Magdalena of Valois

Who was Magdalena of Valois?

Madeleine of France, also called Magdalena of Valois, was a daughter of Charles VII of France and Marie of Anjou, and acted as regent for her children, Francis I and Catherine I, who were successively monarchs of Navarre.

Magdalena was betrothed to Ladislaus the Posthumous however he died suddenly in Prague on 23 November 1457 while preparing for his marriage. It was rumored at the time that his political opponents in Bohemia had poisoned him; but in the 20th century it was proved that Ladislaus died of leukemia, not a recognized disease in that period.

She married Gaston, Prince of Viana, son and heir of Gaston IV, Count of Foix and Eleanor of Navarre, at Saint-Jean-d'Angély in 1461. They had two children:

Francis Phoebus, King of Navarre

Catherine, queen regnant of Navarre, married in 1484 John of Albret.

Her husband died in 1470, predeceasing his father; accordingly, when Gaston IV died in 1472, his possessions were inherited by Magdalena's son, Francis Phoebus. Francis became the heir of Navarre in 1479 upon the death of his great-grandfather, John II of Aragon and Navarre, who left Navarre to the rightful heir, Magdalena's mother-in-law, Eleanor. Eleanor only spent a few weeks as queen before she herself died; Francis Phoebus became king, and his mother acted as regent until his death, at age 17, in 1483; Magdalena then acted as regent for her daughter, Catherine, until 1494. During this regency, she was forced to battle her brother-in-law, John of Foix, who claimed the throne of Navarre as heir male of Francis Phoebus.