JOANNA OF NAVARRE,

QUEEN OF HENRY IV.

JOANNA was the second daughter of a prince of evil repute, Charles d'Albret, king of Navarre, surnamed the Bad, whose mother was the only child of Louis X. of France, by Clemence of Hungary; and, being barred by the Salique law from the throne of France, espoused the count of Evreux, and transmitted to her son the petty kingdom of Navarre. By this illustrious maternal descent, the father of Joanna was the representative of the elder line of St. Louis. Her mother was Jane, the daughter of the gallant and unfortunate John, king of France. Joanna was born about the year 1370.

In the year 1386, a marriage was negotiated between Joanna and John de Montfort, duke of Bretagne, surnamed the Valiant. This prince, who was in the decline of life, had already been twice married. On the death of his last duchess without surviving issue, the dukes of Berri and Burgundy, fearing the duke would contract another English alliance, proposed their niece, Joanna of Navarre, to him for a wife. The lady Jane of Navarre, Joanna's aunt, had married, seven years. previously, the viscount de Rohan, a vassal and kinsman of the duke of Bretagne, and it was through the agency of this lady that the marriage between her new sovereign and her youthful niece was brought about.

That this political union was, notwithstanding the disparity of years and the violent temper of the duke, agreeable to the bride, there is full

evidence in the grateful remembrance which Joanna retained of the good offices of her aunt on this occasion, long after the nuptial tie between her and her mature lord had been dissolved by death, and she had entered into matrimonial engagements with Henry IV. of England.

In the year 1388, Joanna brought an heir to Bretagne, who was baptized Pierre, but the duke afterwards changed his name to John. This much-desired event was soon followed by the birth of the princess Marie. The duchess, whose children were born in very quick succession, was on the eve of her third confinement, when her lord's secret treaties with his old friend and brother-in-law, Richard II. of England, drew from the regents of France very stern remonstrances. An embassy extraordi nary, headed by no less a person than the duc de Berri, was sent y the council to complain of his intelligence with the enemies of France, and to require him to renew his oath of allegiance as a vassal peer of that realm.

So far, however, was the duke of Bretagne from being impressed with the high rank and importance of these envoys, that, suspecting they intended to appeal to his nobles against his present line of conduct, he determined, in violation of those considerations which in all ages have rendered the persons of ambassadors sacred, to arrest them all, and keep them as hostages till he had made his own terms with France. Le Moine de St. Denis, a contemporary historian, declares, "he heard this from the very lips of the ambassadors, who related to him the peril from which they escaped, through the prudence of Joanna." Fortunately for all parties, it happened that her young brother, Pierre of Navarre, was at the court of Nantes, and, being apprised of the duke's design, hastened to Joanna, whom he found at her toilet, and confided to her the alarming project then in agitation.

Joanna, who was then in hourly expectation of the birth of her fourth child, immediately perceived the dreadful consequences that would result from such an unheard-of outrage. She took her infants in her arms, and flew to the duke's apartments, half-dressed as she was, with her hair loose and dishevelled, and throwing herself at his feet, bathed in tears, conjured him, "for the sake of those tender pledges of their mutual love, to abandon the rash design that passion had inspired,

which, if persisted in, must involve himself and all belonging to him in utter ruin."

The duke, who had kept his design a secret from his wife, was surprised at the manner of her address. After an agitated pause, he said"Lady, how you came by your information, I know not; but, rather than be the cause of such distress to you, I will revoke my order." Joanna then prevailed on him to meet the ambassadors in the cathedral the next day, and afterwards to accompany them to Tours, where the king of France gave him a gracious reception, and induced him to renew his homage, by promising to unite his second daughter Joanna of France with the heir of Bretagne.

The duke of Bretagne undertook a voyage to England, in 1398, to induce king Richard to restore to him the earldom of Richmond, which had been granted by Richard II. to his first queen, Anne of Bohemia, and, after her death, to Jane of Bretagne, the sister of the duke, who was married to Raoul Basset, an English knight.

It was in the following year that Joanna first became acquainted with her second husband, Henry of Bolingbroke, during the period of his banishment from his native land. Henry was not only one of the most accomplished warriors and statesmen of the age in which he lived, but remarkable for his fine person and graceful manners.

The assistance rendered by the duke of Bretagne to the future husband of his consort, was the last important action of his life. He was, at that time, in declining health, and had once more involved himself in disputes with Clisson and his party.

On the 1st of November, 1399, the duke breathed his last; and Joanna having been appointed by him as regent for their eldest son, the young duke, with the entire care of his person, assumed the reins of government in his name.

When Joanna had exercised the sovereign authority as regent for her son a year and a half, the young duke, accompanied by her, made his solemn entrance into Rennes, March 22, 1401, and took the oaths in the presence of his prelates and nobles, having entered his twelfth year.

Joanna put her son in possession of the duchy at so tender an age, as a preliminary to her union with Henry IV., who had been in a great measure indebted to the good offices of her late lord for his elevation to

the throne of England. Henry had been for some years a widower; his first wife was Mary de Bohun, the co-heiress of the earl of Hereford, lord-constable of England.

Joanna, to whom the proposal of a union with this prince appears to have been peculiarly agreeable, being aware that a serious obstacle existed on the important subject of religion, kept the affair a profound secret, till she could obtain from the pope of Avignon a general dispensation to marry any one whom she pleased, within the fourth degree of consanguinity, without naming the person; Henry (who had been educated in Wickliffite principles) being at that time attached to the party of Boniface, the pope of Rome, or the anti-pope, as he was styled by those who denied his authority.

Joanna's agents negotiated this difficult arrangement so adroitly, that the bull was executed, according to her desire, March 20, 1402, without the slightest suspicion being entertained by the orthodox court of Avignon, that the schismatic king of England was the mysterious person, within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, whom Benedict had so obligingly granted the duchess-dowager of Bretagne liberty to

espouse.

When Joanna had thus outwitted her pope, she despatched a trusty squire of her household, named Antoine Riczi, to conclude her treaty of marriage with king Henry. After the articles of this matrimonial alliance were signed, Joanna and her royal bridegroom were espoused, by procuration, at the palace of Eltham, on the third day of April, 1402, Antoine Riczi acting as the proxy of the bride. What motive could have induced the lovely widow of John the Valiant of Bretagne to choose a male representative on this interesting occasion, it is difficult to say; but it is certain that Henry promised to take his august fianceé to wife in the person of the said Antoine Riczi, to whom he plighted his nuptial troth, and on his finger he placed the bridal ring. This act was performed with great solemnity in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury, the king's half-brothers, the Beaufort princes, the earl of Worcester, lord-chamberlain of England, and other officers of state.

Great preparations were made by the citizens of London to meet and welcome the newly-married consort of the sovereign of their choice, on her approach to the metropolis.