Lanzarot

Lanzarot* was an illegitimate son of King Carlos III of Navarre, whose wife Eleanor of Castile only bore him daughters.  He was born 15 April 1386 to one of Carlos' several mistresses, while Carlos was still only a prince but was married to Eleanor.

When Carlos became king, Eleanor fell ill and repaired to Castile with their daughters; when she returned she found several mistresses and illegitimate children at the palace. Eleanor abruptly returned to Castile. Some suggest that she was afraid Lanzarot would have a better claim to the throne than her daughters, even though the laws of Navarre forbade it. I think it more likely that she was disgusted with her husband—their marriage was strictly political in execution—and wanted to be away from him.

Kings often treated their bastards well. Lanzarot was given a religious education along with a coat of arms (see illustration). In 1397 he was at a grammar school in Pamplona, and in 1403 he and his brother Godfrey went to the University of Toulouse. In that year Carlos had two archdeacons nominate Lanzarot to become a bishop, but Pope Benedict XIII would only allow Lanzarot to be an apostolic notary (essentially a document secretary) and an archdeacon of Calahorra in Castile. The Castilians objected.

In 1406 the See of Pamplona became vacant, and Carlos wanted Lanzarot in the position. The pope refused, and in 1407 Castile finally accepted Lanzarot as an archdeacon. Benedict was in Avignon, and this was the time of the Western Schism  when there were three popes in contention for authority. When Pope Gregory XII in Rome started gaining the upper hand, Benedict decided he needed more allies and accepted Carlos' request. Lanzarot would still not be a bishop, but was made a vicar general to oversee Pamplona; the actual bishopric position remained vacant. Then, in 1418, he was made titular bishop of Alexandria.**

Following in his father's footsteps, Lanzarot had illegitimate children, Margaret and John. A lavish lifestyle was partially supported by his father, but he did not have a diocese to support him, and died leaving large debts. He was buried in the Cathedral of Pamplona after dying on 8 January 1420.

By that time, his "step-mother" Eleanor had died, but let us return to see what the rest of her life was like after the shock of finding her husband living with several mistresses.

*Note: He was also known as Lancelot of Navarre, but because the Arthurian Lancelot has been mentioned in this blog, I don't want any confusion during a search.

**If you wanted to give someone the title of bishop but no power, you gave them the title to a bishopric that no longer existed. Alexandria was no longer under Roman rule, so Lanzarot could be called bishop but didn't have control of a diocese. Since promoting someone to bishop was a nice reward for performance, there are more Roman Catholic bishops than there are dioceses. I have personally known titular bishops of Tanudaia and Tabucaira, long-lost dioceses from the past.

King Carlos and Queen Eleanor

I mentioned yesterday how King Carlos III of Navarre brought in midwives from Toledo to help his wife. The reality is, of course, that wanting a successful and safe childbirth on the part of a king is more likely motivated by a desire to have a proper line of succession than it is his desire to keep his wife safe. Sorry: that's a rather cynical approach to the marriage of Carlos and Eleanor.

Or is it?

Carlos, called "the Noble," was born 22 July 1361 to King Carlos II "the Bad" of Navarre and Joan of Valois, whose father was King John II of France. His parents traveled frequently between Navarre and the French lands that came with Joan's dowry, often leaving the children behind. Joan died suddenly in 1373, when young Carlos was not yet a teenager. It is possible that he did not have a role model for how a husband and wife should interact.

Two years later, young Carlos was married to the two-years-younger Eleanor, daughter of King Henry II of Castile. The marriage was designed to make peace between Navarre and Castile, each of whom would have liked the other's lands.

Three years after that, in 1378, Carlos was sent by his father to meet with King Charles V of France, Carlos' mother's brother. Charles arrested Carlos, and interrogated him to prove the suspicion that Carlos II intended to seize a Castilian town that had once been part of Navarre. Carlos confessed his father's plans. Charles V then invaded his brother-in-law's Navarre and forced him to sign a treaty to promise peace between Navarre and Castile.

Carlos remained under arrest, until in 1381 Eleanor asked her brother John, now King of Castile, to appeal to France to release her husband. Carlos was released and joined her in Castile. A year later, they had their first child, Joan. The next few years saw two more daughters, Marie and Blanche. A year later Eleanor bore twin daughters, but one died young leaving Beatrice.

1387 saw the death of Carlos' father and Carlos' accession to the throne on 1 January; Eleanor and daughters moved to Navarre to be with him. Eleanor fell ill, however, and returned to Castile with their daughters. For the next seven years, she refused to return to Navarre, despite Carlos' wishes. Her brother the king tried to persuade her that she had royal obligations, but she claimed that Carlos did not treat her well, and that the Court did not like her; she even claimed suspicion that some wanted to poison her.

(To be fair, the fact that she bore only daughters would motivate some courtiers to want her out of the way for a new bride who might bear a son.)

When she did return to Navarre, things between the couple got worse: she found four mistresses and six illegitimate children living at Court, at least one of whom was male, a boy named Lanzarot.

We will now take a "side trip" and follow Lanzarot before coming back to Eleanor and the succession.

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.