Up to the commencement of the sixteenth century, the Royaume de Navarre occupied both slopes of the Pyrenees and had Pamplona for its capital, but in 1512, Ferdinand the Catholic, of Aragon, with the approbation of the Pope, usurped most of the territory and left the king of Navarre, the legitimate sovereign, only a small morsel eight leagues long by five in width, with St. Jean-Pied-de-Port as its principal city. A picturesque figure was Ferdinand, King of Aragon on his own part, King of Castille by his wife Isabella, and King of Grenada by conquest; "a heritor of three bastard crowns," he was called. At his death he was succeeded by the infamous and cruel Charles V. That which remained, French Navarre, was the portion of the united kingdom lying on the French slopes of the Pyrenees. The loss of the Spanish province was really due to the excommunication of Jean d'Albret and Catherine by the Pope, thus giving the Catholic Ferdinand power to compel a division. The then ruling monarchs of Béarn and Navarre came to a sad realization of their position. It was this circumstance which gave birth to one of the famous _mots_ of history. "If we had not been born, we would not have lost Navarre," said the unhappy Catherine to her spouse. Previously, though, the region had been known as Basse-Navarre; and in Spanish, Navarra Baja, and had had its _États_ or _Parlement_, and its own special laws. Its _Parlement_ was composed of three orders, the clergy, the noblesse and the _tiers_. Two great families stood out in Basse-Navarre in these times above all others, the Seigneurs de Grammont et Bidache and those of Lux and Ostabat. Béarn at the time was composed of twelve ancient baronies, the bishoprics of Lescar and Oloron, and the seigneuries of Navailles, Andoins, Lescun, Correze, Miossens, Arros and Lons. French Navarre--the Navarre-Française--was by this time a reality and has been variously known since to historians; to the French as Basse-Navarre and Navarre du Nord; to the Spaniards as Navarra Baja; to the Basques as Navarra-deca-ports, and Navarra-françia; and to the kings of France as the Royaume de Navarre. Henri, son of Jean d'Albret, married the first Marguerite de Valois, sister of François I, the "Marguerite of Marguerites." The only daughter of this marriage was wed with Antoine Bourbon-Vendome and became the mother of Henri IV. By an edict of 1620 Louis XIII united the crown of France with that of Navarre, Béarn and the other patrimonial states. Such is the evolution of the little Royaume de Navarre and its incorporation into French domain. The king of Navarre's title was a formidable one, and even included the word monsieur. Princes, bishops, popes and saints were at that time known as Monsieur, a title even more dignified than Monseigneur, and the "_Messieurs de France_" were as much of the noblesse of France as were the "_Milords d'Angleterre_" of the nobility of England.