Sancho VI of Navarre

Sancho Garcés VI
Miniature of Sancho VI in the Compendium of chronicles about kings, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid
King of Navarre
Reign	1150 - 1194
Predecessor	García Ramírez
Successor	Sancho VII
King of the Kingdom of Artajona
Reign	1157–1158
Predecessor	Sancho III of Castile
Successor	Position abolished
Born	21 April 1132
Died	27 June 1194 (aged 62) Pamplona
Consort	Sancha of Castile ​ ​ (m. 1153; died 1179)​
Issue	Berengaria, Queen of England Sancho VII, King of Navarre Blanche, Countess of Champagne
House	Jiménez
Father	García Ramírez of Navarre
Mother	Margaret of L'Aigle

Sancho Garcés VI (Basque: Antso VI.a; 21 April 1132 - 27 June 1194), called the Wise (Basque: Jakituna, Spanish: el Sabio) was King of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194. He was the first monarch to officially drop the title of King of Pamplona in favour of King of Navarre, thus changing the designation of his kingdom. Sancho Garcés was responsible for bringing his kingdom into the political orbit of Europe. He was the eldest son of García Ramírez, the Restorer and Margaret of L'Aigle.

Biography

Incomplete royal seal of Sancho VI.

Sancho VI inherited a debilitated kingdom, subject of frequent raids by the Kingdom of Castile of Alfonso VII and by the County of Barcelona of Ramon Berenguer IV, also king of Aragon, who in 1140 had agreed the partition of the kingdom in the Treaty of Carrión.

He tried to repair the borders of his kingdom, which had been reduced by the Treaties of Tudején and Carrión, which he had been forced to sign with Castile and Aragón in his early reign. By the Accord of Soria, Castile was eventually confirmed in its possession of conquered territories. In the face of a possible Castilian military takeover of further western Navarrese territories, Sancho VI re-asserted royal authority by founding several towns in 1181, including San Sebastián, Vitoria and Treviño, among others.

He was hostile to Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, but Raymond's son King Alfonso II of Aragon divided the lands taken from Murcia with him by treaty of Sangüesa in 1168. In 1190, the two neighbours again signed a pact in Borja of mutual protection against Castilian expansion.

The Kingdom of Artajona (eu:Artaxoako Erresuma) was returned from Sancho III of Castile to Sancho the Wise in 1157.

He died on 27 June 1194, in Pamplona, where he is buried.

Marriage and family

On 20 July 1153, Sancho Garcés married Sancha of Castile, daughter of Alfonso VII, King of León and Castile and his wife Berengaria of Barcelona. They had six children:

• Berengaria Sánchez, who became Queen consort of England after her marriage in 1191 to Richard I. She died childless.
• Sancho Sánchez, nicknamed the Strong, who succeeded his father and ruled as King of Navarre from 1194 to 1234, married first to Constance of Toulouse and then a second time to a woman believed to have been daughter of Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor or, according to other sources, of Yusuf II, caliph of Morocco.
• Blanche Sánchez, who became Countess of Champagne after her marriage to Theobald III and Count regent after his death. Her son Theobald would become King of Navarre after the death of his uncle.
• Fernando Sánchez, buried at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas.
• Teresa Sánchez
• Constanza Sánchez, buried in Marcilla.

Sources

• Gómez Moreno, Manuel (1946). El Panteón de las Huelgas Reales de Burgos (in Spanish). Madrid: Instituto Diego Velázquez. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. OCLC 641865520.
• Jimeno Jurío, José María (1970). "El libro rubro de Iranzu" (PDF). Príncipe de Viana (120–121). Pamplona: 221–270. ISSN 0032-8472.
• Luscombe, David; Riley-Smith, Jonathan, eds. (2004). The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 4, C.1024-c.1198, Part II. Cambridge University Press.
• O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1975). A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press.

External links

• Geni - Sancho VI el Sabio, rey de Navarra