Ava of Ribagorza (Catalan: ''Ribagorça'') (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

988) was countess consort of Castile by marriage to

García Fernández of Castile García Fernández, called of the White Hands () (Burgos, Caliphate of Córdoba, Córdoba, 995), was the count of Castile and Alava from 970 to 995. In May 995, he was captured by a raiding party while out hunting. Wounded in the encounter, he was ...

Life

She was born to Raymond II, Count of Ribagorza, and Garsenda Fesenzac. She married

, with whom she had several children. She participated with her spouse in several donations to various convents. Tradition accuses her of having encouraged her son Sancho in his rebellion against his father. Ava has been the subject of several legends that depict her in a negative light, and involve her in several of the conflicts and rebellions which occurred in Castile during the reign of her spouse. In one known legend, named ''la llegenda de la comtessa traïdora'' ('The Legend of the Traitorous Countess'), she betrayed García Fernández, who was captured in a raid by the Moors and killed, after having committed adultery with

Al-Aziz Billah Abu Mansur Nizar ( ar, أبو منصور نزار , Abū Manṣūr Nizār; 10 May 955 – 14 October 996), known by his regnal name as al-Aziz Billah ( ar, العزيز بالله, al-ʿAzīz bi-llāh, the Mighty One through God), was the fifth ...

. According to the legend, after the death of her spouse, she attempted to poison his successor and her son by handing him a cup of poison, because she wished to marry Al-Aziz Billah; he, however, forced her to drink it herself, which resulted in her death. The legends can probably be linked to hostility towards her as a foreigner in Castile: she is also identified as the leader of a more pacifist line at court, in opposition to the military line of her spouse against the Moors, which could also account for her bad publicity. The date of her death is unconfirmed. It is known, that the year of 988 is the last year in which she can be confirmed alive.

Issue

* Mayor García, married Raymond III,

count of Pallars Jussà Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

* Sancho García, count of Castile and Álava * Urraca García entered the monastery of Infantado de Covarrubias * Gonzalo García (died 979), speculated to have been ancestor of the House of Lara *

Elvira García Elvira is a female given name. First recorded in medieval Spain, it is likely of Germanic (Gothic) origin. Elvira may refer to: People Nobility * Elvira Menéndez (died 921), daughter of Hermenegildo Gutiérrez and wife of Ordoño II of León ...

, married in 991 to Bermudo II of León * Toda García, married Sancho Gómez of Saldaña * Oneca García, married in 995 Almanzor, chamberlain of Cordoba

References

{{reflist *
Diccionari Biogràfic de Dones: Ava de Ribagorça
� * Abadal i de Vinyals, Ramon d' (1955). Els comtats de Pallars i Ribagorça. Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Spanish countesses 10th-century Spanish women