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Birth:          3 May 1201 Navarre
Death:          8 Jul 1253 Pamplona, Galicia, Spain
Burial:         14 Jul 1253 

Notes
Crusader 1239/1240
born posthumously
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobald_I_of_Navarre
Theobald I (French: Thibaut, Spanish: Teobaldo, often referred to as Thibaut de 
Navarre and Thibaut de Champagne) (30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the 
Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth 
and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous as a 
trouvère, and was the first Frenchman to rule Navarre.
Rule of Champagne[edit]

Regency of Champagne[edit]

Born in Troyes, he was the son of Theobald III of Champagne and Blanche of 
Navarre, the youngest daughter of Sancho VI of Navarre. His father died less than a 
week before he was born, and Blanche ruled the county as regent until Theobald 
turned twenty-one in 1222. He was a notable trouvère, and many of his songs have 
survived, including some with music.

The first half of Theobald's life was plagued by a number of difficulties. His uncle, 
Count Henry II, had left behind a great deal of debt, which was far from paid off when 
Theobald's father died. Further, Theobald's right to the succession was challenged by 
Henry's daughter Philippa and her husband, Erard I of Brienne, Count of Ramerupt, 
and one of the more powerful nobles of Champagne.

The conflict with Erard and Philippa broke into open warfare in 1215 as the 
Champagne War of Succession, and was not resolved until after Theobald came of 
age in 1222. At that time he bought out their rights for a substantial monetary 
payment. Some years later, in 1234, he had to spend still more to buy off Philippa's 
elder sister Alice, Queen of Cyprus. The settlement of 1222 did not end Theobald's 
problems, for in the following years he antagonized Louis VIII.

Conflict with the crown[edit]

Unfortunately, once he came of age Theobald personal rule was initially marked by a 
series of difficulties.

Theobald IV came into conflict with Louis VIII of France (1223–26) over the restrictive 
policies the new king tried to enforce on Jews in France. In his Etablissement sur les 
Juifs of November 8, 1223, Louis VIII declared that interest on Jews' debts should no 
longer hold good (though at the same time it also ordered that the capital should be 
repaid to the Jews in three years), that the debts due the Jews should be inscribed 
and placed under the control of their lords. The lords then collected the debts for the 
Jews, doubtless receiving a commission. Twenty-six barons accepted Louis VIII's new 
measures, but Theobald IV did not, since he had an agreement with the Jews that 
guaranteed their safety in return for extra income through taxation. Theobald IV and 
his mother had relied on this extra income during the Succession War of his minority. 
Champagne's capital at Troyes was where Rashi had lived a century before, and 
Champagne continued to have a prosperous Jewish population. Theobald IV's refusal 
to enact Louis VIII's new antagonistic policies towards the Jews enlarged a growing 
feud between the two men.

During the siege of Avignon in 1226, part of the Albigensian Crusade, due to his 
disagreements with the king, Theobald IV performed only the minimum service of 40 
days and then went home. Unfortunately, Louis VIII died of dysentery soon after he 
left, leading some to accuse Theobald IV of treachery. At the death of Louis VIII, 
Theobald's political situation was difficult: he had abandoned the king in his 
campaigns, there were rumors that he had poisoned him, and he was barred from the 
coronation of Louis IX (his mother Blanche went instead). At the beginning of the 
regency of Blanche of Castile, he abandoned a conspiracy against the French king, 
which also included Hugh de Lusignan, Count of La Marche and Pierre Mauclerc, 
Duke of Brittany,[1] and cemented a strong relation with the regent.

Strong rumors began to spread that Theobald IV was having an affair with Louis VIII's 
widow, the regent Blanche of Castile, for whom he composed a poetic homage. Queen 
Blanche and Theobald IV's father Theobald III were both grandchildren of Eleanor of 
Aquitaine. The first chronicler to report the rumors about a love affair between 
Theobald and Blanche was Roger of Wendover. Wendover claims that Theobald, 
"tormented by passion" for the queen, tried to poison King Louis VIII at the siege of 
Avignon. Matthew Paris adds a story that the French nobles goaded the young King 
Louis IX to challenge Theobald to a duel to avenge his father's death, but that 
Blanche put a stop to the duel. Theobald IV was becoming increasingly influential at 
court, and the other great counts of France were becoming resentful. It is possible 
that the rumors of an affair with the queen were indeed unfounded, and merely 
fabricated by other barons jealous of his position at court. In general, the other barons 
were jealous of the strengthened County of Champagne which had emerged from the 
Succession War, and now presented a major rival to surrounding areas.

Whatever the case, the resentful other barons invaded Champagne from 1229-1230. 
Ironically, the alliances in the invasion were reversed from the arrangement they had 
been in during the Succession War: Count Henry II of Bar attacked Champagne from 
the east, prompting Theobald IV to ally with Lorraine to attack the County of Bar. 
Simon of Joinville, who had fought for the rebel faction during the Succession War, 
now allied with Theobald IV against the external threat, and aided him in ravaging Bar, 
which was on the northern border of Joinville's own lands. Unfortunately, the conflict 
with the County of Bar prompted the more powerful Duchy of Burgundy to invade 
Champagne from the south, led by Duke Hugh IV (his father Odo III, Blanche of 
Navarre's staunch ally, had died in 1218). This provoked Queen Blanche to intervene, 
in order to stop the spread of the conflict.

Theobald IV was able to repulse the attackers, but at great cost. Champagne's 
economy was so depleted by these two major wars, as well as the crusading debts of 
Theobald IV's father and uncle, that Theobald IV had to sell off his overlordship of the 
counties west of Paris that his ancestors held before expanding east to Champagne: 
Blois, Sancerre, and Chateaudun. Another major blow to morale came near the start of 
the invasion of 1229, when Blanche of Navarre died (of natural causes) while in 
retirement at Argensolles convent. Moreover, Theobald IV's second wife Agnes of 
Beaujeu suddenly died in 1231, leaving Theobald IV with only their five-year-old 
daughter, Blanche. This left Champagne in need of a male heir, prompting Theobald IV 
to remarry in 1232 to Margaret of Bourbon. The situation reached its nadir in 1233, 
when Henry II's elder daughter Queen Alice of Cyprus threatened to reprise the 
succession war of Theobald IV's minority yet again. Theobald IV was able to pay off 
Alice to make her abandon her claim, but this massive expenditure left him even 
further in debt.

Rule of Navarre[edit]

Theobald succeeded his uncle Sancho VII of Navarre as King of Navarre. Theobald 
was in Pamplona at the time of Sancho's death and he immediately affirmed the fueros 
of the realm. This greatly increased his resources (not to mention his prestige), and 
the remaining years of his rule were far more peaceful and prosperous. The lords and 
barons of Northern France who had been in conflict with Theobald IV in 1229 left him 
in peace, realizing that as the new king of Navarre, his position was too strong to 
challenge.

Domestic and foreign policy[edit]

As king, Theobald sealed pacts with the Crown of Castile and that of Aragon, and the 
Kingdom of England. He entrusted most of the government to nobles of Champagne 
and divided Navarre into four new districts based on fiscal functions and maintenance 
of public order. He began the codification of the law in the Cartulario Magno and set 
down on paper the Navarrese traditions known as the Fuero General, not 
systematically recorded until that time and kept up following Basque traditions in use 
on the different districts of the kingdom.

In order to gain the support of Castile, he had his daughter Blanche engaged to the 
future Alfonso X. By the marriage pact, Ferdinand III of León offered the lands of 
Guipúzcoa as long as Theobald lived, but not those of Álava to which the Navarrese 
monarchs had long laid claim. But with Guipúzcoa he would have attained direct 
access to the Cantabrian Sea. This alliance was never effected, however, as it would 
have meant the incorporation of Navarre as a feudum of Castile. The next year, 
Theobald engaged his daughter to John I, Duke of Brittany, the son of his close 
crusading ally Peter of Dreux.

Barons' Crusade[edit]

It was in 1239 that Theobald directed a crusading host to the Holy Land. Militarily, the 
Barons' Crusade was not glorious, but it led to several diplomatic successes. He spent 
much time dallying at pleasant Acre (where he wrote a poem to his wife) before moving 
on Ascalon, where he began the construction of a castle. Whilst marching the 
crusader army to Ascalon, a contingent of 400 knights led by Hugh of Burgundy, 
Henry of Bar, and Amaury of Montfort chose to engage Muslim forces at Gaza.[2] The 
contingent was defeated before Theobald's forces arrived to rescue them.[2]

Theobald negotiated with the Ayyubids of Damascus and Egypt, who were at odds 
with each other at the time, finalizing a treaty with the former (in the north) against the 
latter (in the south) whereby the Kingdom of Jerusalem regained Jerusalem itself, plus 
Bethlehem, Nazareth, and most of the region of Galilee with many Templar castles, 
such as Belfort and Saphet.[3] He also negotiated a truce with the Egyptians.[4] Some 
contemporary sources even imply that the whole of the land between the Jordan River 
and the Mediterranean was put back in crusader hands.

It is debatable how much of the ultimate success of the crusade (the most successful 
since the First in territorial terms) was attributable to Theobald's intentions and how 
much was just fortuitous. He returned from Palestine late in 1240, before Richard of 
Cornwall arrived, because he did not wish to be present during any more debating 
over the leadership and direction of the enterprise. Souvenirs that he brought back to 
Europe included the rose called "Provins" (Latin name rosa gallica 'officinalis', the 
Apothecary's Rose) from Damascus, transporting it "in his helmet"; a piece of the true 
cross; and perhaps the Chardonnay grape which in modern times is an important 
component of champagne.

Conflict with Church and final years[edit]

Theobald spent most of the remainder of his reign travelling back and forth between 
Navarre and Champagne. He was at odds with the bishop of Pamplona, Pedro Jiménez 
de Gazólaz, who held a provincial synod in 1250 to excommunicate him. He refused to 
respond to papal tribunals, but Pope Innocent IV conceded him the privilege of kings: 
nobody could excommunicate him save the Holy See. Theobald died at Pamplona, on 
a return from one of his many visits to Champagne. He was buried in the Cathedral of 
Pamplona. He was succeeded first by his elder son Theobald II and then by his 
younger son Henry I.

Marriages and issue[edit]

Theobald married three times. He married Gertrude of Dagsburg in 1220,[5] and 
divorced her two years later when he came of age. They had no children.

Secondly, in 1222, he married Agnes of Beaujeu.[5] The marriage produced at least 
one child:
Blanche of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany

Agnes died in 1231. Theobald married thirdly to Margaret of Bourbon.[5] Theobald and 
Margaret had six children:
Eleanor (born 1233, died young)
Peter (died young)
Margaret, in 1255 married to Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine[6]
Theobald II of Navarre[5]
Beatrix
Henry I of Navarre

Theobald had at least two daughters out of wedlock.

With an unknown mistress, he had Agnes, who married Álvar Pérez de Azagra, 4th 
Lord of Albarracín.[7]

With Marquesa López de Rada, daughter of Lope Díaz de Rada and Brunisende of 
Narbonne, he had Marquesa Gil de Rada, who married Pedro Fernández, baron of 
Hijar, illegitimate son of king Jaime I of Aragon.

Parents
____ Theobald III (Thibault V) (13 May 1179 - 24 May 1201)
OF NAVARRRE Blanche (ABT 1177 - 12 Mar 1229)

Siblings
____ Theobald (Teobaldo) IV "the Great" (3 May 1201 - 8 Jul 1253)

Marriage To DE BOURBON Margaret (Marguerite) (ABT 1217 - 12 Apr 1256)
    m. 12 Sep 1232 his 3d

Notes

Parents
DE BOURBON (DAMPIERRE-BOURBON) Archambaud VIII "the Great" (1189 - 23 Jul 1242)
OF FOREZ Alice ()

Children by DE BOURBON Margaret (Marguerite) ABT 1217 - 12 Apr 1256
OF NAVARRE Henry (Henri) (Enrique) (ABT 1244 - 22 Jul 1274)

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