Juan III and Catalina ruled Navarre jointly as co-monarchs following their marriage in 1484, a dynastic arrangement imposed by the Navarrese estates to resolve a succession crisis that had fractured the kingdom for decades. Their reign ended abruptly in 1512 when Fernando II of Aragon — ostensibly their ally — invaded and annexed Navarre, absorbing it into the Crown of Castile and extinguishing the independent kingdom entirely. The billon cornado was already a debased, low-value denomination by this period, reflecting the chronic fiscal strain of a small kingdom caught between French and Spanish imperial ambitions.
Juan III and Catalina ruled Navarre jointly as co-monarchs following their marriage in 1484, a dynastic arrangement imposed by the Navarrese estates to resolve a succession crisis that had fractured the kingdom for decades. Their reign ended abruptly in 1512 when Fernando II of Aragon — ostensibly their ally — invaded and annexed Navarre, absorbing it into the Crown of Castile and extinguishing the independent kingdom entirely. The billon cornado was already a debased, low-value denomination by this period, reflecting the chronic fiscal strain of a small kingdom caught between French and Spanish imperial ambitions.