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100-572: Although this denomination is not completely correct from the historical point of view, it is also known as Merindad de Ultrapuertos ("the regions beyond the mountain passes") by the southerners, and Deça-ports ("this side of the mountain passes") by the Gascon-speakers. Despite its lost administrative cohesion, the memory of its past heyday has left an imprint on its inhabitants, who keep identifying themselves as Lower Navarrese and therefore Navarrese. The Nafarroaren Eguna or Day of Navarre

200-584: A brief interregnum in 1815 ). The ancient Kingdom of Navarre covered, at its greatest extent, approximately the modern-day Spanish autonomous communities of Navarre , Basque Country and La Rioja and the French territory of Lower Navarre in Pyrénées-Atlantiques . There are similar earlier toponyms but the first documentation of Latin navarros appears in Eginhard 's chronicle of

300-521: A Nagerense urbe usque ad Tutelam omnia castra. Terram quidem Degensem cum opidis cunctam possideuit. Arbam namque Panpilonensem suo iuri subdidit, necnon cum castris omne territorium Aragonense capit. Dehinc expulsis omnibus biotenatis XX' regni sue anno migrauit a seculo. Sepultus sancti Stefani portico regnat cum Xpo in polo (Obiit Sancio Garseanis era DCCCCLXIIII). In the Era 944 [AD 905] arose in Pamplona

400-464: A descendant by illegitimate line of King García Sánchez III. Sancho Garcia , known as Sancho VI "the Wise" (1150–1194), a patron of learning, as well as an accomplished statesman, fortified Navarre within and without, granted charters ( fueros ) to a number of towns, and was never defeated in battle. He was the first king to issue royal documents entitling him rex Navarrae or rex Navarrorum , appealing to

500-722: A frontier territory with varying levels of autonomy granted by the Merovingian monarchs. The suppression of the Duchy of Vasconia as well as the Duchy of Aquitaine by the Carolingians would lead to a rebellion, led by Lupo II of Gascony . Pepin the Short launched a punitive War in Aquitaine (760–768) that put down the uprising and resulted in the division of the duchy into several counties, ruled from Toulouse . Similarly, across

600-608: A king named Sancio Garseanis . He was a man of unbreakable devotion to the faith of Christ, pious with all the faithful and merciful with oppressed Catholics. What more? In all his actions he performed as a great warrior against the people of the Ismailites ; he inflicted multiple disasters on the Saracens. This same captured all the fortified places in the Cantabria , from the city of Nájera to Tudela . Indeed he possessed all

700-467: A pattern of raids and counter-raids, capturing slaves and treasure, as well as full military campaigns that would restore full Córdoban control with renewed oaths of fidelity. His son Fortún Garcés (882-905) spent two decades in Córdoban captivity before succeeding in Pamplona as vassal of the emirate. Neither of these kings would make significant territorial expansion. This period of a fractious, but in

800-520: A predominantly Basque-speaking area. In an event traditionally dated to 824, Íñigo Arista was elected or declared ruler of the area around Pamplona in opposition to Frankish expansion into the region, originally as vassal to the Córdoba emirate. This polity evolved into the Kingdom of Pamplona. A series of partitions and dynastic changes led to a diminution of its territory and to periods of rule by

900-718: A previously existent Vasconic town. Romanization of the Vascones led to their eventual adoption of forms of Latin that would evolve into the Navarro-Aragonese language, though the Basque language would remain widely spoken, especially in rural and mountainous areas. After the decline of the Western Roman Empire , the Vascones were slow to be incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom , which

1000-686: A protectorate over the Duchy of Gascony . He seized the country of the Pisuerga and the Cea, which belonged to the Kingdom of León , and marched armies to the heart of that kingdom, forcing king Bermudo III of León to flee to a Galician refuge. Sancho thereby effectively ruled the north of Iberia from the boundaries of Galicia to those of the County of Barcelona . By the time of the death of Sancho III in 1035,

1100-484: A response to the attempted Frankish seizure of Zaragoza, the Córdoban emir retook the city of Pamplona and its surrounding lands. In 781 two local Basque lords, Ibn Balask ("son of Velasco"), and Mothmin al-Akra ("Jimeno the Strong ") were defeated and forced to submit. The next mention of Pamplona is in 799, when Mutarrif ibn Musa, thought to have been a governor of the city and a member of the muwallad Banu Qasi family,

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1200-710: A truce between the Frankish kingdom and Córdoba, in 812 Louis the Pious went to Pamplona, likely to establish there a county that would prove short-lived. However, continued rebellion in Gascony rendered Frankish control south of the Pyrenees tenuous, and the Emirate was able to reclaim the region following victory in the 816 Battle of Pancorbo , in which they defeated and killed the "enemy of Allah", Balask al-Yalaski (Velasco

1300-473: A varicose ulcer in his leg that led him to retire to Tudela, where he died in 1234. His elder sister Berengaria, Queen of England, had died childless some years earlier. His deceased younger sister Blanca, countess of Champagne , had left a son, Theobald IV of Champagne . Thus the Kingdom of Navarre, though the crown was still claimed by the kings of Aragon, passed by marriage to the House of Champagne, firstly to

1400-528: A verdict based entirely on the legal grounds as presented by both sides, instead deciding to refer them back to the boundaries held by both kingdoms at the start of their reigns in 1158, besides agreeing to a truce of seven years. It thus confirmed the permanent loss of the Bureba and Rioja areas for the Navarrese. However, soon, Castile breached the compromise, starting a renewed effort to harass Navarre both in

1500-631: A wider power base, defined as politico-juridical by Urzainqui (a "populus"), beyond Pamplona and the customary rex Pampilonensium . As attested in the charters of San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz (1181), the natives are called Navarri , as well as in another contemporary document at least, where those living to the north of Peralta are defined as Navarrese. The Restorer and Sancho the Wise were faced with an ever-increasing intervention of Castile in Navarre. In 1170, Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor , daughter of Henry II of England , married, with

1600-635: A wider territory (Béarn, etc. as French vassals) and the effective seat of the Navarrese Royalty shifted to Pau , capital city of Béarn , where Henry III (later Henry IV of France) , the son of Jeanne d'Albret was born. Henry III generally respected the laws issued by the Navarrese parliament, despite sometimes raising objections to their wordings. Henry succeeded to the French throne in 1589; he and his successors would now be titled "King of France and Navarre." His son Louis II (Louis XIII of France)

1700-524: Is a Mediaeval Spanish administrative term for a country subdivision smaller than a province but larger than a municipality . The officer in charge of a merindad was called a merino , roughly equivalent to the English count or bailiff . It was used in the kingdoms of Castile and Navarre . Connected to the birth of Castile, the Merindades , standing for a northernmost comarca of

1800-602: Is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in the region. Just south of Saint-Palais, the three principal routes to Compostela on the Way of St James met at the hamlet of Ostabat , bringing much wealth and trade to the area in medieval times. The Way of St James headed south from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port towards the mountain pass above Orreaga . Pilgrims travelled across the Cize region of Lower Navarre on their way to Navarre across

1900-621: Is a festival held in Baigorri every year to strengthen their bonds and celebrate their Basque identity as one of the seven constituent regions of the Basque Country . Lower Navarre is a collection of valleys in the foothills of the Pyrenees . The Aldudes valley , around the town of Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry in the south of Lower Navarre, preserves many old traditions, with houses of pink sandstone and contests of Force Basque ,

2000-468: Is mentioned in Arab records as sâhib (lord) or amîr of the Vascones ( bashkunish ) and not as malik (king) or tâgiya (tyrant) used for the kings of Asturias and France, indicating the lower status of these ulûj (barbarians, not accepting Islam) within the Córdoba sphere. In 841, in concert with Musa ibn Musa, Íñigo rebelled. Although Musa was eventually forced to submit, Íñigo was still in rebellion at

2100-555: Is well delimited by mountain ranges on the west (with Mount Iparla as its highest and most iconic landmark), south ( Orreaga , Mount Urkulu and Pyrenees altogether) and the east (bounded by the western mountains of Zuberoa). The lands of the Lower Navarre were part of the Duchy of Vasconia that turned into Gascony by the end of the first millennium. At the time of King Sancho III of Navarre The Great (died in 1035), Duke Sancho VI William of Gascony pledged allegiance to

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2200-740: The Basque language , usually known by linguistics as Proto-Basque , as well as some other related languages, such as the Aquitanian language . The Romans took full control of the area by 74 BC, but unlike their northern neighbors, the Aquitanians, and other tribes from the Iberian Peninsula, the Vascones negotiated their status within the Roman Empire. The region first was part of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior , then of

2300-590: The Battle of Atapuerca , in which García was killed, and Ferdinand took from Pamplona the lands in La Bureba and the Tirón River . García was succeeded by Sancho IV (1054–1076) of Peñalén , whom Ferdinand had recognised as king of Pamplona immediately after the death of his father. He was fourteen years old at the time, and under the regency of his mother Stephanie and his uncles Ferdinand and Ramiro. After

2400-418: The Battle of Tamarón (1037). This allowed Ferdinand to unite his Castilian county with the new-won crown of León as king Ferdinand I. For several years a mutual collaboration between the two kingdoms took place. The relationship between García and his step-brother Ramiro was better. The latter had acquired all of Aragon, Ribagorza and Sobrarbe on the sudden death of his brother Gonzalo, forming what would become

2500-694: The Bishopric of Oca , which was united in 1079 to the Diocese of Burgos . In 1035 Sancho III re-established the See of Palencia , which had been laid waste at the time of the Moorish invasion. When, in 1045, the city of Calahorra was wrested from the Moors, under whose dominion it had been for more than three hundred years, a see was also founded there, which in the same year absorbed the Diocese of Najera and, in 1088,

2600-402: The Diocese of Alava , the jurisdiction of which covered about the same ground as that of the present Diocese of Vitoria . The See of Pamplona owed its re-establishment to Sancho III, who for this purpose convened a synod at Leyre in 1022 and one at Pamplona in 1023. These synods likewise instituted a reform of ecclesiastical life, with the above-named convent as a centre. At its greatest extent

2700-594: The Hispania Tarraconensis . It would be under the jurisdiction of the conventus iuridicus of Caesaraugusta (modern Zaragoza ). The Roman Empire influenced the area in urbanization, language, infrastructure, commerce, and industry. During the Sertorian War , Pompey would command the foundation of a city in Vasconic territory, giving origin to Pompaelo , modern-day Pamplona, founded on

2800-714: The Kingdom of Aragon . García and Ramiro's alliance with Ramon Berenguer , the Count of Barcelona , was effective to keep the Muslim Taifa of Zaragoza at bay. After the capture of Calahorra in 1044, a period peace followed on the southern border and trade was established with Zaragoza. The relationship between García and Ferdinand deteriorated with time, the two disputing the lands on the Pamplonese-Castilian border, and ended violently in September 1054 at

2900-639: The Merovingian France and the Gascons of Aquitaine , but also items with Islamic inscriptions, while a Muslim cemetery in Pamplona, the use of which spanned several generations, suggests the presence of a Muslim garrison in the decades following the Arab invasion. The origin and foundation of the Kingdom of Pamplona is intrinsically related to the southern expansion of the Frankish kingdom under

3000-659: The River Ega all the way south to the Ebro and taking the regions of Nájera and Calahorra , which caused the decline of the Banu Qasi family, who ruled these lands. As a response, Abd-ar-Rahman III undertook two expeditions to these lands, earning a victory at the Battle of Valdejunquera , after which the emirate retook the lands south of the River Ebro, and by 924 attacked Pamplona. The daughter of Sancho Garcés, Sancha,

3100-657: The States-General of 1789 and its follow-up, the French National Assembly (1790), arguing that the impending new administrative arrangement was none of their business, since they did not belong in the Kingdom of France. All the same, the new French administrative design did not spare Lower Navarre. It came to be integrated in the Basses-Pyrénées department along with the rest of French Basque districts , and Béarn . The administration of

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3200-543: The mancomunidades comarcales keep the place of the old merindades , such as Duranguesado . Kingdom of Navarre Minority religions: The Kingdom of Navarre ( / n ə ˈ v ɑːr / nə- VAR ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees , with its northernmost areas originally reaching the Atlantic Ocean ( Bay of Biscay ), between present-day Spain and France . The medieval state took form around

3300-463: The pottok , the wild Basque Pyrenean pony , in the valley conserves this rare breed. The Baigura massif towers over the western valleys and sets a natural boundary with the rolling valleys of Labourd . North of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the Mixe region around the town of Saint-Palais , a former Navarrese capital. Although close to Béarn , Basque influence and traditions are strong. Lower Navarrese

3400-411: The villa of Alastue by the king of Pamplona to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña in 987, he styled himself "King of Navarre", the first time that title had been used. In many places he appears as the first King of Navarre and in others the third; however, he was at least the seventh king of Pamplona . During the late 10th century, Almanzor , the ruler of Al Andalus , frequently led raids against

3500-517: The 1134 death of Alfonso. Being childless, he willed his realm to the military orders, particularly the Templars . This decision was rejected by the cortes (parliaments) of both Aragon and Navarre, which then chose separate kings. García Ramírez , known as the Restorer , was the first King of Navarre to use such a title. He was Lord of Monzón , a grandson of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid , and

3600-623: The Castilian assault but the Bishop of Pamplona was sent to inform them that no reinforcements would arrive. After nine months of siege, Vitoria surrendered, but Treviño did not, having to be conquered by force of arms. By 1200 the conquest of western Navarre was complete. Castile allowed these territories (with the exceptions of Treviño and Oñati , which were directly ruled from Castile) the right to keep their traditional customs and laws ( viz. , Navarrese law), which came to be known as fueros . Alava

3700-428: The Castilian king claiming Gascony as part of the dowry. It turned out a much needed pretext for the invasion of Navarre during the following years (1173–1176), with a special focus on Navarre's coastal districts, coveted by Castile in order to become a maritime power. In 1177, the dispute was submitted to arbitration by Henry II of England. The Navarrese made their point on a number of claims, namely "the proven will of

3800-667: The Christian kingdoms, and attacked the Pamplonese lands on at least nine occasions. In 966, clashes between the Caliphate of Córdoba and the kingdom resulted in the loss of Calahorra and the valley of the River Cidacos . Sancho II, while allied with Castilian militias, suffered a grave defeat in the Battle of Torrevicente . Sancho II was forced to hand over one of his daughters and one of his sons as tokens of peace. After

3900-493: The Gascon), along with the uncle of Alfonso II of Asturias , Garcia ibn Lubb ('son of Lupus'), Sancho, the 'premier knight of Pamplona', and the pagan warrior Ṣaltān. North of the Pyrenees in the same year, Louis the Pious removed Seguin as Duke of Vasconia, which initiated a rebellion, led by Garcia Jiménez , who was killed in 818. Louis's son Pepin , then King of Aquitaine, stamped out the Vasconic revolt in Gascony then hunted

4000-548: The Great's realm was never again united (until Ferdinand the Catholic ): Castile was permanently joined to León, whereas Aragon enlarged its territory, joining Catalonia through a marriage. Following the traditional succession customs, the first-born son of Sancho III, García Sánchez III , received the title and lands of the Kingdom of Pamplona, which included the territory of Pamplona , Nájera and parts of Aragon. The rest of

4100-695: The Kingdom of Navarre included all the modern Spanish province; the northern slope of the western Pyrenees the Spaniards called the ultra puertos ("country beyond the mountain passes") or French Navarre; the Basque provinces of Spain and France; the Bureba, the valley between the Basque mountains and the Montes de Oca to the north of Burgos ; and the Rioja and Tarazona in the upper valley of the Ebro. On his death, Sancho divided his possessions among his four sons. Sancho

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4200-605: The Merovingians and their successors, the Carolingians . About 601, the Duchy of Vasconia ( Latin : Wasconiae ) was established by the Merovingians, based around Roman Novempopulania and extending from the southern branch of the River Garonne to the northern side of the Pyrenees . The first documented Duke of Vasconia was Genial , who would hold that position until 627. The Duchy of Vasconia then became

4300-431: The Navarrese king, for a short period Gascony becoming vassal to the Kingdom of Navarre , with which it had always had close ties. Moreover, the valleys of Baigorri, Ossès, Cize and Arberoa were attached to the latter, establishing the first nucleus of the Navarrese grip on the lands north of the Pyrenees. While these valleys were taken over again by Gascony for a period, the Ultrapuertos County (called Merindad in Navarre)

4400-467: The Navarrese representatives, who pointed to their different traditions and languages— Basque and Béarnese . The title of King of Navarre continued to be held by the lineage of the Albrets and the Bourbons up to the French Revolution, while the kingdom itself merged with France in 1620. It retained its historic personality as a kingdom and, albeit fragmented, a separate legal status. The two third estate representatives of Lower Navarre did not vote at

4500-657: The Navarrese). However, Arab chroniclers make no such distinctions, and just refer to the Baskunisi , a transliteration of Vascones , since a big majority of the population was Basque. The primitive Navarre may have comprised the valleys of Goñi, Gesalaz, Lana, Allin, Deierri, Berrueza and Mañeru, which later formed the merindad of Estella. The role of Pamplona as a focus coordinating both rebellion against and accommodation with Córdoba seen under Íñigo would continue under his son, García Íñiguez (851/2–882), who formed alliances with Asturias, Gascons, Aragonese and with families in Zaragoza opposed to Musa ibn Musa. This established

4600-402: The Pamplona rulers 'tyrants', as with the independent kings of Asturias: Pamplona had passed out of the Córdoban sphere. After taking the political power from Fortún Garcés, Sancho Garcés (905–925), son of Dadilde, sister of Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza , proclaimed himself king, terminating the alliance with the Emirate of Córdoba and expanding its domains through the course of

4700-411: The Pyrenees, difficult to hold and defend. Accordingly, he abandoned his remaining holdings in Lower Navarre, including Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, to its hereditary king Henry II, as part of a treaty with France—the Treaty of Cambray in 1530. In 1555, Henry II of Navarre died and was succeeded by his daughter Jeanne , who ruled until her death in 1572. During the 16th century the Albrets ruled over

4800-515: The Wise's successor, the last king of the male line of Sancho the Great and the kings of Pamplona, Sancho VII the Strong ( Sancho el Fuerte ) (1194–1234), was more troubled. He appropriated the revenues of churches and convents, granting them instead important privileges; in 1198 he presented to the See of Pamplona his palaces and possessions there; this gift was confirmed by Pope Innocent III on 29 January 1199. In 1199 Alfonso VIII of Castile , son of Sancho III of Castile and Blanche of Navarre ,

4900-401: The approach the Carolingians had used elsewhere against Christian cities that seemed content to live under Córdoban control. However, while moving through the Pyrenees on 15 August 778, the rearguard of the Frankish army, led by Roland was attacked by the Basque tribes in a confrontation that came to be known as the Battle of Roncevaux Pass . Roland was killed and the rearguard scattered. As

5000-436: The basque traditional strength sports. The Irouléguy wines are produced in the area around the town of Irouléguy . The river Nive rises in Lower Navarre and flows through the province and on to Bayonne , where it meets the Adour . Beyond Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port itself, the Nive enters the Ossès valley, with many beautiful old houses with carved lintels in the villages of Ossès, Irissarry and Bidarray . A reserve for

5100-408: The benefit of the Castilian and Aragonese monarchs. Alfonso VI of León and Castile took control of La Rioja , the Lordship of Biscay , the County of Álava , the County of Durango and part of Gipuzkoa . Sancho Ramírez , successor to his father, Ramiro of Aragon, took control of the rest of the territory and was recognised as king by the Pamplonese nobility. The land around the city of Pamplona,

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5200-413: The chieftains who had taken refuge in southern Vasconia, i.e., Pamplona and Navarre, no longer controlled by the Franks. He sent an army led by the counts Aeblus and Aznar Sanchez (the latter being appointed lord, but not duke, of Vasconia by Pepin after suppressing the uprising in the duchy), accomplishing their goals with no resistance in Pamplona (which still lacked walls after the 778 destruction). On

5300-412: The city of Pamplona during the first centuries of the Iberian Reconquista . The kingdom had its origins in the conflict in the buffer region between the Carolingian Empire and the Ummayad Emirate of Córdoba that controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. The city of Pamplona ( Latin : Pompaelo ; Basque : Iruña ), had been the main city of the indigenous Vasconic population and was located in

5400-456: The city of Zaragoza was taken by the Aragonese forces, and on 25 February 1119 the city of Tudela was taken and incorporated into Pamplona. The 1127 Peace of Támara delimited the territorial domains of the Castilian and Aragonese realms, the latter including Pamplona. The lands of Biscay, Álava, Gipuzkoa, Belorado , Soria and San Esteban de Gormaz went back to the Pamplonese kingdom. The status quo between Aragon and Castile stood until

5500-414: The core of the original kingdom, became known as the County of Navarre, and was recognised by Alfonso VI as a vassal state of the kingdom of León and Castile. Sancho Ramírez began in 1084 a renewed military expansion of the southern lands controlled by Muslim forces. That year, the city of Arguedas , from which the Bardenas region could be controlled, was taken. After the death of Sancho Ramírez in 1094, he

5600-412: The counties of Sobrarbe and Ribargoza as vassal of his eldest brother, García. Lands in Aragon were allotted to Sancho's bastard son Ramiro . García Sánchez III (1035–1054) soon found himself struggling for supremacy against his ambitious brothers, especially Ferdinand. García had supported the armed conflict between Ferdinand and his brother-in-law Bermudo III of León , who was ultimately killed in

5700-420: The current Province of Burgos . He also annexed Labourd , with its strategic port of Bayonne , but lost its coastal half to the Duchy of Aquitaine soon after. The remainder has been part of Navarre since then and eventually came to be known as Lower Navarre . Toward the south, he moved the Islamic border to the Ebro river, with Rioja, Nájera, Logroño , Calahorra , and Alfaro added to his domain. In 1118,

5800-462: The death of King Charles I ( Charles IV of France ) in 1328, and on March 13 of the same year, Don Juan Martínez de Medrano and Don Juan Corbaran de Lehet were appointed regents of the Kingdom of Navarre for 11 months (February 27, 1329) until the succession in Navarre was resolved. King Charles was succeeded by his niece, Queen Joanna II , daughter of King Louis I ( Louis X of France ), and nephew-in-law, King Philip III . Joanna waived all claim to

5900-419: The death of Sancho II and during the reign of García Sánchez II , Pamplona was attacked by the caliphate on several occasions, being completely destroyed in 999, the King himself killed during a raid in the year 1000. After the death of García Sánchez II, the crown passed to Sancho III , just eight years old at the time, and probably completely controlled by the caliphate. During the first years of his reign

6000-458: The death of his mother in 1058, Sancho IV lost the support of the local nobility, and the relations between them worsened after he became allied with Ahmad al-Muqtadir , ruler of Zaragoza. On 4 June 1076, a conspiracy involving Sancho IV's brother Ramón and sister Ermesinda ended with the murder of the king. The neighboring kingdoms and the nobility probably had a part in the plot. The dynastic crisis resulting from Sancho's assassination worked to

6100-437: The diplomatic and military arenas. The rich dowry of Berengaria , daughter of Sancho VI the Wise and Blanche of Castile , made her a desirable catch for Richard I of England . His mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine , crossed the Pyrenean passes to escort Berengaria to Sicily, eventually to wed Richard in Cyprus, on 12 May 1191. She remains the only Queen of England who never set foot in England during her reign. The reign of Sancho

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6200-440: The eastern Pyrenees the Marca Hispánica was established next to the Marca Gothica , a Frankish attempt at creating buffer states between the Carolingian empire and the Emirate of Córdoba. The Franks under Charlemagne extended their influence and control southward, occupying several regions of the north and east of the Iberian Peninsula . It is unclear how solidly the Franks exercised control over Pamplona. In 778, Charlemagne

6300-425: The end subservient, Navarre came to an end amidst a period when generalized rebellion within the emirate prevented them from being able to suppress the inertial forces in the western Pyrenees. The ineffectual Fortún was forced to abdicate in favor of a new dynasty from the vehemently anti-Muslim east of Navarre, the founders of which took a less accommodationist view. With this change, al-Andalus sources shift to calling

6400-404: The era 964 [925]). After the death of Sancho Garcés, the crown passed to his brother, Jimeno Garcés (925–931), joined by Sancho's underage son, García Sánchez (931–970), in his last year. García continued to rule under the tutelage of his mother, Sancho's widow Toda Aznarez , who also engineered several political marriages with the other Christian kingdoms and counties of northern Iberia. Oneca

6500-564: The extent in 905 of the Kingdom of Pamplona for the first time. It extended to Nájera and Arba (arguably Araba ). Some historians believe that this suggests that it included the Western Basque Country as well: In era DCCCCXLIIII surrexit in Panpilona rex nomine Sancio Garseanis. Fidei Xpi inseparabiliterque uenerantissimus fuit, pius in omnibus fidefibus misericorsque oppressis catholicis. Quid multa? In omnibus operibus obtimus perstitit. Belligerator aduersus gentes Ysmaelitarum multipficiter strages gessit super Sarrazenos. Idem cepit per Cantabriam

6600-440: The feats of Charles the Great . Other Royal Frankish Annals give nabarros . Several Frankish sources mention the nabarri/navarri and the Hispani wascones , and also pampilonensi . There are two proposed etymologies for the name of Navarra / Nafarroa / Naparroa : The linguist Joan Coromines considers naba as not clearly Basque in origin but as part of a wider pre-Roman substrate. The kingdom originated in

6700-402: The future King Philip IV of France , had become engaged to the young sovereign and married her in 1284. From 1276, the time of the negotiations for this marriage, Navarre effectively passed into French control, though not without the French suppression of native resistance in the 1276-1277 War of the Navarreria. The Kingdom of Navarre remained in personal union with the Kingdom of France until

6800-491: The heirs of Blanca, who were simultaneously counts of Champagne and Brie , with the support of the Navarrese Parliament ( Cortes ). Theobald I made of his court a centre where the poetry of the troubadours that had developed at the court of the counts of Champagne was welcomed and fostered; his reign was peaceful. His son, King Theobald II (1253–70), married Isabella , daughter of King Louis IX of France , and accompanied his saintly father-in-law upon his crusade to Tunis . On

6900-431: The homeward journey, he died at Trapani in Sicily, and was succeeded by his brother, King Henry I , who had already assumed the reins of government during his absence, but ruled for only three years (1271–74). His daughter, Queen Joan I , ascended as a minor and the country was once again invaded from all sides. The queen and her mother, Blanche of Artois , sought refuge at the court of King Philip III of France . His son,

7000-466: The independent Kingdom of Navarre after 1512 was centralized in Saint-Palais and consisted of a handful of institutions organized in a structure generally found in the Kingdom of France. By 1527 these administrations had been partially decentralized to Pau , and consisted of: 43°10′N 1°14′W  /  43.167°N 1.233°W  / 43.167; -1.233 Merindad Merindad ( Spanish pronunciation: [meɾinˈdað] )

7100-409: The kingdom had reached its greatest historical extent. Sancho III wrote a problematic will, in which he divided his territory into three kingdoms. In this period of independence, the ecclesiastical affairs of the country reached a high state of development. Sancho the Great was brought up at Leyre , which was also for a short time the capital of the Diocese of Pamplona . Beside this see, there existed

7200-413: The kingdom in order to emancipate himself from his mother, and this began a period of tributary status by Pamplona and frequent punitive campaigns from Córdoba. García Sánchez's heir, Sancho II (970–994), set up his half brother, Ramiro Garcés of Viguera , to rule in the short-lived Kingdom of Viguera . The Historia General de Navarra , by Jaime del Burgo , says that on the occasion of the donation of

7300-542: The kingdom was once again joined with France by personal union in 1589 when King Henry III of Navarre inherited the French throne as Henry IV of France , and in 1620 it was merged into the Kingdom of France . The monarchs of this unified state took the title "King of France and Navarre" until its fall in the French Revolution , and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830 (with

7400-517: The kingdom was ruled by his cousins Sancho and García of Viguera until the year 1004, when Sancho III would become ruling king, mentored by his mother Jimena Fernández. The links with Castile became stronger through marriages. The death of Almanzor in 1002 and his successor Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 1008 caused the decline of the Caliphate of Córdoba and the progress of the County of Castile south, while Pamplona, led by Sancho Garcés III, strengthen

7500-578: The kings of Aragon (1054–1134) and France (1285–1328). In the 15th century, another dynastic dispute over control by the king of Aragon led to internal divisions and the eventual conquest of the southern part of the kingdom by Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1512 (permanently annexed in 1524). It was annexed by the Courts of Castile to the Crown of Castile in 1515 as a separate kingdom with its own Courts and judiciary until 1841. The remaining northern part of

7600-467: The land of Degium [Monjardín, near Lizarra ] with its towns. The "Arba" of Pamplona he submitted to his law, and conquered as well all the country of Aragon [then Jaca and nearby lands] with its fortresses. Later, after suppressing all infidels, the twentieth year of his reign he left this world. Buried in the portal of Saint Stephen [Monjardín], he reigns with Christ in Heaven (King Sancho Garcés died in

7700-653: The legitimate Navarrese king ( de facto deprived of the rest of Navarre by Aragon-Castilian usurpation), restored Navarrese official institutions and bodies in Lower Navarre, e.g. the Sovereign Council in 1523, the Chancery in 1524, the Royal Mint a little later in Saint-Palais, etc. In 1525, a new military inroad led by the spanish viceroy of Navarre subdued the region, and tried to earn the loyalty of

7800-544: The locals" ( fide naturalium hominum suorum exhibita ), the assassination of the King Sancho Garces IV of Navarre by the Castilians ( per violentiam fuit expulsus , 1076), as well as law and custom, while the Castilians made their case by citing the Castilian takeover following the death of Sancho Garces IV, the dynastic links of Alfonso with Navarre, and the conquest of Toledo . Henry did not dare issue

7900-590: The mountains. In these rolling hills, ewes ' milk cheese , pur brebis , is commonly made, including Ossau-Iraty cheese . Villages like Estérençuby and Lecumberry are popular for agro-tourism and the Irati beech forest on the frontier borderline is known for its views and history. Dolmens and other neolithic monuments dot the landscape, including the Tour d'Urkulu high in the mountains at 1,149m—a 2,000-year-old circular platform of huge stone blocks. Lower Navarre

8000-412: The nobles, but they unanimously kept their allegiance to the Navarrese monarchs of the House of Albret , and the lord of Luxa and the lord of Miossens , Esteban d'Albret, reconquered the region in 1527. Although Emperor Charles V, the spanish monarch, recovered Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port within months, by 1528 he had lost interest in asserting and maintaining his control over the portion of Navarre north of

8100-575: The position of his kingdom on the borderlands of the Taifa of Zaragoza , controlling the territories of Loarre , Funes , Sos , Uncastillo , Arlas, Caparroso and Boltaña . In the year 1011 Sancho III married Muniadona of Castile , daughter of the Count of Castile, Sancho García . In 1016 the County of Castile and the Kingdom of Navarre made a pact on their future expansion: Pamplona would expand towards

8200-488: The province of Burgos, was part of the creation of the administrative division by King Peter . Currently, the Foral Community of Navarre is still divided into five merindades standing for different judicial districts. The historic Merindad de Ultrapuertos lying to the north of the Pyrenees is nowadays Lower Navarre . Administratively, they have been substituted by the partido judicial . In Biscay ,

8300-549: The region around Pamplona continued to fall within the sphere of influence of Córdoba, presumably as part of its broader frontier region, the Upper March , ruled by Íñigo's half-brother, Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi . The city was allowed to remain Christian and have its own administration but had to pay the traditional taxes to the emirate, including the jizya assessed on non-Muslims living under their control. Íñigo Arista

8400-433: The south and east, the eastern region of Soria and the Ebro valley, including territories that were at the time part of Zaragoza . Thus, the Kingdom of Pamplona comprised a territory of 15,000 km between Pamplona, Nájera and Aragón with vassals of Pamplonese and Aragonese origin. The assassination of Count García Sánchez of Castile in 1028 allowed Sancho to appoint his younger son Ferdinand as count. He also exerted

8500-594: The southern side of the western Pyrenees, in the flatlands around the city of Pamplona . According to Roman geographers such as Pliny the Elder and Livy , these regions were inhabited by the Vascones and other related Vasconic- Aquitanian tribes, a pre- Indo-European group of peoples who inhabited the southern slopes of the western Pyrenees and part of the shore of the Bay of Biscay . These tribes spoke an archaic version of

8600-399: The territory was given to his widow Muniadona of Castile to split among all the legitimate sons: thus García Sánchez III also received the territory to the northeast from the County of Castile ( La Bureba , Montes de Oca ) and the County of Álava . Ferdinand received the rest of the County of Castile and the lands between the Pisuerga and the Cea. Another son of Sancho, Gonzalo , received

8700-607: The time of his death in 851/2. Pamplona and Navarre are distinguished in Carolingian chronicles. Pamplona is cited in 778 as a Navarrese stronghold, which may be due to their lack of information about the Basque territory. The chronicles did distinguish between Navarre and its main town in 806 ( In Hispania, vero Navarrensis et Pampelonensis ), while the Annals of Fontenelle refers to " Induonis et Mitionis, ducum Navarrorum " (Induo [Íñigo Arista] and Mitio [perhaps Jimeno], dukes of

8800-663: The town and its castle in May 1521, losing it to the Duke of Alba in June; the spanish evacuated Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in 1522, but recovered it in January 1524. While possession of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port was hotly contested, Saint-Palais (Donapaleu in Basque) remained out of spanish reach and would become the main royal center of the surviving Navarrese monarchy in Lower Navarre. Eventually,

8900-438: The town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, but failed to take the citadel; he and Queen Catherine died soon after, and the 10,000 mercenary army of the spanish Emperor Charles V recovered control of the town. Charles V's troops retained Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and its hinterland, besides devastating the region, but were met with strong resistance led by local lords loyal to King Henry II of Navarre . The latter succeeded in taking over

9000-544: The way back, however, they were ambushed and defeated in Roncevaux by a force probably composed both of Basques and the Córdoba-allied muwallad Banu Qasi . Out of the pattern of competing Frankish and Córdoban interests, the Basque chieftain Íñigo Arista took power. Tradition tells he was elected as king of Pamplona in 824, giving rise to a dynasty of kings in Pamplona that would last for eighty years. However,

9100-584: Was definitely reluctant to any binding reading of the Navarrese laws, and forced more loose wordings, devoid of specific meaning in order to feel his hands free. Ultimately this led to an encroaching French centralization of all relevant decisions and prerogatives during the 17 and 18th centuries. In 1620 and 1624 respectively the House of Commons and the Justice system were merged with those of Béarn and transferred from Saint-Palais to Pau, despite protests voiced by

9200-511: Was determined to take over coastal Navarre, a strategic region that would allow Castile much easier access to European wool markets and would isolate Navarre as well. He launched a massive expedition against Navarre.Sancho the Strong was abroad in Tlemcen (modern Algeria) seeking support to counter the Castilian push, by opening a second front. Pope Celestine III intervened to frustrate the alliance. The towns of Vitoria and Treviño resisted

9300-542: Was in a civil war that provided the opportunity for the Umayyad conquest of Hispania . The Basque leadership most likely joined the Umayyad caliphate in the hope of stability brought by the Muslim conquerors. By 718, Pamplona had formed a pact that allowed a wide degree of autonomy in exchange for military and political subjugation, along with the payment of tribute to Córdoba . Burial ornamentation shows strong contacts with

9400-400: Was invited by rebellious Muslim lords on the Upper March of Al-Andalus to lead an expedition south with the intention of taking the city of Zaragoza from the Emirate of Córdoba. However, the expedition was a failure, and the Frankish army was forced to withdraw. During their retreat, they destroyed the city walls of Pamplona to weaken the city and avoid a possible rebellion, reminiscent of

9500-464: Was killed there by a pro-Frankish faction. During this period, Basque territory extended on the west to somewhere around the headwaters of the Ebro river. Equally Einhart 's Vita Karoli Magni pinpoints the source of the Ebro in the land of the Navarrese. However, this western region fell under the influence of the Kingdom of Asturias . The Franks renewed their attempts to control the region and in 806 took Navarre under their protection. Following

9600-574: Was made a county, Biscay a lordship and Gipuzkoa just a province. In 1207, an arrangement in Guadalajara between both kings sealed a 5-year truce over the occupied territories; still Castile kept a fait accompli policy. Sancho the Strong would join in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), where he added his small force to the Christian alliance that was victorious over the Caliph Muhammand An-Nasir . He suffered from

9700-487: Was married to Alfonso IV of León and her sister Urraca to Ramiro II of León , while other daughters of Sancho were married to counts of Castile , Álava and Bigorre . The marriage of the Pamplonese King García Sánchez with Andregoto Galíndez , daughter of Galindo Aznárez II , Count of Aragon linked the eastern county to the kingdom. In 934, he invited Abd-ar-Rahman III to intervene in

9800-745: Was married to the King of León Ordoño II , establishing an alliance with the Leónese kingdom and ensuring the Calahorra region. The valleys of the River Aragón and River Gállego all the way down to Sobrarbe also ended up under control of Pamplona, and to the west the lands of the kingdom reached the counties of Álava and Castile, which were under control of the Kingdom of Asturias . The kingdom had at this time an extent of about 15,000 km . The Chronicle of Albelda (last updated in 976) outlines

9900-537: Was regained for Navarre in 1234, coming to be governed by the sheriff of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. However, the definite boundaries were not established until the 1244-1245 war between the Labourdins and Navarrese came to an end. In 1512, the Duke of Alba, under orders from King Ferdinand II of Aragon, conquered Navarre , including Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port . The Navarrese monarchs retreated to their sovereign domain of Béarn . In 1516, King John III of Navarre retook

10000-469: Was succeeded by Peter I , who resumed the expansion of the territory, taking the cities of Sádaba in 1096 and Milagro in 1098, while threatening Tudela . Alfonso the Battler (1104–1134), brother of Peter I, secured for the country its greatest territorial expansion. He wrested Tudela from the Moors (1114), re-conquered the entire country of Bureba, which Navarre had lost in 1042, and advanced into

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