Sancho García of Castile

Sancho García of Castile
Spouse(s)	Urraca Gómez
Father	García Fernández of Castile
Mother	Ava of Ribagorza
Died	1017

Sancho García (died 1017), called of the Good Laws (in Spanish, el de los Buenos Fueros), was the count of Castile and Álava from 995 to his death.

Biography

Sancho was the son of count García Fernández and his wife Ava of Ribagorza, the daughter of Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza. Sancho rebelled against his father with the support of Al-Mansur of Córdoba. This resulted in the partition of the county between father and son, and the county was not reunited until his father's death five years later. He renewed the Reconquista by rebelling against Almanzor, alongside his brother-in-law/cousin García Gómez and their mutual cousin García Sánchez II of Pamplona. Sancho led the coalition that was defeated at the Battle of Cervera in July 1000, but in early September successfully turned back the Córdoban invasion of his county. Almanzor died in 1002, leaving the Caliphate of Córdoba in crisis. Sancho ruled for another 15 years. In 1010, he intervened in Ribagorza, bringing about an end to Muslim domination there and leading to the abdication of his aunt countess Toda, and the establishment of a partition between Castilian-educated William Isarn, illegitimate son of Toda's brother and predecessor count Isarn, and Raymond Sunyer of Pallars, husband of Sancho's sister Mayor. Following his death in 1017, he was succeeded by his own son García.

Count Sancho García was called El de los Fueros (literally, "He of the Rights" or "of the Charters"), because of the rights or charters which he granted to the various cities.^[1]

Family and issue

Sancho married his cousin Urraca Gómez, sister of count García Gómez and daughter of the Beni Gómez clan leader, count Gómez Díaz of Saldaña by Muniadona Fernández of Castile, Sancho's aunt. They had:

• Muniadona Mayor, eldest daughter, married Sancho III of Navarre, through whom right to the county eventually passed.
• Ferdinand, died before 2 March 999
• Tigridia, abbess of San Salvador de Oña, which he founded for her to direct.
• Sancha, married Berenguer Ramon I, Count of Barcelona
• García, who succeeded his father

They may also have been parents of:

• Urraca, wife of Sancho VI William of Gascony

Ancestry

Ancestors of Sancho García of Castile

16. Fernándo González

8. Gonzalo Fernández, Count of Castile

17. Gutina

4. Fernán González, Count of Castile

9. Muniadona (? Ramírez)

2. García Fernández, Count of Castile

20. García Jiménez of Pamplona

10. Sancho I of Navarre

21. Dadildis of Pallars (sister of 24)

5. Sancha of Navarre

22. Aznar Sánchez, Lord of Larraun

11. Toda Aznárez

23. Onneca Fortúnez

1. Sancho García of Castile

24. Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza

12. Bernard I, Count of Ribagorza

6. Raymond II, Count of Ribagorza

26. Galindo Aznárez II, Count of Aragon

13. Tota Galíndez

27. Acibella Garcés (daughter of 28, 29)

3. Ava of Ribagorza

28. García II Sánchez, Duke of Gascony

14. William Garcés, Count of Fézensac

29. Amuna (Munia)

7. Garsinda of Fézensac

References

1. Amadó, Ramón Ruiz. "Castile and Aragon." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 21 May 2015