Blanche and John

After King Ferdinand I of Aragon annexed Sicily and dismissed Blanche as its regent, she returned to Navarre, where Ferdinand arranged her marriage to his son, John (called "the Great" and "the Faithless"), who was 11 years her junior.

Through Blanche's position as her father's heir, she and John became queen and king of Navarre upon the death of Carlos III on 8 September 1425, although their coronations did not take place until 15 May 1429.

Blanche devoted herself to religious causes. She supported several charities and founded hermitages. She supported the hermitage of Santa Brígida near Olite, the royal seat of her father.

In 1433, she made a pilgrimage to Santa María del Pilar (Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar) in Zaragoza, in Aragon. With her went her eldest son by John, Charles of Viana (1421 - 1461), and John's royal chamberlain, Juan Vélaz de Medrano IV, who had been Carlos III's chamberlain.

During the pilgrimage, she established a chivalric brotherhood consisting of her son Charles, 15 men and nine women. They were all committed to regular fasting, almsgiving, prayer, and vigil observances of important holy days. They wore blue sashes (symbolic of the Virgin Mary) embroidered with a gold pillar and the motto  A ti me arrimo ("I lean on you").

Blanche and John had three children besides Charles. Joan of Navarre only lived a couple years (1423 - 22 August 1425). Blanche of Navarre (1424 - 1464) married Henry IV of Castile but never consummated it in 13 years, after which Henry divorced her. Eleanor, born 1426, became Queen of Navarre until her death in 1479.

When Blanche died on 1 April 1441, she was buried in the church of Santa María la Real de Nieva. The illustration shows a likeness of her in that church.

So...what was the deal with the pillar? How was Mary associated with a pillar in Spain? That's a story for tomorrow.

Blanche I of Navarre

After the death of her sister Joan in 1413, Blanche (6 July 1387 - 1 April 1441), the second surviving daughter of King Carlos II and Eleanor, became the heir to the throne of Navarre. She had not been quietly "waiting in the wings," however: she had already become prominent in another country.

In May 1402, when Blanche was on the cusp of turning 15, she was married by proxy to the king of Sicily, Martin the Younger. Martin was 28, and needed an heir, since his first wife, Maria of Sicily, and their son had predeceased him. Sicily seems a long way from the Iberian Peninsula, but Martin was from Aragon (his father was later King Martin I of Aragon), and so the two families were known to each other.

Blanche traveled to Sicily in December to consummate the marriage. Martin traveled to Aragon shortly after, leaving his teen bride as regent. In 1408-09, she was again regent as Martin traveled to and conquered Sardinia. Unfortunately, Martin died in Sardinia that year.

The throne of Sicily then went to Martin's father, Martin I of Aragon (father and son were also known as "the Elder" and "the Younger"). Martin senior allowed Blanche to remain as his regent in Sicily, a position she retained after 1410 when Martin the Elder died. Sicily saw her presence as a symbol of independence from Aragon, and the population supported her remaining in Sicily. There were plans to have her marry a member of the deposed Sicilian royal house, Nicolás Peralta, to restore the throne to a Sicilian. In Aragon, Martin's successor, Ferdinand I, annexed Sicily and removed Blanche as regent. She returned to Navarre.

In 1415 she was declared heir to the throne of Navarre. In 1419, she married the son of Ferdinand I, John. The two were married in Pamplona on 10 July 1420.

King Carlos III died on 8 September 1425. Blanche became Queen Blanche I, and her husband became King John II of Aragon. Tomorrow we'll talk about little about their marriage together and some events they shared.

Eleanor, Queen of Navarre

After the embarrassment of returning to Navarre from Castile with her daughters to find the palace filled with her husband's concubines and illegitimate children, Eleanor took her daughters back to Castile to the court of her brother John.

King John I of Castile died in October 1390, however, and was succeeded by his son Henry. Eleanor disapproved of her nephew, and with some allies formed the League of Lillo to depose him. Her plan failed, and Henry forced her to return to Navarre and King Carlos in February 1395.

Things changed: she became involved in Navarre politics, and the relationship with Carlos improved. They had two sons, Charles and Louis, both of whom died young (Charles at the age of five, Louis before he was one). Their oldest daughter, Joan (1382 - 1413), was groomed as Carlos' heir to the throne.

Although the two were married when Carlos' father died and he became king, Eleanor had never been crowned officially. Her coronation finally took place on 3 June 1403 in Pamplona (the week prior to Carlos trying to make the illegitimate Lanzarot the bishop of Pamplona). You can see her coat of arms above with her royal status represented.

Eleanor was entrusted to the kingdom as regent when Carlos was away, and she worked to keep good relations between Navarre and her home of Castile. When Carlos and Eleanor both traveled, Joan was left as regent. Joan died in 1413, and the succession was settled on their third daughter, Blanche. (A second daughter, Maria, had died in 1406 at the age of 22, unmarried).

The date of Eleanor's death is debated, but by March of 1416 she had died and was interred in the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real in Pamplona. Carlos died in 1425 at the age of 64 and was interred with her.

That leaves Blanche I, Queen of Navarre as of 8 September 1425, who married someone I have said a lot about just a couple months ago. We'll pick up her story tomorrow.

Some Midwives

Although discussions of midwifery recently emphasized how they were considered lower in status than licensed medical professionals, they were still vital in a community. Subsequently, we do know the names of a few. (Although Trotula was often referred to as a midwife, she never discussed childbirth in any of her works.)

Many of the midwives whose names have come down to us are known because they were employed by nobles who kept records, or tax records that name professions along with the person taxed.

England in the 14th century names a few women in poll tax records as midwives. Felicia Tracy in Canterbury was one, as were Matilda Kembere and Margery Josy in Reading.

Royals wanting help in birth from someone experienced in the matter hired Asseline Alexandre in the 1370s to aid the Duchess of Burgundy in her pregnancies. At least one French queen hired a midwife named Bourgot L'Obliere.

On the Iberian Peninsula, King Carlos III of Navarre (1361 - 1425) brought the Muslim midwives Blanca and Xenci from Toledo to be a part of his court for the health of his wife, Queen Eleanor. She successfully bore several children (including Blanche I), so the move was a good one.

Muslim midwives continued to be employed at this court. King Carlos' daughter Blanche, who became queen of Navarre, was attended by a mother-daughter pair of midwives called doña Fatima and doña Haxa.

One name of a midwife, unfortunately, survived in records because she was put on trial. The Jewish midwife Floreta, widow of Aquinon d'Ays, was brought to trial in Marseilles in 1403. The charge was that she performed a procedure that caused the patient's haemorrhaging and death. Although we do not know the final outcome of the trial, trial records list her defense, and the statements of other women present, all Christian. It has been called an instance of anti-Semitism at a time and in a place where it was not hitherto noted.

The man who brought midwives to help his wife seems like a devoted, loving husband. But that may not exactly have been the case for Carlos III. Let's find out more about him next time.

John II of Aragon

The father of Ferdinand II of Aragon was John II of Aragon (1398 - 1479, pictured here). He had other titles as well, including King of Sicily and King of Navarre, which he gained from marrying Blanche I of Navarre, daughter of King Carlos III of Navarre and Eleanor of Castile and Navarre.

Their eldest son was Charles, who was made Prince of Viana by his maternal grandfather. He was also named the successor to Navarre after his grandfather and mother, a decision by them which angered John.

When Blanche died in 1441, John refused to allow Charles to rule, retaining control of Navarre, even though Charles was referred to as king by the people of Navarre.

John decided that, instead of naming Charles as the successor to his own possessions of Sicily and Aragon (as well as Navarre), John would seek another heir. He therefore married Juana Enriquez in 1447. She bore him two children, Ferdinand and Joanna. Charles saw this (correctly) as an attempt to disinherit him from Aragon. John named Ferdinand his successor when Ferdinand was nine years old.

In 1451, Charles rebelled against his father's possession of Navarre and the Navarrese Civil War began, a period of unrest and fighting until Charles was captured in 1452, the same year Ferdinand was born. Charles was released if he promised not to seek the throne of Navarre until after John's death.

All this actually took place while John was still a prince; the current king in Aragon while John was growing up was Alfonso V. Alfonso died in 1458, and Prince John became King John II of Aragon, offering Charles Naples and Sicily. Charles declined, and returned to Navarre in 1459, with a plan to marry Isabella of Castile. That fell through (she later married Ferdinand, of course). Charles died in Barcelona in 1461; the suspicion was poison, administered by his stepmother Juana.

John had several more years in him, however, and we'll wrap him up in a few paragraphs next time.