View source for Theobald II of Navarre

{{Short description|King of Navarre from 1253 to 1270}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Theobald II
| succession   = [[King of Navarre]]<br />[[Count of Champagne]]
| image        = Theobald II of Navarre.jpg
| caption      = Royal seal depicting Theobald II
| reign        = 1253 – 1270
| predecessor  = [[Theobald I of Navarre|Theobald I]]
| successor    = [[Henry I of Navarre|Henry I]]
| house        = [[House of Blois]]
| birth_date   = c. 1238
| birth_place  =
| death_date   = 4 December {{Death year and age|1270|1238}}
| death_place  = [[Provins]], [[France]]
| place of burial =
| spouse       = [[Isabella of France, Queen of Navarre|Isabella of France]]
| issue        =
| father       = [[Theobald I of Navarre]]
| mother       = [[Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre|Margaret of Bourbon]]
}}
'''Theobald II'''{{efn|{{langx|fr|Thibaut}} or ''Thibaud'', {{langx|es|Teobaldo}}}} (6/7 December 1239 – 4/5 December 1270{{sfn|García Arancón|2018}}) was [[King of Navarre]] and also, as '''Theobald V''', [[Count of Champagne]] and [[Brie (region)|Brie]], from 1253 until his death. He was the son and successor of [[Theobald I of Navarre|Theobald I]] and the second Navarrese monarch of the [[House of Blois]]. After he died childless, the throne of Navarre passed to his younger brother, [[Henry I of Navarre|Henry I]].
== Biography ==
=== Early years ===
Theobald was the eldest son of [[Theobald I of Navarre]] and his third wife, [[Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre|Margaret of Bourbon]].{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}} He succeeded to his father's titles on his death at only fourteen years of age. His mother acted as [[regent]] with [[James I of Aragon]] until 1256, when Theobald came of age. On 27 November, he affirmed the [[Fueros of Navarre]], which limited his power by putting him under the counsel of a tutor from among the aristocracy. He could not make judgements without a council of twelve (a jury) of noblemen. Theobald was not content, however, to be so restricted in royal prerogative before his twenty-first birthday. He received the rites of [[unction]] and [[coronation]] from [[Pope Alexander IV]] in 1257 and 1259 respectively and tried to justify his divine right to rule, a concept foreign until that point in [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarrese]] politics.
=== Domestic policy ===
In order to counter the tendency to decentralisation, diminish the power of the nobility, and evade the control of the fueros on him, Theobald turned to the bourgeoisie. He exacted extraordinary taxes and imposts from them, but they supported him nevertheless because he granted them rights, prestige, and political clout. He extended the ''[[fueros]]'' of [[Pamplona]] to [[Lantz, Navarre|Lantz]] and [[Estella-Lizarra|Estella]] to Tiebas&mdash;nowadays in ruins and depopulated&mdash;and [[Torralba Del Río]]. He founded Espinal (Aurizberri, near [[Roncesvalles]]) in 1269.
Theobald continued the power struggle with the bishop of Pamplona started during his father's reign. The former stood by his native [[History of the Basque people#Early Middle Ages|Basque]] parishioners of the Navarreria borough, while Theobald championed the Saint Nicolas borough of [[Pamplona#Three boroughs and one city|Pamplona]], made up of [[Occitan language#Occitan in Spain|Occitans]] hailing from southern France. Eventually he tried to put an end to the fights between boroughs in 1266, pushing an agreement among the councils of the three Pamplonese boroughs&mdash;not that it avoided ultimately the destructive war of the Navarreria in 1276.
In other affairs, Theobald continued the policies of his father. He improved the royal administration, of incomes and expenditures, and administered the first census. The count of 1266 indicated a population of 150,000 inhabitants in Navarre. Approximately 6.75% of royal revenues were spent on a bureaucracy, 33.84% on the military, and 59.6% to the maintenance of the monarch and his household and duties.
=== French alliance ===
[[File:Teobald II diner 1253 755933.jpg|350px|thumb|A ''[[Denarius|dinero]]'' from Theobald II's reign, bearing the inscription ''Tiobald rex de Navarie'']]
Theobald found support in [[Louis IX of France]], who supported his fellow kings against their vassals with consistency. Theobald married [[Isabelle of France, Queen of Navarre|Isabella]], Louis's daughter, on 6 April 1255.{{sfn|Hallam|1980|p=222}} Theobald acted as an advisor of Louis and Louis as an arbiter in Navarre's internal problems. When [[Alfonso X of Castile]]'s daughter [[Berengaria of Castile, Lady of Guadalajara|Berengaria]] was betrothed to Louis IX of France's son [[Louis of France (1244–1260)|Louis]], Castile ceded the use of the ports of [[Fuenterrabía]] and [[San Sebastián]] to Navarre on 1 January 1256.
In July 1270, Theobald embarked with his father-in-law on the [[Eighth Crusade]] to [[Tunis]].{{sfn|Sibly|Sibly|2003|p=121}} Louis died of dysentery at the siege. Theobald died childless at [[Trapani]] in [[Sicily]] while returning that same year.{{sfn|Peter of Ickham|2012|p=296}} He was succeeded by his younger brother, [[Henry I of Navarre|Henry I]]. His widow Isabella returned home to [[France]], where she died a few months later and was buried at [[Provins]].{{sfn|Evergates|2010|p=86}}
==See also==
*[[Ciampolo]], a soul found by Dante in the Inferno who defrauded Theobald
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*{{cite book |first=Theodore |last=Evergates |title=The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100-1300 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |title=Aristocratic Women in Medieval France |first=Theodore |last=Evergates |year=2010 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press  }}
*{{citation |first=María Raquel |last=García Arancón |url=http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/8603/teobaldo-ii |title=Teobaldo II |encyclopedia=Diccionario Biográfico electrónico |publisher=Real Academia de la Historia |year=2018}}
*{{cite book |first=Elizabeth |last=Hallam |title=Capetian France: 987-1328 |publisher=Longman Group Limited |year=1980 }}
*{{cite book |last=Peter of Ickham |title=Le Livere de Reis de Brittanie, E, Le Livere de Reis de Engleterre |editor-first=John |editor-last=Glover |language=French |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012 }}
*{{cite book |editor-first1=W. A. |editor-last1=Sibly |editor-first2=M. D. |editor-last2=Sibly |title=The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2003 }}
{{S-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Theobald the Troubadour]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[King of Navarre]]<br>[[Count of Champagne]]|years=1253&ndash;1270}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Henry I of Navarre|Henry the Fat]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Navarrese monarchs}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Theobald 02 Of Navarre}}
[[Category:1239 births]]
[[Category:1270 deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century Navarrese monarchs]]
[[Category:13th-century peers of France]]
[[Category:Counts of Champagne]]
[[Category:Christians of the Eighth Crusade]]
[[Category:House of Blois]]