CONQUEST OF NAVARRE. 349 monts and Agramonts, with which they were rent chapter asunder. They supported her with their arms in !_ resisting her uncle Jean, viscount of Narbonne, who claimed the crown on the groundless pretext of its being limited to male heirs. ^ The alliance with Spain was drawn still closer by the avowed purpose of Louis the Twelfth to support his neph- ew, Gaston de Foix, in the claims of his deceased father.^ The death of the young hero, however, at Ravenna, wholly changed the relations and feelings of the two countries. Navarre had nothing imme- diately to fear from France. She felt distrust of Spain on more than one account, especially for the protection afforded the Beaumontese exiles, at the head of whom was the young count of Lerin, Fer- dinand's nephew.^ France, too, standing alone, and at bay against Negotiations ' ' O ' JO with France. the rest of Europe, found the alliance of the little state of Navarre of importance to her, especially at the present juncture, when the project of an expe- dition against Guienne, by the combined armies of Spain and England, naturally made Louis the Twelfth desirous to secure the good-will of a prince, who might be said to wear the keys of the Pyrenees, as the king of Sardinia did those of the Alps, at his girdle. With these amicable disposi- tions, the king and queen of Navarre despatched 2 Histoire du Royaume de Na- 3 Aleson, Annales de Navarra, varre, pp. 567, 570.— Aleson, An- torn. v. lib. 35, cap. 13. — Zurita, nales de Navarra, torn. v. lib. 34, Anales, torn. vi. lib. 9, cap. 54. — cap. 1, fol. — Diccionario Geogra- Sismondi, Hist, des Frangais, torn. fico-Historico de Espafia, por la xv. p. 500. Real Academia de la Historia, "* Aleson, Annales de Navarra, (Madrid, 1802,) torn. ii. p. 117. ubi supra.
