1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Charles III. (King of Navarre)

CHARLES III. (1361–1425), called The Noble, king of Navarre and count of Evreux, was the eldest son of Charles II. the Bad, king of Navarre, by his marriage with Jeanne, daughter of John II., king of France, and was married in 1375 to Leonora (d. 1415), daughter of Henry II., king of Castile. Having passed much of his early life in France, he became king of Navarre on the death of Charles II. in January 1387, and his reign was a period of peace and order, thus contrasting sharply with the long and calamitous reign of his father. In 1393 he regained Cherbourg, which had been handed over by Charles II. to Richard II. of England, and in 1403 he came to an arrangement with the representatives of Charles VI. of France concerning the extensive lands which he claimed in that country. Cherbourg was given to the French king; certain exchanges of land were made; and in the following year Charles III. surrendered the county of Evreux, and was created duke of Nemours and made a peer of France. After this his only interference in the internal affairs of France was when he sought to make peace between the rival factions in that country. Charles sought to improve the condition of Navarre by making canals and rendering the rivers navigable, and in other ways. He died at Olite on the 8th of September 1425 and was buried at Pampeluna. After the death of his two sons in 1402 the king decreed that his kingdom should pass to his daughter Blanche (d. 1441), who took for her second husband John, afterwards John II., king of Aragon; and the cortes of Navarre swore to recognize Charles (q.v.), prince of Viana, her son by this marriage, as king after his mother’s death.