Navarre: Information

The Kingdom of Navarre (Basque: Nafarroako Erresuma, Spanish: Reino de Navarra, French: Royaume de Navarre, Latin: Regnum Navarrae), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a Basque-based kingdom that occupied lands on either side of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France.

The medieval Kingdom of Pamplona was formed when the native chieftain Íñigo Arista was elected or declared King in Pamplona (traditionally in 824), and led a revolt against the regional Frankish authority.

The southern part of the kingdom was conquered by the Crown of Castile in 1512 (permanently in 1524), becoming part of the unified Kingdom of Spain. The northern part of the kingdom remained independent, but it joined with France by personal union in 1589 when King Henry III of Navarre inherited the French throne as Henry IV of France, and in 1620 it was merged into the Kingdom of France. The monarchs of this unified state took the title "King of France and Navarre" until its fall in 1792, and again during the Bourbon Restoration from 1814 until 1830 (with a short break in 1815).

In 1837 a Spanish Liberal, centralist constitution was proclaimed in Madrid, and Isabella II recognized as queen. Following the August 31st, 1839 armistice putting an end to the First Carlist War, Navarre remained in a shaky state.

Its separate status was acknowledged on the Act promulgated in October that year, but after arrival of Baldomero Espartero and the anti-fueros Progressives to office in Madrid, talks with Navarrese Liberal negotiators led to a near-assimilation of Navarre with the Spanish province. Navarre was not a kingdom anymore, but another Spanish province. In exchange for giving up self-government, the Navarrese got the Compromise Act (the Ley Paccionada) in 1841, a set of tax, administrative and other prerogatives, conjuring up an idea of 'compromise between two equal sides', and not a granted charter.