NAVARRE, na'viir'. A former independent kingdom on both sides of the western Pyrenees, now constituting the Spanish Province of Na varra (capital Pamplona ), and part of the French Department of Basses-PyriM6es. The Province of Navarre has an area of about 4050 square miles. A large portion consists of wooded mountains and well-watered valleys. The region about Pamplona is a treeless plateau. In the south, in the valley of the Ebro, is a fruitful district, called the liibera (shore). In the south east is a barren salt steppe. The region is drained by the Ebro, its affluents, the Ega and Aragon, the Arga, an affluent of the Aragon. and the Bi das.:0a. The population of the province is about 300,000.
HisTonv. This territory was occupied in an cient times by the l'asconcs, the present stock of the Basques, and they were never entirely subju gated by the Romans. The Visigoths met with sturdy resistance from the Basques, and had to content themselves with a nominal overlordship. The Basques were enabled to maintain some in dependence even during the Saracen conquest. Charles the Great, toward the close of the eighth century, conquered their country and made it a part of the Spanish mark. it soon became independent of the Franks and for a time its history is very imperfectly known. Apparent ly Sancho Garcia (905-925), who wrested the re gion of the Upper Ebro from the Saracens, was the first to bear the title of King of Navarre. In the form of government the Ilasque influence and the tribal feelings were strong, and the govern mental institutions were primitive. The King was elected, and limited in his power by a council of twelve nobles. The kingdom developed rapidly by conquests. Sancho III., the Great, who died in 1035, was also King of Castile, and Aragon was under his control as a dependency of Navarre. lie divided his kingdom among his three sons. Sancho IV. of Navarre was murdered in 1076 and the nobles chose King Sancho of Aragon as their ruler. Until 1134 Navarre was united
with Aragon (q.v.). In that year the King of Aragon, Alfonso the Battler, bequeathed his king doms to the Templars and Hospitalers. The peo ple of Navarre, dissatisfied, chose the son of Sancho IV. as King and recovered their independ ence. The country continued under this dynasty for a hundred years, but Navarre. shut in by Cas tile and Aragon, was prevented from developing by conquests from the Moors. In 1234 Navarre passed by inheritance n to Champagne. Queen Joanna of 'Navarre married Philip IV. of France in 1284, and from that time until the extinction of the Capetian dynasty. in 1328, the history of Navarre was intimately connected with that coun try. Then the kingdom went, as a dowry, to l'hilip of Evreux, who married Joanna, daughter of Louis X. Her son was Charles the Bad. (See CHARLES IT. OF NAVARRE.) His grand-daughter Blanche married King John of Aragon. and Na varre was connected with Aragon from 1458 until 1479. -John's daughter, Eleanora, who succeeded to the throne of Navarre in' 1479, was married to Gaston de Foix. Viscount of Bitarn, and thus Barn was united with Navarre. Eleanora died soon after her accession and was succeeded by Francis Plaelms. His successor. Catharine de Foix, married in 1484 a French noble, Jean d'Albret. In 1512 Ferdinand of Aragon con quered what is now the Spanish portion of Na varre. The kingdom was thus reduced to a small district, to the north of the Pyrenees. Jeanne married iu 1348 Antoine de Bourbon. Their son, Henry, a•eended the throne of varre in 1572, and in 1589 became King of France as Ilenry I Navarre was united to France by decree in 1607. but down through Charles N. all French kings bore also the title of King of Na varre. Consult Bordenave, Ilistuirc dr Hearn et 3 arorre (Paris, 1873).