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Jeanne was born in Pau in 1528, the daughter of Henry II of Navarre and Marguerite of Navarre. Marguerite was the sister of Francis I of France, and Jeanne grew up at the French court. When she was thirteen, Francis married her to the Duke of Cleves, but this political marriage was annulled four years later.
After the death of Francis and the accession of Henry II Jeanne was married to Antoine de Bourbon, "first prince of the blood," who would become heir to the French throne if the Valois line died out.
In 1555 Henry II of Navarre died, and Jeanne and her husband became rulers of Navarre.
In the first year of her reign, Jeanne d'Albret called a conference of beleaguered Huguenot ministers which led to her declaring Calvinism the official religion of her kingdom.
The power struggle between Catholics and Huguenots for control of the French court and France as a whole led to the outbreak of the French Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion were a series of conflicts fought between the Catholic League and the Huguenots from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598. In 1560, Catherine de Medici became regent for her young son Charles IX. in 1562Events Earliest English slave-trading expedition under John Hawkins. The expedition goes between Guinea and the West Indies January 6 Earl of Tyrone ends his first rebellion by surrendering to Queen Elizabeth I of England January 17 Huguenots were recogni. Antoine de Bourbon chose to support the Catholics, but was mortally wounded at the siege of RouenRouen (population 110,000) is a city situated on the Seine river in Normandy, northern France. Population of the metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine at the 1999 census was 518,316. Administration Rouen is the prefecture ( capital) of the Seine-Mari. Jeanne's son Henry now became "first prince of the blood."
In 1567Events The Duke of Alva arrives in the Netherlands with Spanish forces to suppress unrest there. He replaces Margaret of Parma as Governor of the Netherlands. Prince William of Orange is outlawed, and Count Lamoral of Egmont imprisoned. February 10 Henry war broke out again, and Jeanne fled to the Huguenot city of La RochelleGeography La Rochelle is a city of western France, and a seaport on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the prefecture (capital) of the Charente-Maritime departement 17). The city is connected to the Ile de Re ( island) by a 2. 9 km bridge, completed in 1988. Its h. From here she conducted peace negotiations, and in 1570 official talks began to marry Henry to the king's sister Marguerite. She died in Paris two months before the wedding took place.
Marriages
In 1541 Jeanne married William, Duke of Cleves, annulled in 1545, with no issue
On October 20 1548 she married Antoine de Bourbon
Issue
| Preceded by: Henry II | King of Navarre | Succeeded by: Henry III |