Inheritance
On the deaths of Louis X (1316) and his son, John I (also 1316), both of whom had been kings of France and Navarre, she was excluded from the succession in favor of Louis' brother Philip V of France (Philip II of Navarre), the second surviving son of Philip IV of France. Philip V prevailed for a number of reasons, including her youth, doubts regarding her paternity, and the Estates-General's determination that women should not be allowed to rule France. The last reason, however, was not applicable to Navarre because there was already precedent there for succession by a female. The only reason that she was not officially declared a bastard was that Philip needed the political support of her mother's brother Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy, who did not want to perpetuate the scandal of his sister's behavior. After Philip V's brother and successor Charles IV of France (Charles I of Navarre) died in 1328, there was no male heir to either crown in the direct line from Philip IV. Instead, a more distant Philip, a descendant of Philip IV's younger brother Charles of Valois, successfully claimed the throne as Philip VI of France in preference to Joan and a number of other females closer to the line of succession. Philip was not descended from Joan I of Navarre, and hence had no claim to the crown of Navarre.
Read more about this topic: Joan II Of Navarre
Famous quotes containing the word inheritance:
“As to honour—you know—it’s a very fine mediaeval inheritance which women never got hold of. It wasn’t theirs.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“I call it our collective inheritance of isolation. We inherit isolation in the bones of our lives. It is passed on to us as sure as the shape of our noses and the length of our legs. When we are young, we are taught to keep to ourselves for reasons we may not yet understand. As we grow up we become the “men who never cry” and the “women who never complain.” We become another generation of people expected not to bother others with our problems.”
—Paula C. Lowe (20th century)
“Late in the afternoon we passed a man on the shore fishing with a long birch pole.... The characteristics and pursuits of various ages and races of men are always existing in epitome in every neighborhood. The pleasures of my earliest youth have become the inheritance of other men. This man is still a fisher, and belongs to an era in which I myself have lived.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)