Sancho García of Castile

Sancho García (died 1017), called of the Good Laws (in Spanish, el de los Buenos Fueros), was the count of Castile and Álava from 995 to his death.

Sancho was the son of count García Fernández and his wife Aba of Ribagorza. He rebelled against his father with the support of Almanzor, the effective ruler of Córdoba. This resulted in the partition of the county between father and son, and the county was not reunited until his father's death five years later. He renewed the Reconquista by rebelling against Almanzor, alongside García Sánchez II of Pamplona and García Gómez of the Banu Gómez. Sancho led the coalition that was defeated at the Battle of Cervera in July 1000, but in early September successfully turned back the Córdoban invasion of his county. Almanzor was again campaigning against Sancho in 1002 when another battle occurred, remembered by the Christians as the Battle of Calatañazor and Muslims as the Pedroso expedition. The two sides report different outcomes to the battle itself, but Almanzor died of injuries received in the conflict, removing Sancho's primary antagonist and leaving the Caliphate of Córdoba in crisis. Sancho ruled for another 15 years, and was succeeded by his own son García.

His wife was named Urraca, whose appears to have been his cousin, the daughter of count Gómez Díaz of Saldaña, head of the Beni Gómez family, by Muniadona Fernández of Castile. They had:

• Muniadona Mayor, eldest daughter, married Sancho III of Navarre, through whom right to the county eventually passed.
• Ferdinand, died before 2 March 999
• Tigridia, abbess of San Salvador de Oña, which he founded for her to direct.
• Sancha, married Berenguer Ramon I, Count of Barcelona
• García, who succeeded his father

They may also have been parents of:

• Urraca, wife of Sancho VI William of Gascony

Ancestry