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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 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 to ...
from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the
County 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 s ...
and by marriage the counties of Castile,
Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álav ...
and Monzón. He later added the counties of Sobrarbe (1015), Ribagorza (1018) and Cea (1030), and would intervene in the Kingdom of León, taking its eponymous capital city in 1034. He was the eldest son of García Sánchez II and his wife Jimena Fernández.


Biography


Birth and succession

The year of Sancho's birth is not known, but it is no earlier than 992 and no later than 996. His parents were García Sánchez II the Tremulous and Jimena Fernández, daughter of Fernando Bermúdez, count of Cea on the Leonese frontier. García and Jimena are first recorded as married in 992, but there is no record of their son Sancho until 996. The first record of the future king is a diploma of his father's granting the village of Terrero to the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. The king describes Sancho merely as "my son" (''filius meus''). The same diploma also shows the future duke of Gascony, Sancho VI, at the court of Pamplona. Sancho was raised in the monastery of Leyre. His father last appears in 1000, while Sancho is first found as king in 1004, inheriting the kingdom of Pamplona (later known as Navarre). This gap has led to speculation as to whether there was an interregnum, while one document shows Sancho Ramírez of Viguera reigning in Pamplona in 1002, perhaps ruling as had
Jimeno Garcés Jimeno (also Gimeno, Ximeno, Chemene, Exemeno) is a given name derived from ''Ximen'',OMAECHEVARRIA, Ignacio, "Nombres propios y apellidos en el País Vasco y sus contornos". ''Homenaje a D. Julio de Urquijo'', volume II, pages 153-175. a variant of ...
during the youth of
García Sánchez I García or Garcia may refer to: People * García (surname) * Kings of Pamplona/Navarre ** García Íñiguez of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 851/2–882 ** García Sánchez I of Pamplona, king of Pamplona 931–970 ** García Sánchez II of Pam ...
three generations earlier. On his succession, Sancho initially ruled under a council of regency led by the bishops, his mother Jimena, and grandmother
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-rege ...
.


Pyrenean politics

Sancho aspired to unify the Christian principalities in the face of the fragmentation of Muslim Spain into the
taifa The ''taifas'' (singular ''taifa'', from ar, طائفة ''ṭā'ifa'', plural طوائف ''ṭawā'if'', a party, band or faction) were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), re ...
kingdoms following the
Battle of Calatañazor The Battle of Calatañazor was a legendary battle of the '' Reconquista'' that supposedly took place in July 1002 in municipality Calatañazor in the province of Soria between an army of invading Saracens under Almanzor and a force of Christian a ...
. In about 1010 he married Muniadona of Castile, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, and in 1015 he began a policy of expansion. He displaced Muslim control in the depopulated former county of Sobrarbe. In Ribagorza, another opportunity arose. The 1010 partition of the county left it divided between William Isarn, illegitimate son of count Isarn, and
Raymond III of Pallars Jussà Raymond III (died 1047), called Ramon Sunyer (Spanish: ''Ramón Súñer''), was the first Count of Pallars Jussà (Lower Pallars) from 1011 until his death. He succeeded his father, Count Sunyer I of Pallars, who divided his county between his two ...
and his wife, Mayor García of Castile, who was both niece of Isarn and aunt of Sancho's wife. In 1018, William Isarn tried to solidify his control over the Arán valley, but was killed, and Sancho jumped on the opportunity to take his portion, presumably based on some loose claim derived from his wife. Raymond and Mayor annulled their marriage, creating a further division finally resolved in 1025 when Mayor retired to a Castilian convent and Sancho received the submission of Raymond as vassal. He also forced Berengar Raymond I of Barcelona to become his vassal, though he was already a vassal of the French king. Berengar met Sancho in
Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...
and in Navarre many times to confer on a mutual policy against the
counts of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surroundin ...
.


Acquisition of Castile

In 1016, Sancho fixed the border between Navarre and Castile, part of the good relationship he established by marrying Muniadona, daughter of Sancho García of Castile. In 1017, he became the protector of Castile for the young García Sánchez. However, relations between the three Christian entities of León, Castile, and Navarre soured after the assassination of Count García in 1027. He had been betrothed to Sancha, daughter of Alfonso V, who was set thus to gain from Castile lands between the rivers Cea and
Pisuerga The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Duero's second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and León. Its traditional source is called Fuente Cobre, but it h ...
(as the price for approving the marital pact). As García arrived in León for his wedding, he was killed by the sons of a noble he had expelled from his lands. Sancho III had opposed the wedding and the expected expansion of Leonese power to Castile, and used García's death to reverse this. Using the pretext of the protectorship he had exercised over Castile, he immediately occupied the county and named as successor his own younger son Ferdinand, who was nephew of the deceased count, bringing it fully within his sphere of influence.


Gascon suzerainty

Sancho established relations with the Duchy of Gascony, probably of a
suzerain Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...
nature, him being the suzerain. In consequence of his relationship with the monastery of Cluny, he improved the road from Gascony to León. This road would begin to bring increased traffic down to Iberia as pilgrims flocked to Santiago de Compostela. Because of this, Sancho ranks as one of the first great patrons of the Saint James Way.
Sancho VI of Gascony Sancho VI William (Basque: ''Antso Gilen'', French: ''Sanche Guillaume'', Gascon: ''Sans Guilhem'', Spanish: ''Sancho Guillén'') (died 4 October 1032) was the Duke of Gascony from 1009 to his death. His reign is most notable for the renewal of Ga ...
was a relative of King Sancho and spent a portion of his life at the royal court in Pamplona. He also partook alongside Sancho the Great in 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 N ...
. In 1010, the two Sanchos appeared together with
Robert II of France Robert II (c. 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious (french: link=no, le Pieux) or the Wise (french: link=no, le Sage), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his ...
and William V of Aquitaine, neither of whom was the Gascon duke's suzerain, at Saint-Jean d'Angély. After Sancho VI's death in 1032, Sancho the Great extended his authority definitively into Gascony, where he began to mention his authority as extending as far as the
Garonne The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – ...
in the documents issued by his chancery. In southern Gascony, Sancho created a series of viscounties:
Labourd Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...
(between 1021 and 1023),
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine r ...
(1025), and Baztán (also 1025).


Acquisition of León

After the succession of Bermudo III to León, Sancho negotiated the marriage of his son Ferdinand to Sancha, the former fiancée of García Sánchez and Bermudo's sister, and along with it a dowry that included disputed Leonese lands. Sancho was soon engaged in a full-scale war with León, and combined Castilian and Navarrese armies quickly overran much of Bermudo's kingdom, occupying Astorga. By March 1033, he was king from Zamora to the borders of Barcelona. In 1034, even the city of León, the ''imperiale culmen'' (imperial capital, as Sancho saw it), fell, and there Sancho had himself crowned again. This was the height of Sancho's rule which now extended from the borders of Galicia in the west to the county of Barcelona in the east. In 1035, he refounded the diocese of Palencia, which had been laid waste by the Moors. He gave the see and its several abbacies to Bernard, of French or Navarrese origin, to whom he also gave the secular lordship (as a ''feudum''), which included many castles in the region. However, he died on 18 October 1035 and was buried in the monastery of San Salvador de Oña, an enclave in Burgos, under the inscription ''Sancius, gratia Dei, Hispaniarum rex''.


Succession

Before his death in 1035, Sancho divided his possessions among his sons. Of the three surviving sons by Muniadona, the eldest, García, had already appeared as ''regulus'' in Navarre, inheriting the kingdom including the Basque country as well as exercising
suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is ca ...
over the kingdom's lands given to his brothers. Gonzalo had been placed in control of the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, which he would hold as ''regulus''. Ferdinand had been given Castile on the death of count García Sánchez in 1029, holding it first under his father and later of Vermudo III of León, before killing that king to take León and the royal title. Ramiro, the eldest but illegitimate son of Sancho by mistress Sancha of Aybar, was given property in the former county of Aragón with the provision that he should ask for no more lands of his brother García, under whom he first acted as ''
baiulus A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their off ...
'' but from whom he later achieved ''de facto'' independence. Documents report two further sons, a second Ramiro and Bernard, but scholarship is divided on whether they were legitimate sons who died in youth, or if their appearance instead results from either scribal error or forgery. Sancho left two daughters, Mayor and Jimena, the former perhaps the wife of
Pons, Count of Toulouse Pons (II) William (1019 – 1060) was the Count of Toulouse from 1037. He was the eldest son and successor of William III Taillefer and Emma of Provence. He thus inherited the title '' marchio Provincæ''. He is known to have owned many allod ...
, the latter wife of Vermudo III.


Legacy

Taking residence in Nájera instead of the traditional capital of
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
, as his realm grew larger, he considered himself a European monarch, establishing relations on the other side of the
Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
. He introduced French feudal theories and ecclesiastic and intellectual currents into Iberia. Through his close ties with the count of Barcelona and the duke of Gascony and his friendship with the monastic reformer Abbot Oliva, Sancho established relations with several of the leading figures north of the Pyrenees, most notably
Robert II of France Robert II (c. 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious (french: link=no, le Pieux) or the Wise (french: link=no, le Sage), was King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his ...
, William V of Aquitaine, William II and Alduin II of Angoulême, and Odo II of Blois and Champagne. It was through this circle that the
Cluniac reform The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began ...
s first probably influenced his thinking. In 1024 a Navarrese monk, Paterno of San Juan de la Peña from Cluny, returned to Navarre and was made abbot of San Juan de la Peña, where he instituted the Cluniac custom and founded thus the first Cluniac house in Iberia west of Catalonia, under the patronage of Sancho. The Mozarabic rite continued to be practiced at San Juan, and the view that Sancho spread the Cluniac usage to other houses in his kingdom has been discredited by Justo Pérez de Urbel. Sancho sowed the seeds of the Cluniac reform and of the adoption of the
Roman rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while di ...
, but he did not widely enact them. Sancho also began the Navarrese series of currency by minting what the
Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...
calls " deniers of Carolingian influence." The division of his realm upon his death, the concepts of vassalage and suzerainty, and the use of the phrase "by the grace of God" (''Dei gratia'') after his title were imported from France, with which he tried to maintain relations. For this he has been called the "first Europeaniser of Iberia." His most obvious legacy, however, was the temporary union of all Christian Iberia. At least nominally, he ruled over León, the ancient capital of the kingdom won from the
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinc ...
in the eighth century, and Barcelona, the greatest of the
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
cities. Though he divided the realm at his death, thus creating the enduring legacy of Castilian and Aragonese kingdoms, he left all his lands in the hands of one dynasty, the Jiménez, which kept the kingdoms allied by blood until the twelfth century. He made the Navarrese pocket kingdom strong, politically stable, and independent, preserving it for the remainder of the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. It is for this that his seal has been appropriated by Basque nationalism, though, by dividing the realm, he isolated the kingdom and inhibited its ability to gain land at the expense 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 ...
s. Summed up, his reign defined the political geography of Iberia until its union under the Catholic Monarchs.


Titles

Throughout his long reign, Sancho used a myriad of titles. After his coronation in León, he styled himself ''rex Dei gratia Hispaniarum'', or "by the grace of God, king of the Spains", and may have minted coins with the legend "''NAIARA/
IMPERATOR The Latin word ''imperator'' derives from the stem of the verb la, imperare, label=none, meaning 'to order, to command'. It was originally employed as a title roughly equivalent to ''commander'' under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part o ...
''". The use of the first title implied his kingship over all the independently founded Iberian kingdoms and the use of the form ''Dei gratia'', adopted from French practice, stressed that his right to rule was of divine origin and sustenance. The latter, imperial title was only rarely employed, for it is not documented, being found only on coins only probably datable to his reign. It is not unlikely, however, that he desired to usurp the imperial title which the kings of León had thitherto carried. Despite this, the contemporary ecclesiastic
Abbot Oliva Oliba (; 971–1046) was the count of Berga and Ripoll (988–1002), and later abbot of the monasteries of Santa Maria de Ripoll and Sant Miquel de Cuixà (1008–1046) and the bishop of Vic (1018–1046). He is considered one ...
only ever acknowledged Sancho as ''rex Ibericus'' or ''rex Navarrae Hispaniarum'', while he called both Alfonso V and Vermudo III emperor. The first title considers Sancho as king of all Iberia, as does the second, though it stresses his kingship over Navarre alone as if it had been extended to authority over the whole Christian portion of the peninsula. The near-contemporary writer Ibn Bassam, besides highlighting his virtues, calls him Lord of the
Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Ba ...
.


Marriage and family

Sancho III was married to Muniadona of Castile, daughter of Sancho García of Castile, count of Castile and
Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álav ...
. They had the following children: * García Sánchez III, nicknamed "''the one from Nájera''",
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 to ...
from 1035 until his death in 1054 and married to Stephanie of Foix. * Fernando Sánchez, nicknamed "''the Great''", already Count of Castile, he became
King of León In the reign of Ordoño I of Asturias (850–866), the kingdom began to be known as that of León. In 910, an independent Kingdom of León was founded when the king of Asturias divided his territory amongst his three sons. Below follows a ...
from 1037 until his 1065 death, being Emperor of all Spain from 1056, married to
Sancha of León Sancha of León (8 November 1067) was a princess and queen of León. She was married to Ferdinand I, the Count of Castile who later became King of León after having killed Sancha's brother in battle. She and her husband commissioned the Crucif ...
. * Jimena Sánchez,
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 Hous ...
by her marriage to
Bermudo III of León Bermudo III or Vermudo III (c. 1015– 4 September 1037) was the king of León from 1028 until his death. He was a son of Alfonso V of León by his first wife Elvira Menéndez, and was the last scion of Peter of Cantabria to rule in the Leones ...
. * Gonzalo Sánchez, petty king of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. Before marrying Muniadona of Castile, Sancho III had a son with Sancha of Aibar: * Ramiro Sánchez, initially receiving lands in Aragon, he would come to be viewed as the first
King of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre ...
after succeeding to his brother Gonzalo's lands, he died in 1063.


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Sancho III el Mayor in Medieval History of NavarreMap of the division of Sancho's realm
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sancho 03 of Navarre 990s births 1035 deaths 11th-century Navarrese monarchs House of Jiménez Medieval child rulers 11th-century people from the Kingdom of Pamplona