Kingdom of Navarre (Merveilles des Morte)

Kingdom of Navarre Nafarroako Erresuma
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Navarre, c. 17th century
Capital	Iruñea
Common languages	Basque (spoken) Latin (written) Navarro-Aragonese (administrative; spoken) Occitan, Castilian, French, Hebrew, Andalusian Arabic
Religion	Western Catholic Roman Catholic
Government	Feudal absolute monarchy
Monarch
• 824–851/2	Íñigo Arista (First)
Establishment
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	824

The Kingdom of Navarre (Basque: Nafarroako Erresuma, Spanish: Reino de Navarra, French: Royaume de Navarre, Latin: Regnum Navarrae), also known as the Kingdom of Pamplona (Basque: Iruñeko Erresuma), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean. The medieval state was founded around the year 824 and took form around the city of Pamplona during the beginnings of the Iberian Reconquista, when the Navarre region acted as a buffer between the Carolingian Empire to the north and the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba, which controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula.

Around the year 824 the first ruler of what would become Navarre, Íñigo Arista, was elected or declared ruler in opposition to Frankish expansion into the region. In the early 11th century the nation was able to break away from the vassalage of the Umayyads. After a succession crisis in 1076 the territory of Navarre was partitioned between Aragon and Castile briefly, before part of Navarre broke off from Aragonese rule through the 1127 Peace of Támara. Navarre subsequently became entwined in the politics of France to its north, as in 1234 Navarre was inherited by the Counts of Champagne and Brie through Theobald I. Through the succession of Queen Joan I in 1274, Theobald's niece, Navarre effectively passed into a personal union with France via Joan's marriage to the future Philip IV of France. This lasted until 1328 with the ascension of Queen Joanna II, the daughter of Louis X of France.