Sancho Garcés 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 ...
: ''Antso II.a Gartzez'', c. 938 – 994), also known as Sancho II, 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 970 until his death in 994. He was the eldest son of
García Sánchez I of Pamplona and
Andregoto Galíndez Andregoto Galíndez, of the County of Aragon, was the Queen of Pamplona by marriage to García Sánchez I, prior to being divorced by him before 940. She was the mother of Sancho II of Pamplona.
Andregoto was one of two daughters born to Galindo ...
. He recognised the
Kingdom of Viguera
The Kingdom of Viguera ( Basque: ''Viguerako Erresuma'') was a small ephemeral subsidiary kingdom centered on the town of Viguera from 970 into the early 11th century. The kingdom was created by King García Sánchez I of Pamplona for the eldest ...
during his reign.
Nickname
He is sometimes referred to as Sancho ''Abarca'' by modern sources. This appellation was first applied to Sancho II by chroniclers writing centuries after his time who were confused about the succession to Pamplona, creating a single ruler out of the combined careers of Sancho II and his grandfather
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 ...
. The weight of evidence suggests that this nickname originally applied to Sancho I.
Biography
Sancho Garcés was born circa 938, son of
García Sánchez I of Pamplona, the second
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 ...
from the
Jiménez dynasty
The Jiménez dynasty, alternatively called the Jimena, the Sancha, the Banu Sancho, the Abarca or the Banu Abarca,Alberto Cañada Juste, "¿Quién fue Sancho Abarca?, ''Príncipe de Viana'', 73: 79-132. was a medieval ruling family from the 9th c ...
, and his first wife
Andregoto Galíndez Andregoto Galíndez, of the County of Aragon, was the Queen of Pamplona by marriage to García Sánchez I, prior to being divorced by him before 940. She was the mother of Sancho II of Pamplona.
Andregoto was one of two daughters born to Galindo ...
, daughter of
Galindo Aznárez II Galindo Aznárez II (died 922) was Count of Aragon from 893 to 922. He was the son of Aznar Galíndez II and his wife Onneca Garcés, daughter of King García Íñiguez of Pamplona.
Life
Galindo succeeded his father as count of Aragon. In 905 he ...
,
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 ...
. His maternal grandfather died without any legitimate male children, thus passing down the rights to the Count of Aragon to Sancho's mother who, in turn, passed them down to him and he became Count of Aragon, in 948, while still underage. He was initially under the guardianship of Count
Fortún Jiménez. After the death of his father in 970, he became King of Pamplona and was known as Sancho II.
He appears mentioned on the occasion of a donation to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña in 987, when he titled himself "king of Navarre", being the first to use said title. This title, however, did not come into common usage until the late eleventh century.
Under Sancho, the kingdom solidified some of the gains of his predecessor, but also suffered several significant military setbacks at the hands of
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
troops. Navarre was linked with the
Kingdom of León and the
County of Castile
The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th cent ...
by familial bonds, and the realms frequently worked in concert, with the Navarrese monarchy supporting the young
Ramiro III of León
Ramiro III (c. 961 – 26 June 985), king of León (966–984), was the son of Sancho the Fat and his successor at the age of only five.Reinhart Dozy, ''Histoire des Musulmans d'espagne'' (1932).
Family
During his minority, the regency was in the ...
.
In 972, he founded the monastery of San Andrés de Cirueña. In 976, at the monastery of
Albelda
Albelda (; ) is a municipality located in the province of Huesca, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. ...
, the cultural and intellectual centre of his kingdom, the ''
Codex Vigilanus
The ''Codex Vigilanus'' or ''Codex Albeldensis'' (Spanish: ''Códice Vigilano'' or ''Albeldense'') is an illuminated compilation of various historical documents accounting for a period extending from antiquity to the 10th century in Hispania. ...
'' was completed. It is one of the most important
illuminated manuscripts
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...
of medieval Spain, containing the canons of the
Councils of Toledo
From the 5th century to the 7th century AD, about thirty synods, variously counted, were held at Toledo (''Concilia toletana'') in what would come to be part of Spain. The earliest, directed against Priscillianism, assembled in 400. The "th ...
, a copy of the ''
Liber Iudiciorum
The ''Visigothic Code'' ( la, Forum Iudicum, Liber Iudiciorum; es, Fuero Juzgo, ''Book of the Judgements''), also called ''Lex Visigothorum'' (English: ''Law of the Visigoths''), is a set of laws first promulgated by king Chindasuinth (642–65 ...
'', and the first Western representation of the
Arabic numerals, among many other texts.
Upon the death of the
Caliph of Cordoba
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
,
Al-Hakam II
Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; January 13, 915 – October 16, 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second ''Umayyad'' Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Ab ...
, in 976, and the succession of his son
Hisham II
Hisham II or Abu'l-Walid Hisham II al-Mu'ayyad bi-llah (, Abū'l-Walīd Hishām al-Muʾayyad bi-ʾllāh) (son of Al-Hakam II and Subh of Cordoba) was the third Umayyad Caliph of Spain, in Al-Andalus from 976 to 1009, and 1010–13.
Reign
In 9 ...
, who had been taught by
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
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 ...
, the prospects of the Christian kingdoms seemed dim. The troops of Al-Mansur defeated the Christians at
Torrevicente, south of
Soria
Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...
. Afterwards, the Muslims returned to triumph at Taracueña, near
Osma
Burgo de Osma-Ciudad de Osma is the third-largest municipality in the province of Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It has a population of about 5,250.
It is made up of two parts:
*the smaller Ciudad de Osma (city ...
. In 975, Sancho was defeated by the Moors at
San Esteban de Gormaz
San Esteban de Gormaz is a municipality in the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Spain. Its population is approximately 3,500. The town is located in the Wool Route and the Way of the Cid, the route of the exile of ...
and it has been suggested that he was captured at the
Battle of Estercuel
The Battle of Estercuel took place on 6 July 975 between the forces of the Kingdom of Viguera, under king Ramiro Garcés of Viguera, Ramiro Garcés, and those of the Caliphate of Córdoba, under the ''kaid'' of Zaragoza, Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya ib ...
that year.
![SanJuandelaPeña](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/SanJuandelaPe%C3%B1a.JPG)
In 981 at the
Battle of Rueda
The Battle of Rueda (981) was a battle of the Spanish Reconquista between the Muslim forces of Al-Andalus and a coalition of north-Iberian Christian states. Due to the difficulty in interpreting the various chronicles, historians are still debat ...
, a dozen kilometers from
Tordesillas
Tordesillas () is a town and municipality in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, central Spain. It is located southwest of the provincial capital, Valladolid at an elevation of . The population was c. 9,000 .
The town is located ...
, the Christians suffered another humiliating defeat. Because he could not defeat Al-Mansur by arms, Sancho went to
Córdoba as an ambassador for his own kingdom, bringing many gifts for the victorious Al-Mansur, making a pact with him and agreeing to give the Muslim his daughter. From this union was born
Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo, the second successor of Al-Mansur who tried to usurp the Caliphate of Córdoba from the
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
heir. He faced further incursions from Almanzor in 989, 991 and 992, the last of which resulted in a second submission at Córdoba, and the next year he sent his son Gonzalo on an embassy to the Caliphate to consolidate the rapprochement. In 994, the year of his death, the kingdom saw yet another incursion by a caliphate army.
After his death in 994, he was buried in San Estebán de Monjardín and later, he was interred in the
Monastery of San Juan de la Peña.
Marriage and children
Sancho Garcés was married to
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-reg ...
, daughter of 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 ...
Fernán González Fernan or Fernán is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
* Fernán Blázquez de Cáceres, Spanish nobleman
* Fernán Caballero (1796–1877), Spanish novelist
* Fernando Fernán Gómez (1921–2007), Spanish actor ...
. They had four children.
*
García Sánchez,
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 in 1000, and married to Jimena Fernández, daughter of
Fernando Bermúdez de Cea, a member of very high rank among the
Leonese nobility.
* Ramiro Sánchez, died in 992, when his parents made a donation to
San Millán de la Cogolla for the sake of his soul.
*
Gonzalo Sánchez, he was given some lands in the Aragon by his brother.
* Urraca or Sancha Sanchez, known in Arabic as Abda and nicknamed "''the Basque''", having been given by her father to
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 ...
, whom she married after converting to Islam. Abda and Almanzor had a single son, named
Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo.
Ancestry
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sancho 02 of Pamplona
930s births
994 deaths
10th-century Navarrese monarchs
House of Jiménez
Counts of Aragon
Burials at the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña