García I of Pamplona

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García I Íñiguez (d. 870) was king of Pamplona from 851/2 to his death. He was educated in Córdoba, as a guest at the court of the Emir of Córdoba. He was the son of Íñigo I of Pamplona, the first king of their dynasty. When his father was stricken by paralysis in 842, he became regent of the kingdom (or perhaps co-regent with his uncle Fortún Íñiguez). He and his kinsman Musà ibn Musà ibn Fortún of the Banu Qasi rebelled against the Cordoban emir in 843. This rebellion was put down by Emir Abd-ar-Rahman II, who attacked the Kingdom of Pamplona, defeating García badly and killing Fortún. At his father's death in 851/2, he succeeded to the crown. (He is explicitly said to have been the successor of his father by the chronicler ibn Hayyan, although Jimeno I of Pamplona appears already to have been ruling in another part of the kingdom prior to Íñigo's death.)

In 859, a contingent of Vikings made an expedition to Navarre. The Pamplonan government abandoned the old alliance with Banu Qasi and made a new pact with the kings of Asturias. Ordoño I of Asturias and García triumphed over the new Scandinavian invaders in the Battle of Albelda that year. In 860, García's son and heir Fortún was imprisoned by the Moors. He languished in Córdoba for the next 20 years. García I favoured the pilgrims who travelled to Santiago de Compostela, and attempted to guarantee peace for that traffic. He zealously defended his country against the encroachments of Islam.

In 870, García died. As his heir was in the hands of his enemies, the son of Jimeno I, García Jiménez, who was already ruling another part of the kingdom, is thought to have governed the entire kingdom as regent. Garcia's son, Fortún Garcés, was released in 880, and when he returned, became king of Pamplona in his own right.

The identity of García's wife or wives is poorly documented, and has been subject to much speculation. An undated confirmation of an earlier lost charter refers to King García and Queen Urraca Mayor, and this is thought by some to refer to García Íñiguez and an otherwise unknown wife. Based on her name alone, it has been suggested that she was of the Banu Qasi, but other historians have given her different parentage, or even a different king as husband. Likewise, royal princess Leodegundia Ordoñez of Asturias, daughter of Ordoño I of Asturias, is known to have married a ruler of Pamplona, and García Íñiguez is one of those speculated to have been this prince.

García Íñiguez had following children:

He has been speculated also to have been father of Jimena, wife of Alfonso III of León, but there is no direct evidence of this.

Preceded by
Jimeno I
King of Pamplona
851/2–870
Succeeded by
García II (as regent)
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