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Catherine (Basque: Katalina), Queen of Navarre, reigned from 1483 until 1517. She was also Duchess of Gandia, Montblanc, and Peñafiel, Countess of Foix, Bigorre, and Ribagorza, and Viscountess of Béarn.
After her marriage, Catherine ruled together with her husband (as John III) until his death on 17 June 1516. Queen Catherine did not outlive her husband much longer, and died in her domain of Mont-de-Marsan on 12 February 1517. Due to wartime losses of territory, after 1512 Catherine was actual queen only in some areas of Basse-Navarre, or Lower Navarre, north of the Pyrenees, but her domains extended to the contiguous Principality of Bearn and other lands.
John III (French: Jean d'Albret, Basque: Joanes III.a) was jure uxoris King of Navarre from 1484 until his death, as husband and co-ruler of Queen Catherine. He was a son of Alain I of Albret, Lord of Albret, and his wife, Frances of Châtillon-Limoges.
He became King of Navarre and Count of Foix by virtue of his 1484 marriage to Queen Catherine (1470–1517), successor of her brother Francis Phoebus in 1483. He shared with Catherine tasks related to the government of the kingdom, but his rule was marked by the guardianship of Catherine's mother Magdalena de Valois up to 1494 (she died in 1495) and persistent diplomatic and military pressure of Ferdinand II of Aragon over the Crown of Navarre, supported on the ground by the Beaumont party of Navarre. |
