Blanche was the second eldest daughter of King Charles III of Navarre[2] and infanta Eleanor of Castile.[3] She became the heiress to the throne of Navarre on the death of her elder sister, Joan, in 1413.
Queen regent of Sicily
Blanche married firstly Martin the Younger, King of Sicily and Prince of Aragon.[2] They were married by proxy on 21 May 1402 in Catania. Blanche traveled to meet Martin, and they were married in person on 26 December 1402. The bride was about 15 years old and the groom 28.
Martin had been in need of legitimate heirs, as he had survived his previous wife and former co-ruler, Queen Maria of Sicily, and their only son. From October 1404 to August 1405, she served as regent of Sicily during the absence of her spouse in Aragon.
From August 1408 to July 1409, she served as regent of Sicily during the absence of her spouse in Sardinia. When Martin died on 25 July 1409, he was succeeded by his own father, Martin I of Aragon.[4] Her former father-in-law allowed her to continue as regent of Sicily, which she did also after his death,[5] during the years of succession struggle in Aragon. She was a popular regent in Sicily, where she was seen as a symbol of Sicilian independence against Aragon. There were plans to marry her to Nicolás Peralta, a descendant of the Sicilian royal house, and thereby restore the Sicilian royal house with her and Nicolás as king and queen.
With the victory of Ferdinand I in Aragon, Blanche lost her regency power in Sicily, which was annexed to Aragon in November 1415, and left for Navarre.
Queen regnant of Navarre
Royal Coat of Arms of Navarre
Upon her return to Navarre, Blanche was sworn in as heir to the throne in Olite the 28 October 1415 and was given allegiance by the lords. On 6 November 1419, Blanche married her second husband, John,[2] duke of Peñafiel, the second son of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque, by proxy in Olite. Ferdinand had succeeded his maternal uncle Martin I in 1412.
John travelled to meet her. On 10 July 1420, they were married in person in Pamplona. The couple first lived in Peñafiel, but were called to live in Navarre by her father in 1422.
Charles III died on 8 September 1425 and Blanche succeeded him as Queen regnant of Navarre.[2] John became King of Navarre in her right as John II,[2] and the couple were crowned together in Pamplona 15 May 1429.
Blanche (II) of Navarre (1424–1464), married Henry IV of Castile.[3] The marriage was never consummated. After 13 years of marriage, Henry sought and obtained a divorce. Blanca was sent home, where her family imprisoned her, and she was later killed by poison.[citation needed]
^Anthony (1931) states that she was the fourth-born daughter of King Charles III of Navarre by Queen Eleanor, and she was preceded by Joan, Maria and Margaret and the two latter died early. Anthony defines Blanche's exact birth date as 6 July 1387 by virtue of contemporary sources.
^AGN, Comptos. Caj. 135, n." 23, V. Idoate, Florencio, Catalog of the General Archive of Navarra. Section of Comptos Documents, Pamplona, Provincial Council of Navarra, 1966, Vol. XLI, doc. no. 251.
Bibliography
Fößel, Amalie (2013). "The Political Traditions of Female Rulership in Medieval Europe". In Bennett, Judith M.; Karras, Ruth Mazo (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. pp. 68–83.
Merriman, Roger Bigelow (1918). The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old and in the New. Vol. 1. The Macmillan Company.
Woodacre, Elena (2013). The Queens Regnant of Navarre. Palgrave Macmillan.
Maria Rita Lo Forte Scirpo: C'era una volta una regina ... : due donne per un regno: Maria d'Aragona e Bianca di Navarra, Napoli : Liguori, ISBN88-207-3527-X, 2003
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