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The road to Santiago de Compostela is one of the most important roads in the known world. Commonly called the Way of St. James in English, the Camino de Santiago in Spanish and the Chemin de Compostelle in French, for every Frenchman and every pilgrim who is not already in Iberia, this road travels past the western side of the slopes in the Pyrenees.
These pilgrims are dear to the heart our good and pious Queen Catherine de Navarre. It is the pride and honour that the relatively short but most important Navarrese leg of the journey is free of bandits and free of hardships for pilgrims, from the most impoverished beggar to the wealthiest noble. However, this road is in disrepair and unclear. People make their own way via country trails, which makes it difficult to guarantee their protection.
It is thus prudent to build a new road. Nothing ridiculous, but a road that can accomodate a whole host of pilgrims, a road that can accomodate merchants for a whole day's march. Carriages should be able to pass each other and pedestrians should be able to walk in the shadow. There should be wells for weary travellers and an opportunity for innkeepers to run an honest business. This road will not be a stone or a cobbled road, do not be ridiculous. Navarre has coffers it wishes to share with the pilgrims of the world, but they are not bottomless.
As said before, the road should be wide enough to have two carriages pass each other - outside the hilly passes that is - and lined with trees. Ideally, we will plant birch trees on either side to give the people shade. We will not make new roads, but instead widen the roads that are already the favourites of merchants and pilgrims alike. We should make the road level and easy to walk on. Furthermore, in areas without wells, we should dig them with a day's trip inbetween and give locals the liberty to begin inns at these places.
The main road will lead from Foix to Logroño via Oloron, Saint Jean Pied de Port, and Pamplona [this is 436 km]. There will be a secondary leg from Pamplona to Donostia [87 km] and a connection to Toulouse [78 km. The total distance is 601 km].
Notably, this road will lead through Soule. This viscounty is maintained by the French Crown, but lies between our lands in Foix and Navarre. Therefore, in return for our services to French pilgrims, the French Crown has been so generous as to bestow the Viscounty of Soule to Queen Catherine de Navarre in her role as a F
... keep reading on reddit ➡Poison IV, though, just made the victim extremely itchy.
The Way of the Arquebus - the natural modernisation of the Navarrese military through the wider adoption of guns. It was a single step in a military philosophy based on the practical constraints of the Navarrese state. With the minority of Navarre independent, especially if Périgord is included, Navarre was a realm distinguished by the fact that it owed loyalty to two other kingdoms.
This demanded careful diplomacy. Ideally, Castile and France would never be enemies. If that happened, it would be a serious test to Navarrese independence. A web of alliances between France, Castile, Navarre and the Foix Kingdom of Naples was a political safety net that should keep Navarre safe. But what if diplomacy failed? What army would stand against the invader? Not a victorious one - that illusion was dismissed immediately. Whether it was France or Castile or an outsider bet, the political reality was that Navarre would not be able to stand against them on its own. This means that Navarre would have to rely on the support of either Castile or France against the other.
Within this assumption, the future of Navarre was prepared. The adoption of the arquebus was good because they could be made in Navarre, but arquebusiers stood poorly by themselves. On the other hand, arquebusiers made for a good addition to any army, so they could support whomever sided with Navarre. Similarly, recent years had seen Navarre fighting in the Alpujarras for Castile and in Italy for France. Sure, bonding with necessary allies was a benefit, but the most important thing was that the Navarrese soldier had battles to fight to gain valuable experience and bring it back home with them. Whoever it was fighting with, the Navarrese contingent had to be impressive.
To that end, the Navarrese acquired the services of Pedro Navarro, a Navarrese military man, back from the service of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba with the permission of Queen Isabella. El Gran Capitán had not been sent to war and it seemed as if Castile's ambitions were across the sea. Meanwhile, Pedro's countrymen were actively fighting in Italy, so where better to go for such a talented man than Navarre?
Confusingly, the Marshall of Navarre was a man called Pedro de Navarre. de Navarre and Navarro would together preside over the development of the Navarrese soldier as a regiment to support other armies - as potential mercenaries, perhaps to even imitate t
... keep reading on reddit ➡Weren’t they both strongly Basque regions?
Royal Family Tree Chart with pretenders' possible regnal numbers and names.
This is a Family Tree Chart of Monarchs of Pamplona and Navarre starting with Íñigo Arista, first King of Pamplona, and ending (the unified kingdom) with Queen Catherine. After that, it is shown the division of the kingdom: the Spanish Monarchs holding Upper Navarre and the French Monarchs holding Lower Navarre.
The pretensions here shown are, in fact, three French pretensions (Legitimist, Bonapartist, Orléanist), the current Spanish Royal Family and three more Spanish pretensions (two Carlist, one Savoyard) and one pretension that shows who is the senior heir to Navarre following the traditional male-preference primogeniture.
Nowadays, King Felipe VI reigns over Spain, which includes what in the past was known as Upper Navarre. The part formerly known as Lower Navarre is now a traditional region of the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the French Republic.
All Christian realms have been called to the support of His Holiness the Pope in the defense of Christendom and Rome. The Kingdom of Navarre will raise new military companies formed from the ranks of Navarrese infantrymen and Basque gunsmiths. We shall raise some companies of arquebusiers and three times their number in rodelero swordsmen.
They shall march to France and adjoin themselves to the French Army in our common defense of Christendom. Our forces shall be led by Alonso Carrillo - Acuña y de Peralta, the Count of San Esteban.
