Name Garcia III | ||
Garcia Sanchez III, sometimes Garcia III, IV, V, or VI (also Garcia of Najera, from Spanish: Garcia el de Najera, November 1016 – 1 September 1054), was king of Navarre from 1035 to 1054. He was the eldest legitimate son and heir of Sancho III the Great, born November 1016, and he succeeded his father to the crown of Navarre, becoming feudal overlord over two of his brothers: Ramiro, who was given lands that would serve as the basis for the kingdom of Aragon; and Gonzalo, who received the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. Likewise, he had some claim to suzerainty over his brother Ferdinand, who under their father had served as Count of Castile, nominally subject to the Kingdom of Leon but brought under the personal control of Sancho III.
In 1037, Ferdinand requested Garcia's aid against his brother-in-law, Bermudo III of Leon, at the Battle of Tamaron near Pisuerga. The two brothers defeated Bermudo, who died in battle, the final king of the male line of Peter of Cantabria, and Ferdinand succeeded in Leon.
By aiding Ferdinand, Garcia received his brother's favour and, in a repartition of Castile, he expanded Navarre to the Bay of Santander, incorporating the entire Basque Country.
Soon he was confronted by his brother Ramiro at Tafalla (1043) and defeated him, but this victory resulted in the effective independence of Ramiro.
Garcia was one of the Christian kings to profit greatly from the weakened taifa kingdoms that arose through the disintegration of central control by the Caliphate of Cordoba. In 1045, he conquered Calahorra.
Relations eventually soured with Ferdinand and war broke out between the fraternal kingdoms, Garcia dying in the Battle of Atapuerca, 15 September 1054.
His nickname comes from his foundation of the monastery of Santa Maria la Real of Najera.
Family
He was married, in 1038, to Stephanie, daughter either of Bernard-Roger, Count of Bigorre or his brother-in-law Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona (her dowry was the Cameros), and they produced eight children (four sons, four daughters):
He also had illegitimate issue:
After Garcia's death, Queen Stephanie is said to have remarried to Roger de Tosny, a Norman adventurer, although this marriage is not documented and seems unlikely since she does not mention such marriage when she executed her will in 1066, naming all her children and making several donations to the monastery founded by her late husband the king. Stephanie may have been a widow at the time of her marriage to Garcia. The Chronica Naierensis tells of the marriage of an illegitimate son of Garcia (presumed to be Sancho) to his stepsister, a daughter of Stephanie by a former husband.