There is a brief reference, in the index of the archives of the Parliament of Le Nain,
to a letter which was dictated by Joan of Arc to the "King of Navarre" in 1429. The
contents are unknown, as the index refers readers to a document which no longer exists,
or at least has never been located.1
Navarre was a small kingdom in the Pyrenees, between France and Castille,
which had long been a vassal-state of France. At the beginning of the series of conflicts
now known as the Hundred Years War in 1337, Navarre's queen (Juana II) had been an ally
and Peeress of France, although her son, the turbulent Charles "the Bad", pursued a somewhat different
policy. His heir, Charles III ("the Noble") ushered in a more respectable government from
1387 until his death in 1425.
At the time Joan of Arc's letter was sent in 1429, Navarre was essentially under a joint
rulership: upon the death of Charles "the Noble", his daughter Blanca had inherited and therefore
she and her husband Juan II served as rulers. Their young son, Don Carlos (aged eight in 1429), was the heir to
the throne. Joan of Arc's letter was evidently addressed to Juan II, and perhaps (if one were to make an educated
guess) dealt with Navarre's ties to the French monarchy: it might be supposed that it would be logical for Joan to ask
for military assistance from France's vassal, although there's no indication as to what the contents actually were.
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