v44_0541 - NAVARRE-BEARN - JEANNE OF ALBRET Teston

NAVARRE-BEARN - JEANNE D'ALBRET / JOAN OF ALBRET

(1562-1572)

Jeanne d'Albret was born in 1528. She is the daughter of Henri d'Albret (1516-1555) and Marguerite d'Angoulême, the sister of King François I of France. The king married her by proxy to the Duke of Cleves but the marriage was dissolved after three years. In 1548, she married the Duke of Vendôme, Antoine de Bourbon, who was appointed Lieutenant General of the kingdom on the death of the King of France, François II, in 1560. Jeanne d'Albret and her children won the Court at the request of Catherine de' Medici, but having publicly declared herself close to Calvinist causes, she had to return to her kingdom of Navarre. After the death of her husband in 1562, she reigned alone over Navarre. In 1572, she again went to Court to negotiate the marriage of her son, Henri de Navarre (future Henri IV) to Marguerite, the sister of King Charles IX (Queen Margot). She died in Paris during these negotiations.