Sancho Garcés IV ( eu, Antso IV.a Gartzez; 1039 – 4 June 1076),
[Sancho IV, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.] nicknamed Sancho of Peñalén ( eu, Antso Peñalengoa, es, Sancho el de Peñalén) 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 ...
from 1054 until his death. He was the eldest son of
García Sánchez III and his wife,
Stephanie
Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "St ...
, and was crowned king of Pamplona after his father was killed during the
Battle of Atapuerca
The Battle of Atapuerca was fought on 1 September 1054 at the site of Piedrahita ("standing stone") in the valley of Atapuerca between two brothers, King García Sánchez III of Navarre and King Ferdinand I of Castile.
The Castilians won and Ki ...
.
Reign
Sancho was the eldest son and heir of
García Sánchez III and his wife
Stephanie
Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "St ...
. García was killed at the
Battle of Atapuerca
The Battle of Atapuerca was fought on 1 September 1054 at the site of Piedrahita ("standing stone") in the valley of Atapuerca between two brothers, King García Sánchez III of Navarre and King Ferdinand I of Castile.
The Castilians won and Ki ...
on 1 September 1054 during a war with 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 ...
. Sancho, who was then fourteen years of age, was proclaimed king by the army in the camp by the field of battle with the consent of the king of León,
Ferdinand I, also his uncle. Sancho's mother served as his regent until her death on 25 May 1058. Remaining faithful to her husband's policies, she continued to support the monastery of
Santa María la Real of Nájera
Santa María la Real is a monastery in the small town of Nájera in the La Rioja (autonomous community), La Rioja community, Spain. Originally a royal foundation, it was ceded by Alfonso VI of Castile, Alfonso VI to the Cluny, Cluniac order. It ...
.
Soon after Sancho's accession, many lords in the west of the kingdom went over to the Leonese. Only
Íñigo López, lord of
Biscay
Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao.
B ...
, and
Sancho Fortúnez
The name Sancho is an Iberian Peninsula, Iberian name of Basque language, Basque origin (Santxo, Santzo, Santso, Antzo, Sans). Sancho stems from the Latin name Martyrs of Córdoba#Charged with blasphemy, Sanctius.Eichler, Ernst; Hilty, Gerold; Löf ...
, lord of
Pancorbo
Pancorbo is a municipality and town located in the Burgos (province), province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain), INE), the municipality has a population of 464 inhabitan ...
, remained loyal. On 29 December 1062, Sancho and Ferdinand signed a treaty defining their shared border. Ferdinand was recognised as king of all
Castile and Sancho's authority was recognised in the
Rioja,
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 ...
, Biscay, and implicitly
Guipúzcoa
Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...
.
As king, Sancho received support from his other uncle, King
Ramiro I of Aragon
Ramiro I (bef. 10078 May 1063) was the first King of Aragon from 1035 until his death, although he is sometimes described as a petty king. He would expand the nascent Kingdom of Aragon through his acquisition of territories, such as Sobrarbe and ...
. Out of gratitude for "his friendship, his fidelity, his help and his council", Sancho gave Ramiro possession of
Lerda,
Undués and the castle of
Sangüesa
Sangüesa (Basque: ''Zangoza'') is a city in Navarre, Spain, 44.5 kilometers from Pamplona. It lies close to the River Aragon and in 2007 had a population of 5,128.
It is located on the Way of Saint James. It has been an important stopping poin ...
. These places were probably to be held as
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
s or in a similar arrangement. Beginning in 1060, Sancho put pressure on
al-Muqtadir,
king of Zaragoza
The taifa of Zaragoza () was an independent Arab Muslim state in the east of Al-Andalus (present day Spain), which was established in 1018 as one of the taifa kingdoms, with its capital in Saraqusta (Zaragoza) city. Zaragoza's taifa emerged i ...
, and exacted from him annual payments of tribute, ''
parias
In medieval Spain, ''parias'' (from medieval Latin ''pariāre'', "to make equal n account, i.e. pay) were a form of tribute paid by the ''taifas'' of al-Andalus to the Christian kingdoms of the north. ''Parias'' dominated relations between the ...
''.
War and assassination
From 1065, he was in conflict with Castile, raised to a kingdom for Ferdinand's son
Sancho II of Castile
The name Sancho is an Iberian name of Basque origin (Santxo, Santzo, Santso, Antzo, Sans). Sancho stems from the Latin name Sanctius.Eichler, Ernst; Hilty, Gerold; Löffler, Heinrich; Steger, Hugo; Zgusta, Ladislav: ''Namenforschung/Name Studies/ ...
. This culminated in the so-called
War of the Three Sanchos
The War of the Three Sanchos ( es, Guerra de los Tres Sanchos) was a brief military conflict between three Spanish kingdoms in 1065–1067. The kingdoms were all ruled by Jiménez kings who were first cousins: Sancho II of Castile, Sancho IV o ...
(1067–1068). Years before, Sancho's father had managed to retain a series of frontier lands, including
Bureba
La Bureba is a ''comarca'' located in the northeast of the Province of Burgos in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is bounded on the north by Las Merindades, east by the Comarca del Ebro, south-east by the Montes de Oca and ...
and
Alta Rioja, which had been claimed by Ferdinand. Sancho the Strong sought to reconquer these lands for his kingdom. Faced with an invasion by his cousin Sancho of Castile, Sancho of Pamplona asked for aid from his other cousin,
Sancho of Aragón
The name Sancho is an Iberian name of Basque origin (Santxo, Santzo, Santso, Antzo, Sans). Sancho stems from the Latin name Sanctius.Eichler, Ernst; Hilty, Gerold; Löffler, Heinrich; Steger, Hugo; Zgusta, Ladislav: ''Namenforschung/Name Studies/ ...
. Their forces were defeated by Sancho of Castile and his trusted ''
alférez
In medieval Iberia, an ''alférez'' (, ) or ''alferes'' (, ) was a high-ranking official in the household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the Arabic ('' al-fāris''), meaning "horseman" or "cavalier", and it was commonly Latinised ...
'' (supreme commander)
El Cid
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...
. Sancho of Pamplona lost Bureba, Alta Rioja, 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 ...
to Sancho of Castile.
Sancho IV was assassinated in Peñalén (
Funes), whence his nickname, by a conspiracy headed by his brother Ramón Garcés (''el Fratricida'', the Fratricide) and his sister Ermesinda. During a scheduled hunt, Sancho was forced from a cliff by his siblings. Upon his assassination, the kingdom was invaded and ultimately partitioned between Sancho of Aragon and
Alfonso VI of León and Castile
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
, brother and successor of Sancho II. Alfonso occupied
La Rioja
La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N ...
and Sancho was proclaimed king in Pamplona.
Marriage and family
Sancho Garcés IV married a
French woman, Placencia, in 1068. with whom he had two children:
* García Sánchez, who was removed from the line of succession by
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 ...
after the death of Sancho Garcés IV in 1076. García Sánchez died in
Toledo around the year 1092.
* García Sánchez, with the same name as the eldest son, dead after 1092. His existence is confirmed on a diploma from the Monastery of Valvanera dated in 1092, which states ''Garsea et alter Garsea, germani, filii Sanchii regis Nagerensis''.
Sancho Garcés had a lover named Jimena with whom he had two illegitimate children:
* Raimundo Sánchez, lord of Esquiroz.
* Urraca Sánchez
Ancestry
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sancho 04 of Navarre
1030s births
1076 deaths
11th-century Navarrese monarchs
11th-century murdered monarchs
Navarrese monarchs
Medieval child rulers
Year of birth unknown
Burials at the Monastery of Santa María la Real of Nájera
11th-century people from the Kingdom of Pamplona