Jiménez Dynasty
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Jiménez dynasty, alternatively called the Jimena, the Sancha, the Banu Sancho, the Abarca or the Banu Abarca, was a medieval ruling family which, beginning in the 9th century, eventually grew to control the royal houses of several
kingdoms Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchic state or realm ruled by a king or queen. ** A monarchic chiefdom, represented or governed by a king or queen. * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and me ...
on the
Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...
during the 11th and 12th centuries, namely the Kingdoms of
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
,
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
, Castile, León and Galicia as well as of other territories in the South of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. The family played a major role in the
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
, expanding the territory under the direct control of the Christian states as well as subjecting neighboring Muslim
taifa The taifas (from ''ṭā'ifa'', plural ''ṭawā'if'', meaning "party, band, faction") were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), referred to by Muslims as al-Andalus, that em ...
s to vassalage. Each of the Jiménez royal lines ultimately went extinct in the male line in the 12th or 13th century.


History

The first known member of the family, García Jiménez of Pamplona, is obscure, it being stated by the ''
Códice de Roda The ''Códice de Roda'' or ''Códice de Meyá'' (Roda or Meyá codex) is a medieval manuscript that represents a unique primary source for details of the 9th- and early 10th-century Kingdom of Navarre and neighbouring principalities. It is current ...
'' that he was "king of another part of the kingdom" of Pamplona, presumably lord of part of Navarre beyond the area of direct control of the Íñiguez kings: probably the frontier areas of
Álava Álava () 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 Álava, Lordship ...
and the western Pyrenees given the list of their landholdings preserved in a later charter. It was long believed that their origins lay in Gascony.
Roger Collins Roger J. H. Collins (born 2 September 1949) is an English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh. Collins studied at the University of Oxford ( Queen's and Saint Cross Colleges) under Peter Brown ...
, ''The Basques'' (Blackwell, 1986), p. 163.
In 905 Sancho Garcés, a younger son of the dynasty founder, used foreign assistance to displace the Íñiguez ruler Fortún Garcés and consolidate the monarchy in his dynasty's hands. He would be viewed as founder of the dynasty, with several Iberian Muslim sources calling the family the ''Banu Sanjo'' ( - the descendants of Sancho) for several subsequent generations, while a 12th-century Tunisian chronicler of Al-Andalus, Ibn al-Kardabūs, referred to
Sancho III of Pamplona Sancho Garcés III ( 992–996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great (, ), was the Kingdom of Pamplona, King of Pamplona from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the County of Aragon and by marriage the counties of County o ...
as ''ibn Abarca'' ( - son or descendant of ''Abarca''), referencing a nickname originally borne by Sancho I in the naming of this ''Banu Abarca'' dynasty. In addition to repulsing several attacks from the
Emir of Córdoba Emir (; ' (), also transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or ceremonial authority. The title has ...
, Sancho I crushed the neighboring Banu Qasi and thus expanded Pamplona to the upper
Ebro River The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a del ...
valley, as well as incorporating the previously-autonomous
County of Aragon The County of Aragon () or County of Jaca () was a small Franks, Frankish Marches, marcher county in the central Pyrenees, Pyrenean valley of the Aragon river, comprising Ansó, Echo, Aragón, Spain, Echo, and Canfranc and centered on the small to ...
into the realm. Following the death of Sancho in 925, his brother Jimeno Garcés maintained a position of strength, intervening in the politics of neighboring Christian and Muslim states. His death left the crown to his nephew, Sancho's son García Sánchez I, who was still a child. Originally ruling under the tutelage of his mother, the Íñiguez descendant Toda Aznar who established a web of political and marital alliances among the Iberian Christian states, invited the intervention of his cousin
Abd-ar-Rahman III ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn Abd al-Rahman I, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil (; 890–961), or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad dyna ...
of Córdoba to achieve emancipation from his mother. Thereupon followed three generations of defeat and subjugation by the Caliphate. For his younger son, García created a short-lived sub-kingdom centered at
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 recove ...
, which lasted for several decades until its reabsorption into the Kingdom of Pamplona. The latter only emancipated itself from Cordoban suzerainty during the reign of Sancho the Great, who ruled from 1000 to 1035 in Pamplona, but also ruled
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
, Castile, Ribagorza and eventually León (but not Galicia) by right of conquest. He received the homage of the
Count of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, Usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...
and possibly of the
Duke of Gascony The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the modern region of Gascony. The Duchy of Gascony, then known as ''Wasconia'', was originally a Franki ...
. After his coronation in León, he even took up the imperial title over all Spain. His vast domains were divided amongst his sons at his death, giving rise to three independent medieval kingdoms each ruled by a Jiménez monarch. The Kingdom of Navarre, passing to the eldest son García, was unable to maintain its hegemony, leading to the full independence of Aragon under his illegitimate brother Ramiro I, who had previously taken over the territories of murdered brother
Gonzalo of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza Gonzalo Sánchez ( 1020 – 26 June 1043) was the king of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, two small Pyrenean counties, from 1035 until his death. He was the son of King Sancho III of Navarre and his wife, Muniadona of Castile. Before his death in 10 ...
. Younger sibling Ferdinand I, then Count of Castile, killed in battle his nominal overlord the King of León and Galicia in 1037 and thereby inheriting them and bringing them fully into the orbit of his ruling clan. He then defeated García, achieving a sort of hegemony over his brothers, but again divided his realm among his sons. One of these, Alfonso VI, not only succeeded to the reunited realm of his father, but also conquered Toledo, reclaimed the imperial title and even pretended to rule over both Christian and Muslim Spain. The Navarre branch of the dynasty went into eclipse when in 1076 Sancho IV was assassinated by his siblings, and his cousins Alfonso VI of Castile and Sancho Ramírez of Aragon converged and divided the kingdom, with the Aragon ruler gaining the Navarre crown, while ceding western lands to Castile. The holdings of the family were briefly reunited when
Alfonso the Battler Alfonso I (7 September 1134), called the Battler or the Warrior (), was King of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre, Navarre from 1104 until his death in 1134. He was the second son of King Sancho Ramírez and successor of his brother Peter I of Arago ...
of Navarre and Aragon married Alfonso VI's daughter Urraca, Queen of Castile and León, and claimed the imperial title. However, the marriage failed and the kingdoms of Castile and León passed out of the dynasty, to Urraca's son by a prior marriage. The
Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon (; ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Monarchy, kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It became a part of the larger ...
and that of
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
likewise went their separate ways following Alfonso's death, the former passing to his brother, the latter to a descendant of its original ruling family, with each eventually passing to other dynasties through heiresses: Petronilla of Aragon, who married the ruler of Barcelona and thus united those two realms into the
Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
; and Blanca, sister of
Sancho VII of Navarre Sancho VII (; 11577 April 1234) called the Strong (, ) was King of Navarre from 1194 until his death in 1234. He was the son and heir of Sancho VI, whom he followed as the second king to hold the title of ''King of Navarre''. Sancho VII was ...
, whose 1234 death brought Jiménez rule to an end. The Borgias of Italy in the 15th century would present a pedigree that traced their ancestry to
Pedro de Atarés Pedro de Atarés ( in Borja – 21 February 1151) was a Spanish noble and member of the House of Aragón. He founded the Veruela Abbey, the oldest Cistercian monastery in Aragon. Biography Family Pedro de Atarés was the son of García Sán ...
, lord of
Borja, Zaragoza Borja is a town and municipality in the province of Zaragoza, community of Aragon, northeastern Spain. As of 2014, its population was 4,931. Geography The municipality borders with Ablitas (in Navarre) Agón, Ainzón, Alberite de San Ju ...
, who had been a competitor for the thrones of Navarre and Aragon following the death of Alfonso the Battler. Pedro was a scion of this family, being grandson of
Sancho Ramírez, Count of Ribagorza Sancho Ramírez (before 10431105/November 1110) was an illegitimate son of King Ramiro I of Aragon and Amuña, the firstborn and brother of his namesake who would inherit the throne and reign as Sancho Ramírez. Biographical sketch Even though h ...
, illegitimate brother of king Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. Such a descent would thus have made the Borgias male-line descendants of the Jiménez dynasty. However, the descent was a fabrication.


Rulers


Partitions of the patrimony under Jiménez dynasty rule


Table of rulers


Family tree of the House of Jiménez


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez Dynasty Medieval history of Spain Roman Catholic families