Sancho Garcés III ( 992–996 – 18 October 1035), also known as Sancho the Great (, ), was the

King of Pamplona The Kingdom of Navarre ( ), originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, occupied lands on both sides of the western Pyrenees, with its northernmost areas originally reaching the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay), between present-day Spain and France. The me ...

from 1004 until his death in 1035. He also ruled the

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 ...

and by marriage the counties of Castile,

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

Monzón Monzón () is a small city and municipality in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. Its population was 17,176 as of 2014. It is located at the confluence of the Cinca and Sosa rivers, in the Cinca Media comarca of the province of Huesca. ...

. He later added the counties of Sobrarbe (1015), Ribagorza (1018) and Cea (1030), and would intervene in the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when the Christian princes of Kingdom of Asturias, Asturias along the Bay of Biscay, northern coast of the peninsula ...

, 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 Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

, 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 San Millán de la Cogolla () is a sparsely populated municipality in La Rioja (Spain). The village is famous for its twin monasteries, Yuso and Suso (Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso and Monasterio de San Millán de Suso), which were declared a ...

. 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 The Monastery of San Salvador of Leyre (; ) is a religious complex to the south of the Sierra de Leyre, in northern Navarre, Spain, representing one of the most important historical monasteries of Spain. History The oldest records of the site d ...

. 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 Sancho Ramírez (Basque: ''Antso Ramirez''; dead c. 1002) was the second King of Viguera, from 981 until his death c. 1002. He was the eldest son of Ramiro Garcés, the first king of Viguera, and also grandson of García Sánchez I of Pamplona. ...

reigning in Pamplona in 1002, perhaps ruling as had

Jimeno Garcés Jimeno Garcés, sometimes Jimeno II (died 932/3), was the King of Pamplona from 925 until his death. He was the brother of King Sancho I Garcés and son of García Jiménez by his second wife, Dadildis of Pallars. When his brother died, Sancho's ...

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 Pamp ...

three generations earlier. On his succession, Sancho initially ruled under a

council of regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the Interregnum, throne is vacant and a new monarch has not y ...

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 996–997, and served as co-regent ...

Pyrenean politics

Sancho aspired to unify the Christian principalities in the face of the fragmentation of Muslim Spain into the

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 ...

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 Calatañazor, in the Province of Soria, between an army of invading Moors under Almanzor and a force of Christian allies led by Al ...

. In about 1010 he married

Muniadona of Castile Muniadona of Castile (1066), also called Mayor or Munia, was Queen of Pamplona (10111035) by her marriage with King Sancho Garcés III, who later added to his domains the Counties of Ribagorza (1017) and Castile (1028) using her dynastic rights ...

, daughter of

Sancho García of Castile The name Sancho () is an Iberian name of Basque origin (Santxo, Santzo, Santso, Antzo, Sans). Sancho stems from the Latin name Sanctius. Feminine forms of the name are Sancha, Sancia, and Sanchia (), and the common patronymic is Sánchez and ...

, 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 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 France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

. Berengar met Sancho in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and in Navarre many times to confer on a mutual policy against the

counts of Toulouse The count of Toulouse (, ) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ruled the city of Toulouse and its surrounding ...

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

. 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 has ...

(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 Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

, 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 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 ...

, probably of a

suzerain A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy and economic relations of another subordinate party or polity, but allows i ...

–

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 suzerain ...

nature, him being the suzerain. In consequence of his relationship with the monastery of

Cluny Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon. The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in ...

, 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 Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. Because of this, Sancho ranks as one of the first great patrons of the

Saint James Way The Camino de Santiago (, ; ), or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where trad ...

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 o ...

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 ''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 ...

. In 1010, the two Sanchos appeared together with

Robert II of France Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters ...

and

William V of Aquitaine William the Great (; 969 – 31 January 1030) was duke of Aquitaine (as ) and count of Poitou (as or III) from 990 until his death. Upon the death of the emperor Henry II, he was offered the kingdom of Italy but declined to contest t ...

, neither of whom was the Gascon duke's suzerain, at

Saint-Jean d'Angély Saint-Jean (French for Saint John) may refer to: Places Belgium * Sint-Jan, a borough of Ypres, sometimes referenced as ''Saint-Jean'' in a World War I-related context Canada *Lac Saint-Jean *Lac-Saint-Jean-Est Regional County Municipality *L ...

. 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 ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in 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 (; ; ; ) is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques '' département'' of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial component pa ...

(between 1021 and 1023),

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

(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 The Diocese of Palencia () is a Latin Church, Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Palencia in the ecclesiastical province of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Burgos, Burgos, Spain.García, had already appeared as ''regulus'' in Navarre, inheriting the kingdom including the Basque country as well as exercising

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

over the kingdom's lands given to his brothers.

Gonzalo Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also

* Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguatio ...

had been placed in control of the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, which he would hold as ''regulus''.

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 Ramiro is a Spanish and Portuguese name from the latinisation of the Gothic given name *𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌼𐌹𐍂 (*Ranamir). Notable people with the name include: Given name * Ramiro I of Asturias (c. 790–850), king of Asturias * 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'' 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 allods ...

, the latter the wife of Vermudo III.

Legacy

Taking residence in

Nájera Nájera () is a small town, former bishopric and now Latin Catholic titular see, former capital of the Kingdom of Najera-Pamplona, located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, northern Spain, on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping poi ...

instead of the traditional capital of

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

, as his realm grew larger, he considered himself a European monarch, establishing relations on the other side of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. 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

, 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 in the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...

s first probably influenced his thinking. In 1024 a Navarrese monk, Paterno of San Juan de la Peña from

, 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 Justo Pérez Santiago (August 7, 1895 – 1979) later known as Fray Justo Pérez de Urbel y Santiago O.S.B. was a Spanish Roman Catholic clergyman (Order of Saint Benedict) and medievalist, first abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Cross of ...

. Sancho sowed the seeds of the Cluniac reform and of the adoption of the

Roman rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

, but he did not widely enact them. Sancho also began the Navarrese series of currency by minting what the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

calls " deniers of

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

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 is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

in the eighth century, and Barcelona, the greatest of the Catalan 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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. It is for this that his seal has been appropriated by

Basque nationalism Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

, though, by dividing the realm, he isolated the kingdom and inhibited its ability to gain land at the expense of the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s. Summed up, his reign defined the political geography of Iberia until its union under the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

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 title of ''imperator'' ( ) originally meant the rough equivalent of ''commander'' under the Roman Republic. Later, it became a part of the titulature of the Roman Emperors as their praenomen. The Roman emperors generally based their autho ...

''". 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 o ...

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 Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarīnī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab-Andalusian poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147. Ibn ...

, besides highlighting his virtues, calls him Lord of the

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

Marriage and family

Sancho III was married to

, daughter of

, count of Castile and

. They had three sons and two daughters: *

García Sánchez III 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 Pamp ...

, nicknamed "''the one from

''",

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 ''infanta'' 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 Cru ...

. * Gonzalo Sánchez, petty king of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. * Mayor, married

in 1037, deceased or divorced by 1040×1045 * Jimena Sánchez (queen),

Queen consort of León This is a list of the ''Queen consort, 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 Burg ...

by her marriage to

Bermudo III of León Bermudo III or Vermudo III ( 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 (died 1022), Elvira Menéndez, and was the last Astur-Leonese dynasty, s ...

. Before marrying Muniadona, 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 in ...

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 monarchs 11th-century people from the Kingdom of Pamplona