Sancho VII of Navarre
Sancho VII | |
---|---|
King of Navarre | |
Reign | 1194–1234 |
Predecessor | Sancho VI |
Successor | Theobald I |
Born | c. 1157 |
Died | 7 April 1234 (aged 76–77) Tudela |
Spouse | Constance of Toulouse |
House | House of Jiménez |
Father | Sancho VI of Navarre |
Mother | Sancha of Castile |
Sancho VII (
Youth
Sancho was probably the eldest child of
Sancho's younger sister
Reign
Sancho arrived late at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 and thus ruined good relations with Alfonso VIII of Castile. The ensuing confrontation resulted in Sancho devastating Soria and Almazán and Alfonso accepted the Peace of Tarazona.
Sancho made expeditions against
Sancho's leadership was decisive in the
Sancho's relations with the countries north of the Pyrenees were notably better than his Castilian ones. Several Pyrenean counties declared themselves his vassals and he concluded treaties with John, King of England, and the various Aragonese kings of his time, the aforementioned Peter II and James I. With the latter he signed at Tudela, in 1231, which was never finished, a treaty stating that whoever survived the other would inherit unopposed the other's kingdom.
Sancho continued the construction of a new cathedral in Pamplona, as begun by his father and to be finished by his successor. The construction of a certain Gothic bridge over the Ebro in Tudela has also been attributed to him.
Succession
Sancho VII was married twice. His first wife was
As the result of prolonged and painful illness, starting with a varicose ulcer on his right leg and ashamed of it and his consequent obesity, Sancho went into retirement at Tudela at some point, when his youngest sister
Legacy
According to
Sancho left the kingdom with a wealthy treasury and improved communications was in his day one of the most advanced in human rights, and its Jewish community enjoyed the best standing in Christian Europe, which after all had been the work and result of the Jimenez royal house for centuries. He was originally interred in the church of San Nicolás, but was later moved to Roncesvalles after much resistance from the local Clergy. His remains have since been exhumed for study and examined by the physician Luis del Campo, also the king's biographer, who measured him at 2.20 metres tall (7'3"), probably the basis for his "strength" epitaph.[5]
Notes
- ISBN 978-84-7737-211-0.
- ISBN 84-934512-1-5.
- ^ Guggenberger, Anthony, A General History of the Christian Era: The Papacy and the Empire, Vol.1, (B. Herder, 1913), 372.
- ^ Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille: reine de France (Paris, 1895), p. 213n.
- ^ Del Campo, Luis (1952). "La estatura de Sancho el Fuerte". Príncipe de Viana. 13 (48–49): 481–494.