Sancho García (died 5 February 1017), called of the Good Laws (in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, ''el de los Buenos Fueros''), was the

count of Castile This is a list of counts of Castile. The County of Castile had its origin in a fortified march on the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias. The earliest counts were not hereditary, being appointed as representatives of the Asturian king. Fr ...

and

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its ca ...

from 995 to his death.

Biography

Sancho was the son of count García Fernández and his wife

Ava of Ribagorza Ava of Cerdanya (died 961) was countess consort of Cerdanya and Besalú. She ruled as regent during the minority of her sons from 927 until 941. Life The origin of Ada is unconfirmed. She has been suggested to be the daughter of a local aristo ...

, the daughter of

Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza Raymond I ( ca, Ramon, es, Raimundo) (fl. 884–920) was the first independent count of Pallars and Ribagorza from 872 until his death. Early speculation made him a scion of the counts of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, f ...

. Sancho rebelled against his father with the support of

Al-Mansur Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (; ar, أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور‎; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab Al-Manṣūr (المنصور) w ...

of Córdoba. This resulted in the partition of the county between father and son, and the county was not reunited until his father's death five years later. He renewed the

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

by rebelling against Almanzor, alongside

García Gómez García Gómez (died after 1017) was a Leonese count, at least from 971. He was the eldest son of Gómez Díaz and Muniadomna Fernández, daughter of Fernán González, Count of Castile. From his father, the head of the Banu Gómez family, he in ...

and their mutual cousin

García Sánchez II of Pamplona García Sánchez II (Basque: ''Gartzea II.a Santxez''; died c. 1000), was King of Pamplona and Count of Aragon from 994 until his death c. 1000. He was the eldest son of Sancho II of Pamplona and Urraca Fernández and the second Pamplonese monarc ...

. Sancho led the coalition that was defeated 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, but in early September successfully turned back the Córdoban invasion of his county. Almanzor died in 1002, leaving 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 ...

in crisis. Sancho ruled for another 15 years. In 1010, he intervened in Ribagorza, bringing about an end to Muslim domination there and leading to the abdication of his aunt countess Toda, and the establishment of a partition between Castilian-educated William Isarn, illegitimate son of Toda's brother and predecessor count Isarn, and Raymond Sunyer of Pallars, husband of Sancho's sister Mayor. Following his death in 1017, he was succeeded by his own son García. Count Sancho García was called ''El de los Fueros'' (literally, "He of the Rights" or "of the Charters"), because of the rights or charters which he granted to the various cities.Amadó, Ramón Ruiz. "Castile and Aragon." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 21 May 2015 In 1011, he founded the

Monastery of San Salvador de Oña The Monastery of San Salvador (Holy Savior) was a Benedictine monastery in the town of Oña, in the province of Burgos, central Spain, founded in 1011, which lasted until the 19th century. History Benedictine monastery The monastery was founded b ...

where he was buried.

Family and issue

Sancho married Urraca, whose parentage has not been found in contemporary records. However, based on them having given a daughter the name of a founder of the

Banu Gómez The Banu Gómez (Beni Gómez) were a powerful but fractious noble family living on the Castilian marches of the Kingdom of León from the 10th to the 12th centuries. They rose to prominence in the 10th century as counts in Saldaña, Carrión an ...

clan, she has been identified as sister of rebel García Gómez and daughter of count Gómez Díaz of Saldaña by Sancho's aunt, Muniadona Fernández of Castile. They had: * Muniadona, eldest daughter, married

Sancho III of Pamplona Sancho Garcés III ( 992-996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great ( es, Sancho el Mayor, eu, Antso Gartzez Nagusia), was the King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage ...

, through whom the right to the county eventually passed. *Ferdinand, died before 2 March 999 *Tigridia, born about 998, abbess of the

, which Sancho founded in 1011 for her to direct. *Sancha, in 1016 affianced at Zaragoza to Berenguer Ramon I, Count of Barcelona, and married him by 1021. *García, born in November 1009, who succeeded his father. They may also have been parents of: *Urraca, who married before 1008 to Sancho VI William of Gascony and died childless in Bordeaux on 12 July 1041.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sancho Garcia Of Castile 1017 deaths 11th-century people from the Kingdom of León Counts of Spain 10th-century rulers in Europe 11th-century rulers in Europe Year of birth unknown House of Beni Mamaduna Counts of Castile Sons of emperors