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Historical person

Charles II of Navarre

1332–1387

Charles II of Navarre, known as Charles the Bad, was a fourteenth-century king whose ambitions in France made him a disruptive figure during the Hundred Years’ War. His shifting alliances, claims and intrigues made him notorious among contemporaries.

Charles II of Navarre also held the offices or ranks of count, King of Navarre, and sovereign of Navarre. Charles II of Navarre belonged to the House of Évreux and operated within Kingdom of Navarre. Charles II of Navarre was born in Évreux and died in Navarreria.

In Michael Jecks’ Ashes of Rebellion, John II remains an English prisoner and the young Dauphin Charles struggles against Étienne Marcel in Paris, Charles of Navarre and a peasant uprising in the countryside. Berenger’s former companions now serve in a free company led by John Hawkwood, surviving by force in a devastated region. In Maurice Druon’s The King without a Kingdom, Cardinal Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord recounts the reign of John II, whose hostility towards Charles of Navarre and dependence on a narrow circle of favourites deepen France's political divisions. War, taxation and the continuing effects of plague leave the kingdom vulnerable to English raids and internal opposition. Charles II of Navarre is treated fictionally in David Gilman’s Gate of the Dead.

Periods

Periods linked to Charles II of Navarre

French Political Crisis of 1356–13581356–1358 CE Hundred Years’ War1337–1453 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Charles II of Navarre (3 series)

Master of War in Order

by David Gilman 9 books 4.6(35,248)

The Master of War series follows Thomas Blackstone, an English archer and later knight, through the Hundred Years’ War. Beginning with the Crécy campaign in 1346, the sequence expands across France, Aquitaine, Brittany, Castile and northern Italy, using Blackstone’s career to show how medieval war was fought through…

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The Vintaine in Order

by Michael Jecks 5 books 4.3(8,205)

The Vintaine series follows Berenger Fripper and a small company of English archers through the changing phases of the Hundred Years’ War. The first three novels cover Edward III’s 1346 campaign, the siege of Calais and the Black Prince’s march to Poitiers; later volumes return to the survivors…

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The Accursed Kings in Order

by Maurice Druon 7 books 4.2(8,269)

The Accursed Kings follows the French and English monarchies from the final year of Philip IV's reign in 1314 to the capture of John II at Poitiers and the political crisis of the late 1350s. Across seven novels, the direct Capetian line fails, the Valois dynasty takes the…

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