Charles II of Navarre - Life

Life

Since his father was first cousin to King Philip VI of France and his mother Joan II of Navarre was the only child of King Louis X, Charles of Navarre was 'born of the fleur de lys on both sides', as he liked to point out, but he succeeded to a shrunken inheritance as far as his French lands were concerned. After he assumed the crown of Navarre in October 1349, Charles II visited his kingdom to be anointed in summer 1350 but otherwise apart from short visits spent the first 12 years of his reign almost entirely in France; he regarded Navarre principally as a source of manpower with which to advance his designs to become a major power in France. He hoped for a long time for recognition of his claim to the crown of France (as the heir-general of Philip IV through his mother, and an heir-male of the Capetian dynasty through his father). However, Salic law disregarded all female lines, and he was unable to wrest the throne from his Valois cousins, who were senior to him by agnatic primogeniture.