García SÁNCHEZ I (919?-970)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

	Sancho II of Pamplona from the "Codex Vigilanus"

Individual Note

García Sánchez I, sometimes García I, II, III or IV (c. 919 – 970) was the king of Pamplona from 931 until his death, 22 February 970.[1]

He was the son of King Sancho I and Toda Aznárez. Being just six years old at the time of his father's death, his uncle Jimeno Gárces succeeded, and it was just in the last year of the latter's reign, in 930, that Garcia appears with the royal title, but this was probably just a courtesy. On Jimeno's death, it was his mother Toda who reigned on behalf of the 12-year-old García. This regency ended in 934, when his first cousin Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III intervened on his behalf, and García began to rule as king.

With the support of his energetic and diplomatic mother, García, like his father, engaged in a number of conflicts with the Moors. In particular, in 937, he allied himself with Ramiro II of León and Muhammad ibn Hashim, governor of Zaragoza, resulting in a military campaign by Abd-ar-Rahman III via Calatayud and Zaragoza into García'a lands. García married his first cousin, Andregota Galíndez, daughter and coheiress of Galindo Aznárez II, Count of Aragon, having one son and heir, Sancho. He had divorced her by 940, when he reached and agreement to marry the daughter of Sunyer, Count of Barcelona, but the intervention of the Abd-ar-Rahman forced this plan to be abandoned. He then married Teresa, daughter of his ally Ramiro II.

García was succeeded by his son Sancho II Garcés, nicknamed Abarca. His younger son Ramiro Garcés, the eldest by Teresa, was called "king" of lands centered at Viguera. By Teresa he also had son Jimeno (also called "king" in documents). García had two daughters, Toda, who appears in a 991 document with brother Sancho, and Urraca who married firstly Fernán González of Castile and secondly William II Sánchez of Gascony.

NOTES:

1 The Anales de Pamplona indicates that he was aged 12 at the time he became king. This is usually taken to reflect a birth in 919 and succession on the death of his uncle in 931. However, the Initium regnum Pampilonam says that at the time of his death in February 970 he had ruled for 35 years, apparently using his mother's 934 displacement as regent for the starting date. If this is the date used by the Anales it would instead place his birth about 922. Antonio Ubieto Arteta, "Los reyes pamploneses entre 905 y 970"

2 Salas Merino, Vicente (2008) (in Spanish). La Genealogía de Los Reyes de España [The Genealogy of the Kings of Spain] (4th ed.). Madrid: Editorial Visión Libros. pp. 216–218. ISBN 9788498217674. http://books.google.com/books?id=s-YxL2tIbEgC&pg=PA216.²

Note on Marriage to Andregoto GALINDEZ

Divorced in by 940

Sources