Viguera - Ermita de San Esteban - 27641790

The Kingdom of Viguera (

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 ...

: ''Viguerako Erresuma'') was a small ephemeral subsidiary kingdom centered on the town of

Viguera Viguera is a municipality in La Rioja, Spain. It includes the villages Castañares de las Cuevas, El Puente, and Panzares. History The earliest documentary evidence is in the Berber historian Ajbar Machmua, who told that Abd ar-Rahman I recover ...

from 970 into the early 11th century. The kingdom was created by King

García Sánchez I of Pamplona García Sánchez I (Basque: ''Gartzea I.a Santxez''; c. 919 – 22 February 970), was the king of Pamplona from 925 until his death in 970. He was the second king of the Jiménez dynasty, succeeding his father when he was merely six years old. ...

for the eldest son of his second marriage, Ramiro Garcés, who became the first king of Viguera. He was succeeded by two sons who ruled jointly, but on the death of the survivor of the two, sometime between 1005 and 1030, Viguera was reabsorbed into the main Pamplona kingdom. The kingdom was carved out of the south of the

Kingdom 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 ...

. Its territory encompassed the valleys of the Iregua and Leza rivers in the heartland of the present-day Rioja. It probably also included Meltria. It was an artificial creation, lacking ethnic or geographical distinctness. The kings of Viguera were always subject to their superiors ruling in Pamplona. After 1005, the territory ceased to be a separate kingdom and became just another

tenancy A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

of the crown. In the year 918

Ordoño II of León Ordoño II (c. 873 – June 924, León) was a king of Galicia from 910, and king of Galicia and León from 914 until his death. He was an energetic ruler who submitted the kingdom of Leon to his control and fought successfully against the Mus ...

and

Sancho I of Pamplona Sancho Garcés I (Basque: ''Antso Ia. Gartzez''; c. 860 – 10 December 925), also known as Sancho I, was king of Pamplona from 905 until 925. He was the son of García Jiménez and was the first king of Pamplona of the Jiménez dynasty. Sancho I ...

invaded Viguera to clear out the

Banu Qasi The Banu Qasi, Banu Kasi, Beni Casi ( ar, بني قسي or بنو قسي, meaning "sons" or "heirs of Cassius"), Banu Musa, or al-Qasawi were a Muladí (local convert) dynasty that in the 9th century ruled the Upper March, a frontier ter ...

dynasty from the land. By 923, the area had been subdued and fortified. From 924 and until the year 972 the land around Viguera was ruled by

Fortún Galíndez Fortún Galíndez (''floruit'' 924–972) was a powerful nobleman in the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century. He is the only recorded Navarrese of that time to bear the title ''dux'' (duke). He was entrusted by Sancho I with the newly conq ...

, who had the title of Duke of Viguera.

, left as heir to the Kingdom of Pamplona his first son by his first marriage, Sancho II. After the insistence of his second wife, Teresa of León, García I willed Viguera to his first son with her, Ramiro Garcés. After the death of García I, his son Sancho II, acting as King of Pamplona, recognised his half-brother's rights over Viguera. Ramiro was succeeded in the throne by his son,

Sancho Ramírez Sancho Ramírez ( 1042 – 4 June 1094) was King of Aragon from 1063 until 1094 and King of Pamplona from 1076 under the name of Sancho V ( eu, Antso V.a Ramirez). He was the eldest son of Ramiro I and Ermesinda of Bigorre. His father was the f ...

in 991. Sancho's brother, García Ramírez acted as co-king prior to his brother's death in 1002 or shortly thereafter. García left only daughters and simply disappears from the historical record between 1005 and 1030. Later on Viguera appears again as being part of the Kingdom of Pamplona.

List of monarchs

* Ramiro Garcés, from 970 until his death in 981. *

, from 981 until his death c. 1002. * García Ramírez, around 1002.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Viguera, Kingdom of Basque history 10th century in Navarre States and territories established in the 970s 970 establishments

States and territories disestablished in the 1000s 1000s disestablishments in Europe History of La Rioja (Spain)