NAVARRA. – Historical region of Spain, corresponding approximately to the present-day Spanish province of the same name, with the addition of French Lower N. According to tradition, N. was evangelized by St. Firminus, a disciple of St. Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse, in the 3rd century. A bishop of Pamplona (formerly Pampilo), named Liliolus, presided over the Third Council of Toledo (589). N. entered history when, ca. 866, it was constituted as a kingdom. Sancho III the Great (995–1035), protector of Cluniac monasticism, united under his rule all the states of Christian Spain except Galicia and Catalonia; but upon his death the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon broke away; the latter then returned to the Union from 1076 to 1134. In 1234, upon the death of Sancho VII the Strong, one of the victors at the battle of Las Navas (1212), the Navarrese proclaimed Teobaldo I, count of Champagne, king, thus inaugurating the French dynasties. Ferdinand the Catholic took from Giovanna d’Albret in 1512 the part of N. situated south of the Pyrenees, while the part lying to the north was incorporated into the crown of France in 1607.
Of the ancient regional laws, a relic is nevertheless the special regime of the Pueros, ratified in 1841, which entails certain privileges and a degree of administrative autonomy. The Navarrese people, firmly religious and deeply attached to their traditions, have given the Church St. Francis Xavier and Bl. Vincenza Maria López y Vicuña. The number of religious vocations in N. is particularly notable today. IPPONA (v.) comprises most of N. There are, however, also some parts of the territory belonging to the dioceses of Tudela-Tarazona, Calahorra, Saragossa, and Jaca.
During the dynastic struggles of the last century, N. sided with the Carlists.