NAVARRA. - A historic region of Spain roughly corresponding to the present-day Spanish province of the same name, with the addition of the French Lower Navarre. According to tradition, Navarre was evangelized by St. Firmin, a disciple of St. Savinian, though it had a bishopric at Pamplona (formerly Pamplo) from the 3rd century. A bishop of Pamplona named Liliolus presided over the Third Council of Toledo in 589. Navarre enters history when, around 716, it is constituted as a kingdom. Sancho III the Great (995-1035), a protector of Cluniac monasticism, united under his rule all the Christian states of Spain except Galicia and Catalonia; but upon his death, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon separated from Navarre, the latter rejoining in 1076-1134. In 1234, upon the death of Sancho VII the Strong, one of the victors at the Battle of Las Navas (1212), the Navarrese proclaimed Theobald I, Count of Champagne, thus inaugurating French dynasties. Ferdinand the Catholic took in 1512 from Joanna of Albret the part of Navarre situated south of the Pyrenees, while the northern portion was incorporated into the French crown in 1607.
A relic of ancient regional laws is the special regime of the *Fueros*, ratified in 1841, which entails certain privileges and a degree of administrative autonomy. The Navarrese people, of steadfast religious faith and deeply attached to their traditions, have given the Church St. Francis Xavier and Bl. Vincenza Maria López y Vicuña. Today the number of religious vocations in Navarre is notably high. IPPONA (v.) comprises most of Navarre, though some parts belong to the dioceses of Tudela-Tarazona, Calahorra, Saragossa, and Jaca.
During the dynastic struggles of the last century, Navarre sided with the Carlists.