Blanche D'Évreux

Blanche of Navarre (french: Blanche d'Évreux; c. 1331 – 5 October 1398), was a French princess and Infanta of Navarre as a member of the House of Évreux (a cadet branch of the House of Capet) and by marriage Queen of France from 29 January until 22 August 1350.

Blanche d'Évreux was intended become the bride of John, Duke of Normandy, heir of the throne of France — whose first wife had just died of the Black Death— but eventually married his father, King Philip VI of France. Only a few months after their wedding, the French king died prematurely and Blanche found herself a widow.

After giving birth in 1351 to a posthumous daughter, Blanche refused to remarry King Peter of Castile and retired to the large dower lands that were granted by her late husband. Despite her widowhood, she played an essential role in 1354 by attempting to reconcile her brother King Charles II of Navarre with King John II of France. In 1389, she organized the coronation of Isabeau of Bavaria, the wife of King Charles VI of France.

Life

Born around 1331, Blanche was the third daughter of King Philip III and Queen Joan II of Navarre; by both her paternal and maternal ancestry, she belonged to the House of Capet.

Blanche was engaged on 19 August 1335 to Andrew, only son and heir of the Dauphin Humbert II of Viennois, but the project was abandoned after the premature death of her fiancé two months later. Then, on 15 March 1340, a marriage contract was signed between Blanche and Louis of Male, only son and heir of Louis I, Count of Flanders, which provided for payment of a dowry of 50,000 livres for the Infanta of Navarre. The engagement was nullified on 6 June 1347 by the marriage of Louis of Male to Margaret, daughter of John III, Duke of Brabant. Finally, on 1 July 1345, while still officially engaged with the heir of Flanders, a marriage contract was drawn up between Blanche and Peter, son and heir of King Alfonso XI of Castile. Nevertheless, it was almost immediately abandoned by the Castilian court in favor of a marriage with Joan, daughter of King Edward III of England.

Queenship

On 29 January 1350 at Brie-Comte-Robert, Blanche married King Philip VI of France, forty years her senior. Initially, she was intended to marry John, Duke of Normandy, heir of the throne of France, but, being considered as one of the most beautiful princesses of her time — which explains her nickname "Beautiful Wisdom" (french: Belle Sagesse)— King Philip VI became captivated by her beauty and decided to marry her, while the Duke of Normandy was married with Blanche's first cousin Joan I, Countess of Auvergne. As the chronicler Jean Le Bel recounts:

Due to the Black Death that spread throughout the kingdom, the new Queen of France was not crowned after the wedding ceremony. Blanche's union with King Philip VI only lasted six months, when he suddenly died on 22 August 1350, according to some chroniclers due of exhaustion from constantly fulfilling his conjugal duties. Pregnant by her late husband, Blanche gave birth nine months later, in May 1351, to a daughter named Joan.

Since the announcement of the death of King Philip VI, Pope Clement VI considered the remarriage of Blanche with her former fiance, King Peter of Castile, to strengthen the links between the Kingdoms of Castile and France. After discussing it with Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz, Archbishop of Toledo, and Pedro, Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela

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