Jeanne d'Albret

Jeanne III
Portrait by François Clouet, 1570
Queen of Navarre
Reign25 May 1555 – 9 June 1572
Coronation18 August 1555 at Pau
PredecessorHenry II
SuccessorHenry III
Co-rulerAntoine (1555–1562)
Co-Princess of Andorra
Reign1555–1572
PredecessorHenry II
SuccessorHenry III
Co-rulers
See
  • Miquel Despuig (until 1556)
  • Joan Pérez García de Oliván (1556–1560)
  • Vacant (1560–1561)
  • Pere de Castellet (1561–1571)
  • Vacant (1571–1572)
Born16 November 1528[1]
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Kingdom of France
Died9 June 1572(1572-06-09) (aged 43)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Burial
Ducal Church of collégiale Saint-Georges, Vendôme
Spouses
(m. 1541; ann. 1545)
(m. 1548; died 1562)
Issue
more...
HouseAlbret
FatherHenry II of Navarre
MotherMargaret of Angoulême
ReligionReformed (Huguenot),
prev. Roman Catholic
SignatureJeanne III's signature

Jeanne d'Albret (Basque: Joana Albretekoa; Occitan: Joana de Labrit; 16 November 1528 – 9 June 1572), also known as Jeanne III, was Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572.

Jeanne was the daughter of Henry II of Navarre and Margaret of Angoulême. In 1541, she married William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. The marriage was annulled in 1545. Jeanne married a second time in 1548, to Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme. They had two surviving children, Henry and Catherine.

When her father died in 1555, Jeanne and Antoine ascended the Navarrese throne. They reigned as joint rulers until Antoine died from battle wounds in 1562. Jeanne was the acknowledged spiritual and political leader of the French Huguenot movement,[2] and a key figure in the French Wars of Religion. After her public conversion to Calvinism in 1560, she joined the Huguenot side. During the first and second war she remained relatively neutral, but in the third war she fled to La Rochelle, becoming the de facto leader of the Huguenot-controlled city. After negotiating a peace treaty with the French queen mother Catherine de' Medici and arranging the marriage of her son, Henry, to Catherine's daughter Marguerite, Jeanne died suddenly in Paris. Her son succeeded her as Henry III and later became the first Bourbon king of France as Henry IV.

Jeanne was the last active ruler of Navarre. Her son inherited her kingdom, but as he was constantly leading the Huguenot forces, he entrusted the government of Béarn to his sister, Catherine, who held the regency for more than two decades. In 1620, Jeanne's grandson Louis XIII annexed Navarre to the French crown.