García III. (Navarre)

García III. that of Nájera ( Spanish García el de Nájera ; † September 15, 1054 near Atapuerca ), was King of Navarre from the House of Jiménez from 1035 to 1054 .

Life

García was the eldest son of Sancho III. the great , king of Navarre , Aragon and Castile . When his father died, his kingdom fell apart among his sons. García came as the eldest legitimate son on the Navarres throne, while his older illegitimate half-brother Ramiro I came to the throne in Aragón. His brother Gonzalo reigned in Ribagorza and Sobrarbe , Ferdinand I in Castile and the husband of his sister Jimena, Bermudo III. in León. The following period was determined by disputes about this division of the estate.

In 1037 García offered his brother Ferdinand military support against his brother-in-law Bermudo III. from León and fought in the victorious battle of Tamarón , in which Bermudo was killed and which helped Ferdinand to the throne of León . The aid provided was crucial to the division of the county of Castile between the two brothers. García extended the borders of his kingdom to the Bay of Santander , practically including the entire Basque territory, while Ferdinand took Leóns.

former Benedictine monastery of Santa María la Real de Nájera

In 1038 he married Estefanía de Foix, daughter of Bernard Rogers , the powerful Count of Foix and Bigorre , to whom he gave the ambabus Cambaribus , a mountainous area in the middle now known as Tierra de Cameros and mainly suitable for livestock farming, as a morning gift , along with other goods Rioja .

In 1043 he defeated his brother Ramiro I in Tafalla . He successfully used the weakness of the Taifa kingdoms to expand his dominion and conquered the city of Calahorra in 1045 . Seven years later he founded in Nájera the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Nájera , after he received his nickname.

In 1057 he marched in a dispute with his brother Ferdinand over the division of the Castilian territories into his lands. In the following battle of Atapuerca he was defeated by an army of Ferdinand. García was killed by a Castilian nobleman during the battle. He was buried in the monastery of Santa María la Real de Nájera, which he founded .

children

He and his wife Estefanía de Foix had nine children:

• Sancho IV. Garcés el de Peñalén (* 1040; † 1076), King of Navarre, ∞ with Placencia; he had to recognize the suzerainty of his uncle Ferdinand over Navarre;
• Urraca Garcés († after 1095) ∞ with Count García Ordóñez de Nájera (opponent of El Cid );
• Ermesinda Garcés († after 1110), ∞ with Fortún Sánchez, Lord of Yarnoz;
  • According to a document from the Abbey of San Salvador de Leire from 1079, she was involved in the murder of her brother.
• Ramiro Garcés († January 6, 1083), Lord of Calahorra, ∞ with Teresa;
  • Was Alfonso VI as negotiator . of León murdered by the Moorish castellan of Rueda.
• Fernando Garcés († 1068), Lord of Bucesta, ∞ with Nuña de Vizcaya;
  • Founder of the House of Luna .
• Ramón Garcés el Fratricida ("the fratricide", † after 1079), lord of Murillo and Cameros;
  • Murdered his brother in 1076 and fled to Saragossa.
• Jimena Garcés († after 1085);
• Mayor Garcés († after 1115), mistress of Yanguas, Atayo and Velilla, ∞ with Count Guido II of Mâcon ;
• Sancha Garcés († around 1065).

He also had three illegitimate children from unknown mistresses, including:

• Mencia Garcés (* 1020/30; † 1073), ∞ Fortún Ochoaz, Lord of Los Cameros;
• Sancho Garcés (* 1030/35; † 1074), Lord of Uncastillo and Sangüesa, ∞ with Constanza.

Web links

• García Sánchez de Navarra at fmg.ac (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ He is also counted as García V if one counts the kings of Pamplona .
2. ↑ Historia Silense , ed. by Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher, in: The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest. Manchester University Press, 2000, §79, p. 44. Annales Compostellani, ed. by Enríque Flórez, in: España Sagrada. Vol. 23 (1765), p. 319.
3. ↑ The founding charter is dated December 12, 1052. Cf. Colección de privilegios de la corona de Castilla, Vol. 6, ed. by Tomás González (1833), no. 228, pp. 52–59.
4. ↑ Documentación medieval de Leire (siglos IX a XII), ed. by Ángel J. Martín Duque (1983), No. 106, p. 156.
5. ↑ Historia Roderici didaci campidocti, ed. by Manuel Risco in: La Castilla: y el mas famoso castellano. Discurso sobre el sitio, nombre, extension, gobierno, y condado de la antigua Castilla. Historia del célebre castellano Rodrigo Diaz, llamado vulgarmente el Cid Campeador. (1792), Apendices VI, p. XXII. Crónica Najerense, ed. by Antonio Ubieto Arteta (1966), p. 117.
6. ↑ Textos navarros del Códice de Roda, ed. by José María Lacarra de Miguel in: Estudios de Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón. Vol. 1 (1945), p. 260. ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Historia de la Corona de Aragón: Crónica de San Juan de la Peña: Part aragonesa, ed. by T. Ximénez de Embún y Val (1876), §17, pp. 48-49. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Sancho III.	King of Navarre 1035-1054	Sancho IV.