Theobald II (c. 1238 – December 4, 1270) (
French:
Thibaud or
Thibault,
Spanish:
Teobaldo), called
the Young, was
Count of Champagne and
Brie (as
Theobald V) and
King of Navarre from 1253 until his
death.
He was the eldest son of
Theobald I and his third wife,
Margaret of
Bourbon, Queen of Navarre. He succeeded to his father's titles
on his father's death when he was only fourteen years of age. His
mother acted as
regent with
James I of Aragon until 1256, when
Theobald came of age. On
27 November, he
affirmed the
Fueros of Navarre,
which limited his power by putting him under the counsel of a tutor
from among the aristocracy. He could not make judgements without a
council of twelve (a jury) of noblemen. Theobald was not content,
however, to be so restricted in royal prerogative before his
twenty-first birthday. He received the rites of
unction and
coronation
from
Pope Alexander IV in 1257 and
1259 respectively and tried to justify his divine right to rule, a
concept foreign until that point in traditional Navarrese politics
(though see the reign of
Sancho
III).
In order to counter the tendency to decentralisation and
feudalisation of the noblesse, the king turned to the bourgeoisie.
He exacted extraordinary taxes and imposts from them, but they
supported him nevertheless because he granted them rights,
prestige, and political clout.
He extended the fueros of Pamplona
to Lanz and Estella
to Tiebas and Torralba
Del Río. He founded Espinal
in
1269.
In other affairs, Theobald continued the policies of his father. He
improved the royal administration, of incomes and expenditures, and
administered the first census. The count of 1266 indicated the
presence of 150,000 inhabitants. Approximately 6.75% of royal
revenues were spent on a bureaucracy, 33.84% on the military, and
59.6% to the maintenance of the monarch and his household and
duties.
Theobald found support in
Louis IX of
France, who supported his fellow kings against their vassals
with consistency. Theobald married
Isabella Louis's
daughter, on 6 April 1255. Theobald acted as an advisor of Louis
and Louis as an arbiter in Navarre's internal problems.
When the
daughter, Berengaria, of Alfonso X
of Castile was betrothed to Louis, eldest son and heir of King
Louis, Castile ceded the use of the ports of Fuenterrabía
and San Sebastián
to Navarre on 1 January 1256.
In July
1270, Theobald embarked with his father-in-law on the Eighth Crusade to Tunis
.
Louis died of dysentery at the siege.
Theobald died
childless at Trapani
in Sicily while returning that same year. He was
succeeded by his younger brother
Henry III of Champagne.
His wife Isabella
returned home to France
, were she
died a few months later.
See also
- Ciampolo, a soul found by Dante in the
Inferno who defrauded Theobald.