The Spirit of the old Kingdom of Navarra

When one thinks of Al-Andalus, that era when the Iberian Peninsula was defined by the peaceful coexistence of Muslims, Jews, and Christians, it is generally assumed that the period ended in 1492 with the conquest of Granada by Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Yet, there was another chapter of this historical epoch on the Iberian Peninsula: The Kingdom of Navarre. The Kingdom of Navarre was truly unique. At the turn of the 8th to the 9th century, the region was fiercely contested between the Caliphate and the Frankish Kingdom. Amidst this conflict, two related noble families of the region forged a pact: The House of Íñiguez, led by Íñigo Arista, and the Banu Qasi, led by Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi. The two leaders were like brothers, for Íñigo Arista’s mother, having been widowed, had married Musa ibn Musa al-Qasawi’s father in a second marriage. The House of Íñiguez was Roman Catholic and ethnically Basque, whereas the Banu Qasi clan had been founded by the Hispano-Roman nobleman Count Cassius upon his conversion to Islam in 714. There is a theory that Cassius himself was originally of Gothic (and thus Scandinavian) descent. In any case, the alliance between the two families resulted in the expulsion of both the Caliphate and the Frankish Kingdom from the region and the establishment of an entirely new state: The Kingdom of Navarre. The Kingdom of Navarre was founded on religious and ethnic diversity and tolerance.

For centuries, a state existed in the north of the Iberian Peninsula and the far southwest of present-day France where the three Abrahamic faiths lived together in peace. When the Reformation shook the Christian West, the court of the Kingdom of Navarre became predominantly Calvinist; yet, this did nothing to alter their peaceful coexistence. Calvinists, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews still lived together peacefully at a time when, in other countries, hundreds of thousands of people were being tortured and brutally killed for the sake of their faith. Yet this idyll was under threat. Following its decisive victory in the south, Spain turned its gaze northward, seeking to conquer Navarre. By 1529, the independent Kingdom of Navarre had been reduced to a small rump state politically dependent on France. The greater part of the territory was under Spanish rule, and the Spanish monarchs held-and still hold today-the title of King of Navarre. Under Henry III, the independent rump state experienced one final, brief period of flourishing.

The Calvinist ruler who inherited the French throne in 1589 as Henry IV has rightfully gone down in history as "Good King Henry." Yet his commitment to religious tolerance also earned him bitter enemies. In 1610, he was assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic who had unsuccessfully attempted to pursue a career in the clergy. It is suspected that this religious zealot was incited to commit the deed by a conspiracy of high-ranking courtiers. The murdered king was succeeded on both thrones by Crown Prince Louis-as King Louis II in Navarre and King Louis XIII in France. However, Louis had no more use for religious tolerance than he did for the independence of Navarre. In 1620, the independent Kingdom of Navarre was incorporated into the Kingdom of France. France was religiously intolerant during this era-a state of affairs that persisted until the French Revolution. Yet the spirit of old Navarre remains-a shining example that, even in a world defined by intolerance, religious fanaticism, and hatred, people can defy the spirit of the times, choosing instead to do things differently in their small state and to live together in peace and tolerance. This serves as both an inspiration and a sacred duty for our future-including the future of Duckionary and Panagua.

The Good King Henry (1553 - 1610)