Theobald I of Navarre

Theobald I (1201–1253), called the Troubadour, was count of Champagne from birth and in 1234 succeeded his uncle Sancho VII as the first French king of Navarre. His claim to Champagne was contested by his cousin Philippa, until he paid her to relinquish her rights in 1222.

A gifted trouvère whose songs survive with their music, he led a crusade to the Holy Land in 1239–1240, where treaties he negotiated returned Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Galilee to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In Navarre he codified local custom in the Fuero General. He died at Pamplona in July 1253, and the crown passed to his son Theobald II.