A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Jeanne of France and Navarre

4120631A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography — Jeanne of France and Navarre

JEANNE OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE,

Wife of Philip the Fourth of France, was the only child and heiress of Henry the First, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne. The Count de Bar having attacked Champagne, she placed herself at the head of a small army, forced him to surrender, and kept him a long time in prison. But her most solid title to glory, is the having founded the famous college of Navarre.

Jeanne of Navarre died at Vincennes, in 1304, aged thirty-three. Her husband was devotedly attached to her, and she fully deserved his love. Philip never took the titles of King of Navarre, or of Count of Champagne and of Brie; and to all his ordinances relative to the government of these principalities, he always added that he acted with the concurrence of his dear companion; and Jeanne added her seal to that of her husband. Jeanne was married at the age of thirteen, and, during her twenty years of wedded life, she bore her husband seven children. She was equally beautiful, eloquent generous, and courageous.