Joan II (French: Jeanne, Spanish: Juana II, Basque: Joana II; 28 January 1312 – 6 October 1349) was Queen of Navarre from 1328 until her death in 1349.
Joan was the only surviving child of Louis I of Navarre and Margaret of Burgundy. Her father ascended the French throne as Louis X in 1314. Joan's paternity was dubious because her mother was involved in a scandal, but Louis declared her his legitimate daughter before he died in 1316. However, due to Salic Law, females were excluded from the line of succession, and Louis's brother was declared king as Philip V. The Navarrese noblemen also paid homage to Philip. Joan's maternal grandmother, Agnes of France, and uncle, Odo IV of Burgundy, made attempts to secure the counties of Champagne and Brie (which had been the patrimony of Joan's paternal grandmother, Joan I of Navarre) to Joan, but the French royal troops defeated her supporters. After Philip V married his daughter to Odo and granted him two counties as her dowry, Odo renounced Joan's claim to Champagne and Brie in exchange for a compensation in March 1318. At this time, Joan married her cousin Philip of Évreux (later Philip III of Navarre).
In 1322, Philip V was succeeded by his brother Charles IV in both France and Navarre, but most Navarrese lords refused to swear loyalty to him. After Charles IV died in 1328, the Navarrese expelled the French governor and declared Joan the rightful monarch of Navarre. In France, Philip of Valois was crowned king as Philip VI. He concluded an agreement with Joan and her husband, who renounced Joan's claims to Champagne and Brie in exchange for three counties, while Philip acknowledged their right to Navarre. Joan II and Philip III were crowned in Pamplona Cathedral in March 1329. The royal couple closely cooperated during their joint reign, but Philip III was more active. However, they mostly lived in their French domains, with Navarre being administered by governors during their absences. Philip died in 1343. Joan succumbed to the Black Death in 1349, and was succeeded by her son Charles II.
Joan was the daughter of King Louis I of Navarre and his wife, Margaret of Burgundy. Joan was born in 1312. Her father was the oldest son and heir of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre.
Joan's mother, Margaret, and the other daughters-in-law of King Philip, Joan and Blanche of Burgundy, were arrested in 1314. They were charged with adultery with two knights, the brothers Philip and Walter of Aunay. After being tortured, one of the brothers confessed that they had been the lovers of Margaret and Blanche for three years. The Aunay brothers were soon executed, and Margaret and Blanche were imprisoned. After the scandal, the legitimacy of Joan became dubious, because her mother was accused of having had an extramarital affair around the year of Joan's birth.
Philip IV died on 26 November 1314, and Joan's father became Louis X of France. Margaret technically became queen of France, but was not released and before long died in her prison in Château Gaillard.
Louis stated that Joan was his legitimate daughter on his deathbed. He died on 5 June 1316. His second wife, Clementia of Hungary, was pregnant. According to an agreement of the most powerful French lords, which was completed on 16 July, if Clementia gave birth to a son, the son was to be crowned King of France, but if a daughter was born, she and Joan could only inherit the Kingdom of Navarre and the counties of Champagne and Brie (the three realms that Louis X had inherited from his mother, Joan I of Navarre). It was also agreed that Joan was to be sent to her mother's relatives in Burgundy, but her marriage could not be decided without the consent of the members of the French royal family.
Clementia gave birth to a son, John the Posthumous, on 13 November 1316, but he died five days later. Joan's maternal uncle, Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy, who was in Paris, entered into negotiations with Philip IV's second son, Philip the Tall, to protect Joan's interests, but Philip did not respond to Odo's demands. Instead, he made arrangements for his own coronation, which took place in Reims on 9 January 1317. The Estates-General of 1317, an assembly of the French lords strengthened Philip's position on 2 February, declaring that a woman could not inherit the French crown. The Navarrese noblemen sent a delegation to Paris to swear fidelity to Philip. Philip also refused to give Champagne and Brie to Joan.
Joan's maternal grandmother, Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy, sent letters to the leading French lords, protesting against his coronation, but Philip V mounted the throne without real opposition. Letters were also written to the lords of Champagne in Joan's name, urging them to refrain from paying homage to Philip and to protect Joan's rights to Champagne. In another letter, Odo IV argued that the disinheritance of Joan by Philip V went against "the divine right of law, by custom, in the usage kept in similar cases in empires, kingdoms, fiefs, in baronies in such a length of time that there is no memory of the contrary". However, Philip V's uncle, Charles of Valois, defeated Joan's supporters.
Philip and Odo concluded an agreement on 27 March 1318. Philip gave his eldest daughter (also named Joan) in marriage to Odo, recognizing them as heirs to the counties of Burgundy and Artois, while Joan was to marry her cousin Philip of Évreux, with a dowry of 15,000 livres tournois in rents and the right to inherit Champagne and Brie if Philip V died leaving no sons. The men also agreed that Joan was to renounce her claims to France and Navarre at the age of twelve. There is no evidence that the renunciation ever took place. The marriage of Joan and Philip was celebrated on 18 June 1318. Thereafter Joan lived with her husband's grandmother, Marie of Brabant. Although they lived near each other, Philip and Joan were not raised together due to age difference. The marriage was only consummated in 1324.
Extinction of the main Capet line
Philip V died without leaving a surviving son in early 1322. His brother, Charles the Fair, who was Philip IV's last surviving son, succeeded him in both France and Navarre. Most Navarrese refused to do homage to Charles, and he did not confirm the Fueros (or liberties) of Navarre. Charles died on 1 February 1328, prompting another succession crisis. Since Charles's widow, Joan of Évreux, was pregnant, the peers of France and other influential French lords assembled in Paris to elect a regent. The majority of the French lords concluded that Philip of Valois had the strongest claim to the office, because he was the closest patrilinear relative of the deceased king. The representatives of the Estates of the realm in Navarre, who assembled at Puente La Reina on 13 March, replaced the French governor with two local lords.
Charles's widow gave birth to a daughter, Blanche, on 1 April. Her birth made it clear that the direct male line of the royal Capetian dynasty of France had become extinct with Charles the Fair's death. Joan and her husband could claim the French throne, because they both were descended from French monarchs, but there were at least five other claimants, including Philip of Valois. The claimants' representatives met at Saint-Germain-en-Laye to reach a compromise. The general assembly of Navarre passed a resolution in May, requesting Joan to visit Navarre and to take control of its government, because the crown belonged "by right of succession and inheritance" to her.
Philip of Valois was crowned king of France in Reims on 29 May. He had no claim to Navarre, Champagne and Brie, because he was not descended from Joan I of Navarre. To strengthen his position in France, in July Philip acknowledged the right of Joan and her husband to rule Navarre. He also persuaded them to renounce Champagne and Brie in exchange for the counties of Longueville, Mortain and Angouleme, because he wanted to preserve the strategically important Champagne and Brie for the French crown.