Pedro de Navarra (Basque : Petri Nafarroakoa; before 1471 - 24 November 1522) was a nobleman in Navarre and its highest military authority as Marshal of Navarre during the kingdom's last years of independence, as well as the following tumultuous period.
Pedro's ancestry goes back to Leonel, illegitimate son of King Charles II of Navarre (1332-1387). [1] Later in time, Felipe de Navarra was appointed marshal in 1428, dying in 1450. Pedro, his son with Juana de Peralta, succeeded him in the position, but the marshal fell dead at Pamplona in obscure circumstances at the hands of the Beaumont party (1471). [2] Pedro the father had two sons with Ines de Lacarra—Felipe and Pedro. The former and eldest was murdered in 1481, making the latter automatically eligible for the marshal position after his father's death.
Before his marriage to Mayor, he had a son, Francisco de Navarra y Hualde, with a lady surnamed Hualde, from Tafalla. In 1498, he married Mayor de la Cueva, daughter of Beltran de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, with whom he had a son, Pedro de Navarra (junior), who participated in the Siege of Hondarribia (1523-1524).
Pedro de Navarra was the brother of María de Navarra, lady of Sartaguda, she married to Carlos Ramírez de Arellano, lord of Alcañadre. Pedro's sister Catalina de Navarra married in 1454 to Juan de Ezpeleta, viscount of Valderro (†1471). His sister Juana de Navarra married to Luis Enríquez de Lacarra, lord of Ablitas. Juana de Navarra married a second time, to Don Ladron de Mauléon. [3]
Pedro's niece was the daughter of Don Ladrón de Mauleón and Juana de Navarra y Enríquez de Lacarra, sister of Marshal Pedro de Navarra. Pedro's niece Ana de Mauleon y Navarra married the noble lord Don Juan Vélaz de Medrano y Echauz, lord of Igúzquiza, Learza and Agos, major knight of King John III of Navarre, alcaide of the Castle of Del Castillo, Monjardin and Santacara during the Spanish invasion of Navarre. [4]
Pedro, loyal to the House of Foix-Albret, spearheaded frequent diplomatic tasks, standing out in them rather than in military operations. He was overshadowed by Cesare Borgia as skillful military commander [5] when he turned up in Navarre on his flight from prison in Castile. Queen Catherine and King John III assigned the defense of the kingdom to the tenacious Roman commander. Eventually, on Cesare Borgia's death outside Viana in 1507, Pedro took over as Marshal of Navarre.
He went on to become a cornerstone and prestigious figure in Navarre's defense on King Ferdinand II of Aragón's invasion of the kingdom (1512). However, he was captured at Isaba (Roncal) during the failed 1516 expedition against the occupation forces of the Spanish regent Cardinal Cisneros. [6] On 29 May 1518, while prisoner at the Castle of Atienza (Castile), he was offered the apologies of the emperor Charles V should he pledge loyalty to him, in face of which he replied as follows:
With all humility once again I entreat his Majesty to prove with me the magnificence that could be expected from such immense Majesty, by giving my full freedom back, as well as permission to go and provide service to whom I am obliged. The loyalty, the cleanness His Highness wishes and requires from his servers, I will be able to entrust to those of my kind, so that I become captive and slave at their service.
While in prison at Simancas (Castile), the marshal was deprived by the governor of his long-time (23 years) trusted servant, Felipe de Vergara, who was transferred to Valladolid. His replacement, Pedro de Frías, bore witness to the marshal's fears of having his throat cut after the decision to separate Felipe de Vergara from him. [7] After the Imperial failure to capture Hondarribia in 1522 from the French-Navarrese, he died of severe wounds inflicted on his throat, probably assassinated. His death remained shrouded in obscurity, no official announcement was made by the Imperial authorities until 9 February 1523, when the viceroy, acting at the behest of Emperor Charles V, decreed the confiscation of all the marshal's holdings. [8] Likewise, his will and correspondence vanished, and no return of remains or personal objects are attested. [9]
The Kingdom of Navarre, originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost areas originally reaching the Atlantic Ocean, between present-day Spain and France.
John III was jure uxoris King of Navarre from 1484 until his death, as husband and co-ruler of Queen Catherine.
Blanche II was the titular Queen of Navarre between 1461 and 1464. She was the daughter of John II of Aragon and Blanche I of Navarre. She was also Princess of Asturias by marriage to Henry of Castile.
García Ramírez, sometimes García IV, V, VI or VII, called the Restorer, was the King of Navarre (Pamplona) from 1134. The election of García Ramírez restored the independence of the Navarrese kingdom after 58 years of political union with the Kingdom of Aragon. After some initial conflict he would align himself with king Alfonso VII of León and Castile, and as his ally take part in the Reconquista.
Leonor (Eleanor) de Guzmán y Ponce de León (1310–1351) was a Castilian noblewoman. After about 1330, she became the long-term mistress and favourite of Alfonso XI, with whom she had the illegitimate son Henry "the Fratricidal", future first monarch of the House of Trastámara. She held the lordship of Medina-Sidonia until she fell from grace in the wake of Alfonso's death in 1350. She was then executed by her enemies.
The Battle of Noáin or the Battle of Esquiroz, fought on 30 June 1521 was the only open field battle in the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. It was a decisive victory for the Spanish against the Franco-Navarrese army.
The Jiménez dynasty, alternatively called the Jimena, the Sancha, the Banu Sancho, the Abarca or the Banu Abarca, was a medieval ruling family which, beginning in the 9th century, eventually grew to control the royal houses of several kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula during the 11th and 12th centuries, namely the Kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon, Castile, León and Galicia as well as of other territories in the South of France. The family played a major role in the Reconquista, expanding the territory under the direct control of the Christian states as well as subjecting neighboring Muslim taifas to vassalage. Each of the Jiménez royal lines ultimately went extinct in the male line in the 12th or 13th century.
The Spanish conquest of the Iberian part of Navarre was initiated by Ferdinand II of Aragon and completed by his grandson and successor Charles V in a series of military campaigns lasting from 1512 to 1524. Ferdinand was both the king of Aragon and regent of Castile in 1512. When Pope Julius II declared a Holy League against France in late 1511, Navarre attempted to remain neutral. Ferdinand used this as an excuse to attack Navarre, conquering it while its potential protector, France, was beset by England, Venice, and Ferdinand's own Italian armies.
Ladrón Íñiguez, also known as Ladrón Navarro, was a leading nobleman of the Kingdom of Navarre during the reign of García Ramírez (1134–50), whose accession he was instrumental in bringing about. He is regularly titled count (comes), the highest rank in the kingdom, after 1135. He is recorded in contemporary documents with the title princeps Navarrorum. Between 1124 and his death he was the effective ruler of the Basque country (Euskadi).
The Lordship of Biscay was a region under feudal rule in the region of Biscay in the Iberian Peninsula between c.1040 and 1876, ruled by a political figure known as the Lord of Biscay. One of the Basque señoríos, it was a territory with its own political organization, with its own naval ensign, consulate in Bruges and customs offices in Balmaseda and Urduña, from the 11th century until 1876, when the Juntas Generales were abolished. Since 1379, when John I of Castile became the Lord of Biscay, the lordship was integrated into the Crown of Castile, and eventually the Kingdom of Spain.
Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza was the second Admiral of Castile, Count of Melgar and Rueda, and second Lord of Medina del Rioseco. He was a son of Alonso Enríquez, the first admiral of Castile.
Alfonso Enríquez, also known as Alonso Enríquez was Lord of Medina de Rioseco and Admiral of Castile.
Louis of Beaumont was a noble in the Kingdom of Navarre. He was the 2nd Count of Lerín in southern Navarre, Marquis of Huesca, and Constable (condestable) of Navarre.
Vela Ladrón or Latrónez was a Spanish nobleman who ruled the Basque counties of Álava, Biscay (Vizcaya) and Guipúzcoa. He succeeded his father as count of Álava in 1155 or 1156. He acquired Biscay around 1160 and Guipúzcoa around 1162. He was effectively an independent prince able to divide his allegiance between the kings of Castile and Navarre.
Francisco de Navarra y Hualde was a Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Valencia (1556–1563), Bishop of Badajoz (1545–1556), and Bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo (1542–1545) in emperor Charles V's Spain.
The siege of Fuenterrabía took place in 1523 when the Franco-Navarrese army had taken it in a new incursion after the failure of the third attempt to reconquer the Kingdom of Navarre, which had been occupied since 1512 by troops from the unified Crown of Castile and Crown of Aragon.
The Marquisate of Vessolla also known as "Vesolla" and even "Besolla," is a Spanish noble title created on September 6, 1702, by King Philip V of Spain in favor of José de Elío y Ayanz de Navarra de Esparza Artieda y Velaz de Medrano. He was a native of Elío, Navarra, and served as the equerry and royal steward to Queen Mariana de Austria. He held the rank of maestre de campo in the Tercios de Navarra, a captain of infantry in the valley of Urraúl, a nobleman of Navarra, mayor of Pamplona, and a representative of the military estate in the Kingdom in 1685.
The Palace of Vélaz de Medrano is the former seat and residence of the noble Medrano family in Igúzquiza, Navarre. The palace was directly linked to the lordship of Igúzquiza, perpetually held by the Medrano family. The castle-palace of Vélaz de Medrano is currently privately owned and listed in the Spanish Historical Heritage, obtaining the protection of the generic declaration of the Spanish Historical Heritage decree on April 22, 1949, and protected by Law 16/1985 of June 25, 1985.
Jaime Vélaz de Medrano y Echauz was a noble from the House of Medrano in the independent Kingdom of Navarre. He was a knight of Navarre, a royal guard of the king, captain of the kings standing army, alcaide and mayor of Amaiur-Maya and one of the leading defenders of the Navarrese crown against the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. Jaime Vélaz de Medrano is believed to have served as the alcaide of Maya Castle from 2 October 1521, to 19 July 1522.