de Charles II. roi de Navarre ; Jean Froissart, Chroniques, ed. by S. Luce and G. Raynaud (1869-97) ; E. Meyer, Charles II. roi de Navarre et la Normandie au XIVe. sierle (1898) ; R. Delachenal, Premieres negocia tions de Charles le Mauvais avec les Anglais (1900) and E. Lavisse, Histoire de France, t. iv. (1902).