Carlos II, lover of culture and art. The 14th century was the golden age of Navarrese art; painting, sculpture, music and architecture followed new paths in the field of sophistication and delicacy.
"In art, the French influence continues to predominate. Religious architecture throws back its ascetic hood and adorns itself with the elegant headdress of courtly ladies. Stone competes with the lace of Malines...",
says Campi n referring to the reign of two Charles, father and son. The church of Uju, the cloister of Santa María de Los Arcos, the parish church of Obanos, San Pedro de Puente la Reina, etc. date from the reign of the first. Charles II also had the glory of having at his service the best musician of his time, Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) - an outstanding master of ars nova - from the beginning of his reign.
"The very fact that Guillaume de Machaut, the quintessential musician of the 14th century, had fallen so early in love with the charming figure of the young monarch, indicates that Charles II was a fervent lover and by nature a real patron of musical art."
(H. Angl s).
That year (1349) he wrote for him the Jugement dou rois de Navarre and in October 1357 he dedicated Le confort d'ami to his young friend the king, to console him in the dungeons of Arleux. Other musicians of his were Guillem y Llorens , trumpeters, Guillot Bertr n and Guy n, Bayonne minstrels, Bonxaffos and his son Gento, minstrels, Perrin de Badet, Juan de Romans, minstrels, Pierre du Bar and his son, harp minstrels, etc. However, Higinio Angl s does not believe that he had a musical chapel to play polyphonic music as other monarchs used to have. The musicians of the Court of Foix, those of Aragon and those of Castile used to frequently visit the Navarrese Court, where the reception given to them was famous. In turn, the king's transfer caused the transfer of his minstrels and troubadours, as Angl s documents demonstrate. It was French music, the most popular in refined pre-Renaissance Europe, that was heard in the salons of Charles II; the harp, widely used in Pamplona and other cities where the royal residence resided, was the most popular. In accordance with this aesthetic sense, Charles also concerned himself with new books. Thus he brought to Navarre the well-known De Regimine Principium and Grammar by Donato, and he rewarded Juan de la Esclusa (1383) for having written the book Confort D'ami . The war with Castile (1378) prevented him from carrying out one of his most cherished projects: founding a University in Uju .