Jeanne d'Albret, Queen and Regent of Navarre

1528-1572, Queen and sole ruler of Navarre and Duchess of Vendome

Here we have a woman and character who is quite different from the last few featured here, she is more in the vein of Marguerite of Anjou in many ways.  Nearly her whole life was characterized by religious strife, wars, and political maneuverings, even though she herself was quite intelligent and a strong theologian and philosopher.

In the last entry here I described the life of Jeanne's mother, Marguerite of Angouleme, who was at the center of the French Renaissance and started movements towards reformation in the Catholic Church.  By the time of Jeanne's adolescence the Church's problems were dominating the European stage.  Things became increasingly polarized between Roman Catholics, many of whom wanted reform of the corruption and excesses then present in the Church, and many of whom favored keeping things just the same, and newly organized Protestants, who broke entirely with the Church, some of whom wanted to simply keep their new religion, and some wanted to completely abolish the Church. 

Jeanne was the sole living child and heir of Marguerite and the king of Navarre.  It was a kingdom between Spain and France, largely dominated by France but also having significant ties with Spain.  At this time Spain did not favor any reform of the Church (and began the Inquisition) while France was still staunchly Catholic, but favored reform.

Jeanne was not raised in Navarre, or even in her mother's Renaissance court in Amboise, but she spent her childhood in Normandy, and her main teacher was a famous humanist.  From him and her mother she learned to be a reformer of the Church, and absorbed strongly individualistic ideas about personal religion.  Despite this stories say she was a carefree, stubborn, and somewhat frivolous princess.  She had to be physically carried down the aisle at her first wedding because she objected so strongly.  This marriage was annulled after four years, and after that she was placed in the guardianship of Francois I, king of France and her uncle.

After Francois' death in 1547 Jeanne was married to the second in line to the French throne, Antoine, duke of Vendome.  They had a fairly happy marriage, and together they ascended the throne of Navarre when her father died in 1555 - although Antoine allowed her to rule pretty much freely, as she was that actual heiress to the territory.  Before she had been crowned a year, Jeanne decided to convert to Calvinism (a particularly strict and puritan version of Protestantism), and went so far as to declare it now Navarre's official religion.  She offered protection and support to French Huguenots - Protestants who were being persecuted in France.  She made loads of religious reforms in Navarre, including having the Bible translated into the native languages.  The conversion made her the most powerful Protestant in Europe.

Despite ruling Navarre, which was south of France, Jeanne and Antoine spent much of their time at the French court in Paris.  They were there when the French Wars of Religion broke out in 1562; her husband, who had not converted with her, leaned towards supporting the court's Catholic position, while Jeanne favored the Protestants.  Faced with pressure, she left Paris soon after to head back to Navarre, at which point her husband threatened to have her kidnapped and sent to a Catholic nunnery.  He died in battle soon after.

She made it safely to Navarre but was subsequently under more pressure from Spain to convert back.  Spain was supported by the Pope, who not only plotted to have her kidnapped and sent to Spain for the Inquisition, but also excommunicated her, threatened to confiscate her kingdom and declare it fair game for any Catholic to take over.  Wedged between two unfriendly bigger states, Jeanne had few allies except Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was also Protestant and had also had the same threats from the Pope (he even probably did send out an assassin for Elizabeth).  Despite the uproar, however, Jeanne had not yet openly given her support to the French Protestants in the war they were fighting.

Finally in 1568, though, she did throw her weight behind those Protestants, and Jeanne and her son went to the main French Protestant city, La Rochelle.  They were soon under siege, and during that time Jeanne was tirelessly writing pamphlets and letters defending her conversion, Protestantism in general, and asking foreign rulers for aid.  Two years later there was more or less a stalemate: the Protestants had lost a major battle but the Catholics had run out of money to fund their army.  Jeanne was one of the main diplomats in charge of the peace treaty, and agreed for her son, the heir to the throne of Navarre, to marry the French king's daughter.

Jeanne was the 4th generation of powerful French women to have taken up arms - literally, intellectually, or diplomatically - to fight for what she believed in.  Although she ended up on the losing side of history she's still recognized as the spiritual leader of the whole Protestant movement in France.  Many of her contemporaries, and some historians today, believed she was too rigid and puritanical, too willing to sacrifice her people and resources for religion.  I think that's a tricky judgment to make considering that this conflict was essentially a Europe-wide war involving every major power.  But she certainly had huge significance in her time, and for that she definitely deserves her place in the Luxembourg gardens.