Sobrarbe

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Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas (counties) in the northern part of the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragon in Spain. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as fabla.

Sobrarbe was one of the Christian principalities of the Hispanic March in northernmost Hispania, with an obscure history that was liberally mixed with legend in the time of Eneko Aritza, who counted Sobrarbe as one of his possessions. It became part of the County of Aragon, then was linked with the County of Ribagorza in the 10th century through marriage to an heiress. However, in the late 10th and early 11th century, a series of incursions from the south left it disorganized and depopulated, and for a time it fell under muslim control. This was reversed by Sancho the Great of Navarre, who brought the region under his control in 1015, similarly extending his power into Ribagorza over the subsequent years. Whatever hereditary claim might have existed was subsequently brought to Sancho through his wife Mayor of Castile, heiress to the Ribagorza counts.

Sancho divided the territories he had united, and his third son, Gonzalo Sánchez, was given the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, and used the royal title. After the death of Gonzalo in 1038, his illegitimate half-brother Ramiro I of Aragon brought Sobrarbe and Ribagorza into his Kingdom of Aragon. With his death, once again a third son, Gonzalo, received Sobrarbe and Ribagorza.