Joan II was Queen of Navarre from 1328 until her death. She was the only surviving child of Louis X of France, King of France and Navarre, and Margaret of Burgundy. Joan's paternity was dubious because her mother was involved in a scandal, but Louis X declared her his legitimate daughter before he died in 1316. However, the French lords were opposed to the idea of a female monarch and elected Louis X's brother, Philip V, king. The Navarrese noblemen also paid homage to Philip. Joan's maternal grandmother, Agnes of France, and uncle, Odo IV of Burgundy, made attempts to secure the counties of Champagne and Brie to Joan, but the French royal troops defeated her supporters. After Philip V married his daughter to Odo and granted him two counties as her dowry, Odo renounced Joan's claim to Champagne and Brie in exchange for a compensation in March 1318. Joan married Philip of Évreux, who was also a member of the French royal family.
Bust in the Louvre, originally from the Jacobin convent which housed Joan's heart
Joan's family tree, depicting her father, mother, stepmother, herself and her half-brother
Joan as depicted in her book of hours
Louis X, known as the Quarrelsome, was King of France from 1314 and King of Navarre as Louis I from 1305 until his death. He emancipated serfs who could buy their freedom and readmitted Jews into the kingdom. His short reign in France was marked by tensions with the nobility, due to fiscal and centralisation reforms initiated during the reign of his father by Grand Chamberlain Enguerrand de Marigny.
Louis being crowned with his second wife, Clementia of Hungary.
Louis campaigning in Flanders, where he sought a military solution to the ongoing problem of the "immensely wealthy", quasi-autonomous province of France. Painting circa 15th century.