Joan I of Navarre in the context of "County of Champagne"

Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (French: Philippe le Bel), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip I from 1284 to 1305. Although Philip was known to be handsome, hence the epithet le Bel, his rigid, autocratic, imposing, and inflexible personality gained him (from friend and foe alike) other nicknames, such as the Iron King (French: le Roi de fer). His fierce opponent Bernard Saisset, bishop of Pamiers, said of him: "He is neither man nor beast. He is a statue."

Philip, seeking to reduce the wealth and power of the nobility and clergy, relied instead on educated and skilful civil servants, such as Guillaume de Nogaret and Enguerrand de Marigny, to govern the kingdom. The king, who sought an uncontested monarchy, compelled his vassals by wars and restricted their feudal privileges, paving the way for the transformation of France from a feudal country to a centralised early modern state. Internationally, Philip's ambitions made him highly influential in European affairs, and for much of his reign, he sought to place his relatives on foreign thrones. Princes from his house ruled in Hungary and in the Kingdom of Naples, and he tried and failed to make another relative the Holy Roman Emperor.

Philip V (c. 1291 – 3 January 1322), known as the Tall (French: Philippe le Long), was King of France and Navarre (as Philip II) from 1316 to 1322. Philip engaged in a series of domestic reforms intended to improve the management of the kingdom. These reforms included the creation of an independent Court of Finances, the standardization of weights and measures, and the establishment of a single currency.

Philip was the second son of King Philip IV of France and Queen Joan I of Navarre. He was granted an appanage, the County of Poitiers, while his elder brother, Louis X, inherited the French and Navarrese thrones. When Louis died in 1316, he left a daughter and a pregnant wife, Clementia of Hungary. Philip the Tall successfully claimed the regency. Queen Clementia gave birth to a boy, who was proclaimed king as John I, but the infant king lived only for five days.

Joan II (French: Jeanne, Spanish: Juana II, Basque: Joana II; 28 January 1312 – 6 October 1349) was Queen of Navarre from 1328 until her death in 1349.

Joan was the only surviving child of Louis I of Navarre and Margaret of Burgundy. Her father ascended the French throne as Louis X in 1314. Joan's paternity was dubious because her mother was involved in a scandal, but Louis declared her his legitimate daughter before he died in 1316. However, the French lords were opposed to the idea of a female monarch and elected Louis's brother king as Philip V. The Navarrese noblemen also paid homage to Philip. Joan's maternal grandmother, Agnes of France, and uncle, Odo IV of Burgundy, made attempts to secure the counties of Champagne and Brie (which had been the patrimony of Joan's paternal grandmother, Joan I of Navarre) to Joan, but the French royal troops defeated her supporters. After Philip V married his daughter to Odo and granted him two counties as her dowry, Odo renounced Joan's claim to Champagne and Brie in exchange for a compensation in March 1318. At this time, Joan married her cousin Philip of Évreux (later Philip III of Navarre).

Isabella of France (c. 1295 – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France (French: Louve de France), was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II, and de facto regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of King Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Isabella was notable in her lifetime for her diplomatic skills, intelligence, and beauty. She overthrew her husband, becoming a "femme fatale" figure in plays and literature over the years, usually portrayed as a beautiful but cruel and manipulative figure.

Isabella arrived in England at age 12 during a period of growing conflict between the king and the powerful baronial factions. Her new husband was notorious for the patronage he lavished on his favourite, Piers Gaveston, but the queen supported Edward during these early years, forming a working relationship with Piers and using her relationship with the French monarchy to bolster her own authority and power. After the death of Gaveston at the hands of the barons in 1312, however, Edward turned to a new favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger, and attempted to take revenge on the barons, resulting in the Despenser War and a period of internal repression across England. Isabella could not tolerate Hugh Despenser, and by 1325, her marriage to Edward was at a breaking point.

The count of Champagne was the ruler of the County of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the County of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagne.

Count Theobald IV of Champagne inherited the Kingdom of Navarre in 1234. His great-granddaughter Joan married King Philip IV of France. Upon Joan's death in 1305, their son Louis became the last independent count of Champagne, with the title merging into the royal domain upon his accession to the French throne in 1314.

The Treaty of Orléans was a marriage treaty signed in 1275, that led to a short-lived personal union between the kingdoms of Navarre and France. It was signed by Philip III of France and his cousin Blanche of Artois, mother and regent to the two-year-old Joan I of Navarre. The original intent of the treaty was to not create a personal union, however, but to enable Philip to administer Navarre in Joan's name. Joan was also to marry either Philip's firstborn and heir apparent, Louis, or his second son, Philip. Pope Gregory X explicitly stated that he preferred a match with the younger son, as he probably wished to avoid merging Navarre with France. Louis died in 1276, however, leaving Philip as the only choice per the terms of the treaty.

Notably, the treaty bound both Philip and Blanche to convince their children to accept the marriage once they reach the age of consent, "unless serious illness, deformity, or other reasonable impediment appears in either of them before their marriage". The treaty also stipulated that if Joan's husband was not to succeed to the French throne, she would be assigned an additional annual revenue of 4,000 livres as compensation for her dower. If Joan's husband did succeed Philip, Philip promised that she would receive an even larger dower. The treaty was to have no effect on Blanche's guardianship over Joan or Blanche's own dower. The first French-appointed governor of Navarre, per the terms of the treaty, was the seneschal of Toulouse Eustache de Beaumarché.