kingdom · France and the Low Countries
Lower Navarre
Origins
Ferdinand of Aragon conquered the Kingdom of Navarre south of the Pyrenees in 1512. The Albret kings kept a small Basque-speaking territory on the northern side around Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Saint-Palais, which Charles V gave up around 1530 as too hard to hold.
Rule and society
The Albret monarchs, who also ruled neighbouring Béarn, kept the royal title and Navarre's own estates and courts, with Saint-Palais as the seat of government. Queen Jeanne d'Albret converted to Calvinism and promoted it, though most Basques stayed Catholic. Her son Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France in 1589.
Decline and legacy
Henry IV kept Navarre separate from France. In 1620 Louis XIII issued an edict uniting Lower Navarre and Béarn with the Kingdom of France, and French kings were styled 'King of France and Navarre' until 1830.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- Lower Navarre in personal union with Viscounty of Béarn1530 CE – 1620 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lower Navarre. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lower-navarre
- MLA
- “Lower Navarre.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lower-navarre. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Lower Navarre.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lower-navarre.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lower Navarre’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lower-navarre (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻