Sancho III (, ''Sanzio'', ''Santio'', ''Sanxo'', ''Santzo'', ''Santxo'', or ''Sancio''; ; Gascon: ''Sans''), called Mitarra (from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for "terror" or "the terrible"), Menditarra (meaning "the mountaineer" in Basque), was the

Duke of Gascony The Duchy of Gascony or Duchy of Vasconia was a duchy located in present-day southwestern France and northeastern Spain, an area encompassing the modern region of Gascony. The Duchy of Gascony, then known as ''Wasconia'', was originally a Franki ...

in a very obscure period of its history between 864 and 893. He was probably duke from 872 to 887. He is shrouded in mystery and legend, but is regarded as a great fighter of the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

elected to his post as

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

power waned by the native

Gascons Gascony (; ) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part of the combined Province of Guyenne and Gascon ...

. His genealogy is obscure, but he was probably a son of Sancho II Sánchez. There is much confusion among the sources about the identity of Sancho Mitarra. Some give that sobriquet to Sancho II, while some give it to Sancho III. Some call the latter Mitarra Sancho and call him a son of the former. It seems likely that these two Sanchos are related. Genealogies of a "phantasmagorical" character assign to him a Castilian parentage.Higounet, p 44. During the reign of Sancho III, Gascony became ''de facto'' independent, owing no allegiance to the

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

. He settled the Vikings at the mouth of the

Adour The Adour (; ; ) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High- Bigorre ( Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean ( Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. is known as the ' ...

and brought them under control{{citation needed, date=August 2019. He was succeeded by either his son (most likely) or his brother, García II Sánchez.

Notes

Sources

Collins, Roger Roger J. H. Collins (born 2 September 1949) is an England, English medievalist, currently an honorary fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh. Collins studied at the University of Oxford (The Queen's College, Oxford, Queen's and Saint ...

. ''The Basques''. Blackwell Publishing: London, 1990. *Higounet, Charles. ''Bordeaux pendant le haut moyen age''. Bordeaux, 1963.
Sedycias, João. ''História da Língua Espanhola''.
Dukes of Gascony