Philip III of Navarre

Philip III (27 March 1306 – 16 September 1343), called the Noble (el Noble) or the Wise, Count of Évreux (1319–1343) and King of Navarre (1328–1343), was the second son of Louis of Évreux and Margaret of Artois and therefore a grandson of King Philip III of France. Because of this descent, he was a possible heir to the throne of France.

Inheritance
In due course, he inherited the County of Évreux, in Normandy, from his father, and ten years later became Philip III, jure uxoris King of Navarre, on the death of his cousin Charles IV of France. On 18 June 1318, he had married the heiress Joan II. She held extensive fiefdoms in northern France, as well as Navarre. Because of their lands and their many royal relatives, Philip and his wife were influential in both France and Navarre and spent much of their lives going back and forth between them.

Military achievements
By the Treaty of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon of 14 March 1336 he received the counties of Angoulème and Mortain in the peerage of France, and the castles of Benon in Aunis and Fontenay-l'Abattu in Poitou. In 1339, he was at the side of the kings of France, Bohemia (John), and Scotland (David II), relieving the cities of Cambrai and Tournai, besieged by the English. This was the opening stages of the Hundred Years' War.

Aside from that war on French soil, Philip actively participated in the Reconquista in Iberia. He joined the crusade intitiated by Alfonso XI of Castile against the Kingdom of Granada and was mortally wounded by an arrow and died at the Siege of Algeciras (1342-1344).

Marriage and children
By his wife Joan, he had eight children:
 * Maria (c. 1329 – 1347), first wife of Peter IV of Aragon
 * Blanche (1331–1398), second wife of Philip VI of France
 * Charles II the Bad (1332–1387), successor, Count of Évreux and King of Navarre
 * Agnes (1334–1396), married Gaston III, Count of Foix
 * Philip, Count of Longueville (1336–1363), married Yolande de Dampierre
 * Joanna (1338–1387), nun at Longchamps
 * Joanna (1339–1403), married John I, Viscount of Rohan
 * Louis (1341–1372), Count of Beaumont-le-Roger, married firstly Maria de Lizarazu and secondly Joanna, Duchess of Durazzo