García Sánchez II (

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: ''Gartzea II.a Santxez''; died c. 1000), was

King of Pamplona The Kingdom of Navarre (; , , , ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona (), was a Basque kingdom that occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, alongside the Atlantic Ocean between present-day Spain and France. The medieval state took ...

and

Count of Aragon The County of Aragon ( an, Condato d'Aragón) or County of Jaca ( an, Condato de Chaca, link=no) was a small Frankish marcher county in the central Pyrenean valley of the Aragon river, comprising Ansó, Echo, and Canfranc and centered on the sm ...

from 994 until his death c. 1000. He was the eldest son of

Sancho II of Pamplona Sancho Garcés II (Basque: ''Antso II.a Gartzez'', c. 938 – 994), also known as Sancho II, was King of Pamplona and Count of Aragon from 970 until his death in 994. He was the eldest son of García Sánchez I of Pamplona and Andregoto Galínde ...

and

Urraca Fernández Urraca Fernández (died 1007) was queen of León and Navarre as the wife of two kings of León and one king of Navarre between 951 and 994. She acted as regent for her son Gonzalo in the County of Aragon in circa 996-997, and served as co-regent ...

and the second Pamplonese monarch to also hold the title of count of Aragon. Modern historians refer to him as ''the Tremulous'', though this appellation likely originally applied to his grandfather, García Sánchez I of Pamplona.

Biography

Throughout his reign, his foreign policy seems to have been closely linked to that of Castile. His mother was an aunt of count

Sancho García of Castile Sancho García (died 5 February 1017), called of the Good Laws (in Spanish, ''el de los Buenos Fueros''), was the count of Castile and Álava from 995 to his death. Biography Sancho was the son of count García Fernández and his wife Ava of R ...

, and also of the powerful count of Saldaña, García Gómez of Carrión, and she appears to have played a role in forming a bridge between the kingdom and county. He joined his cousin Sancho in attempting to break from the submission his father had offered to Córdoba, as a result of which he had to face

Almanzor Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri ( ar, أبو عامر محمد بن عبد الله بن أبي عامر المعافري), nicknamed al-Manṣūr ( ar, المنصور, "the Victorious"), which is often Latiniz ...

. In 996 he was forced to seek peace in Córdoba. In 997 during an expedition into the land of

Calatayud Calatayud (; 2014 pop. 20,658) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón (river), Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-larges ...

, García killed the governor's brother. Almanzor took revenge by beheading 50 Christians. At the

Battle of Cervera The Battle of Cervera took place near Espinosa de Cervera on 29 July 1000 between the Christian troops of counts Sancho García of Castile and García Gómez of Saldaña and the Muslim Caliphate of Córdoba under the ''hajib'' Almanzor. The b ...

in July 1000, he joined, along with count García Gómez of Saldaña, in a coalition headed by count

that was defeated by Almanzor (that count Sancho led the group is thought to reflect García's decline). Tradition names him one of the Christian leaders at the 1002 Battle of Calatañazor, which resulted in the death of Almanzor and the consequent crisis in the

Caliphate of Córdoba The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...

, but there is no contemporary record of him after 1000, while his cousin

Sancho Ramírez of Viguera Sancho Ramírez ( Basque: ''Antso Ramirez''; dead c. 1002) was the second King of Viguera, from 981 until his death c. 1002. He was the eldest son of Ramiro Garcés, the first king of Viguera, and also grandson of García Sánchez I of Pamplona. ...

may have been ruling in Pamplona in 1002. García was certainly dead by 1004, when his son Sancho Garcés III first appears as king. Domestically, he granted the rule in Aragon to his brother Gonzalo, under the tutelage of his mother Urraca. A tradition reports that he freed all of the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

captives being held in the kingdom.

Marriage and children

García Sánchez II was married to Jimena Fernández, daughter of

Fernando Bermúdez Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, Count of Cea and a distinguished member of the highest ranks of the nobility of the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

. They had the following children: * Sancho Garcés III,

King of Navarre This is a list of the kings and queens of kingdom of Pamplona, Pamplona, later kingdom of Navarre, Navarre. Pamplona was the primary name of the kingdom until its union with Kingdom of Aragon, Aragon (1076–1134). However, the territorial desig ...

and

from 1004 until his death in 1035. * Elvira Garcés, nun in the

Monastery of Leyre The Monastery of San Salvador of Leyre ( eu, Leireko San Salbatore monasterioa; es, Monasterio de San Salvador de Leire) is a religious complex to the south of the Sierra of Leyre, in northern Navarre, Spain, representing one of the most import ...

. * García Garcés * Urraca Garcés,

Queen consort of León This is a list of the '' royal consort'' of the '' Kingdom of León''. ''It is, in part, a continuation of the list of Asturian royal consorts''. Royal Consorts of León House of Alfonso House of Jiménez House of Burgundy Ho ...

by her marriage to

Alfonso V of León Alfonso V (c. 9947 August 1028), called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. Like other kings of León, he used the title emperor () to assert his standing among the Christian rulers of Spain. He succeeded his father, Bermudo II, in 99 ...

from 1023 until her death in 1031.

Ancestry

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Sanchez 02 of Pamplona 10th-century births 1004 deaths 10th-century Navarrese monarchs 11th-century Navarrese monarchs House of Jiménez Counts of Aragon Burials at the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña