Sancho Garcés VI ( eu, Antso VI.a; 21 April 1132 - 27 June 1194), called the Wise ( eu, Jakituna, es, 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 Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He was the eldest son of García Ramírez, ''the Restorer'' and Margaret of L'Aigle.

Biography

Sancho VI inherited a debilitated kingdom, subject of frequent raids by the

Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th ce ...

Alfonso VII Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

and by the

County of Barcelona The County of Barcelona ( la, Comitatus Barcinonensis, ca, Comtat de Barcelona) was originally a frontier region under the rule of the Carolingian dynasty. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona became progressively independent, heredi ...

of Ramon Berenguer IV, also king of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...

, 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 Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 ( INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial populati ...

, 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 San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...

, Vitoria and

Treviño Treviño (in Basque: Trebiñu) is the capital of the municipality Condado de Treviño, province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. The Condado de Treviño and the geographically smaller La Puebla de Arganzón ma ...

, 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 Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

with him by

treaty of Sangüesa The Treaty of Sangüesa between Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancho VI of Navarre was signed on 19 December 1168 at the church of San Adrián de Vadoluengo in Sangüesa on the Navarrese side of the river Aragón. It provided for a twenty-year truce an ...

in 1168. In 1190, the two neighbours again signed a pact in Borja of mutual protection against Castilian expansion. He died on 27 June 1194, in Pamplona, where he is buried.Sancho VI entry
at the Encyclopedia Britannica

Marriage and family

On 20 July 1153, Sancho Garcés married Sancha of Castile, daughter of

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 ...

and Castile and his wife

Berengaria of Barcelona Berengaria of Barcelona (1116 – January 15, 1149), called in Spanish Berenguela de Barcelona and also known as Berengaria of Provence, was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia. She was the daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of B ...

. They had six children: * Berengaria Sánchez, who became Queen consort of

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after her marriage in 1191 to

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

. She died childless. *

Sancho Sánchez Sancho Sánchez ( fl. 1075–1127) was an important magnate of the Kingdom of Aragon in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, during the reigns of Sancho Ramírez, Peter I and Alfonso I. He was governor of the important Navarrese tenancies of ...

, nicknamed ''the Strong'', who succeeded his father and ruled as King of Navarre from 1194 to 1234, married first to

Constance of Toulouse Constance of Toulouse was the daughter of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse and his second wife Beatrice of Béziers. She first married Sancho VII of Navarre in 1195, but they were divorced in 1200. After the annulment she remarried to Peter Bermond ...

and then a second time to a woman believed to have been daughter of

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

or, according to other sources, of Yusuf II,

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. * Blanche Sánchez, who became

Countess of Champagne House of Champagne, 1234–1285 House of Capet, 1284-1349 Notes {{Reflist Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that d ...

after her marriage to Theobald III and Count regent after his death. Her son

Theobald Theobald is a Germanic dithematic name, composed from the elements '' theod-'' "people" and ''bald'' "bold". The name arrived in England with the Normans. The name occurs in many spelling variations, including Theudebald, Diepold, Theobalt, Tyb ...

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 The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located approximately 1.5 km west of the city of Burgos in Spain. The word ''huelgas'', which usually refers to "labour strikes" in modern Spanish, refers i ...

. * Teresa Sánchez * Constanza Sánchez, buried in Marcilla.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Geni - ''Sancho VI el Sabio, rey de Navarra''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sancho 06 of Navarre 1132 births 1194 deaths 12th-century Navarrese monarchs House of Jiménez