The Jiménez dynasty, alternatively called the Jimena, the Sancha, the Banu Sancho, the Abarca or the Banu Abarca,[1] was a medieval ruling family which, beginning in the 9th century, eventually grew to control the royal houses of several kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula during the 11th and 12th centuries, namely the Kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon, Castile, León and Galicia as well as of other territories in the South of France.[2] [3] [4] [5] The family played a major role in the Reconquista, expanding the territory under the direct control of the Christian states as well as subjecting neighboring Muslim taifas to vassalage. Each of the Jiménez royal lines ultimately went extinct in the male line in the 12th or 13th century.
The first known member of the family, García Jiménez of Pamplona, is obscure, it being stated by the Códice de Roda that he was "king of another part of the kingdom" of Pamplona, presumably lord of part of Navarre beyond the area of direct control of the Íñiguez kings: probably the frontier areas of Álava and the western Pyrenees given the list of their landholdings preserved in a later charter. It was long believed that their origins lay in Gascony.[6]
In 905 Sancho Garcés, a younger son of the dynasty founder, used foreign assistance to displace the Íñiguez ruler Fortún Garcés and consolidate the monarchy in his dynasty's hands. He would be viewed as founder of the dynasty, with several Iberian Muslim sources calling the family the Banu Sanjo (Arabic: بنو شانجه - the descendants of Sancho) for several subsequent generations, while a 12th-century Tunisian chronicler of Al-Andalus, Ibn al-Kardabūs, referred to Sancho III of Pamplona as ibn Abarca (Arabic: بن أبرك - son or descendant of Abarca), referencing a nickname originally borne by Sancho I in the naming of this Banu Abarca dynasty. In addition to repulsing several attacks from the Emir of Córdoba, Sancho I crushed the neighboring Banu Qasi and thus expanded Pamplona to the upper Ebro River valley, as well as incorporating the previously-autonomous County of Aragon into the realm.
Following the death of Sancho in 925, his brother Jimeno Garcés maintained a position of strength, intervening in the politics of neighboring Christian and Muslim states. His death left the crown to his nephew, Sancho's son García Sánchez I, who was still a child. Originally ruling under the tutelage of his mother, the Íñiguez descendant Toda Aznar who established a web of political and marital alliances among the Iberian Christian states, invited the intervention of his cousin Abd-ar-Rahman III of Córdoba to achieve emancipation from his mother. Thereupon followed three generations of defeat and subjugation by the Caliphate. For his younger son, García created a short-lived sub-kingdom centered at Viguera, which lasted for several decades until its reabsorption into the Kingdom of Pamplona.
The latter only emancipated itself from Cordoban suzerainty during the reign of Sancho the Great, who ruled from 1000 to 1035 in Pamplona, but also ruled Aragon, Castile, Ribagorza and eventually León (but not Galicia) by right of conquest. He received the homage of the Count of Barcelona and possibly of the Duke of Gascony. After his coronation in León, he even took up the imperial title over all Spain. His vast domains were divided amongst his sons at his death, giving rise to three independent medieval kingdoms each ruled by a Jiménez monarch.
The Kingdom of Navarre, passing to the eldest son García, was unable to maintain its hegemony, leading to the full independence of Aragon under his illegitimate brother Ramiro I, who had previously taken over the territories of murdered brother Gonzalo of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza. Younger sibling Ferdinand I, then Count of Castile, killed in battle his nominal overlord the King of León and Galicia in 1037 and thereby inheriting them and bringing them fully into the orbit of his ruling clan. He then defeated García, achieving a sort of hegemony over his brothers, but again divided his realm among his sons. One of these, Alfonso VI, not only succeeded to the reunited realm of his father, but also conquered Toledo, reclaimed the imperial title and even pretended to rule over both Christian and Muslim Spain.
The Navarre branch of the dynasty went into eclipse when in 1076 Sancho IV was assassinated by his siblings, and his cousins Alfonso VI of Castile and Sancho Ramírez of Aragon converged and divided the kingdom, with the Aragon ruler gaining the Navarre crown, while ceding western lands to Castile.
The holdings of the family were briefly reunited when Alfonso the Battler of Navarre and Aragon married Alfonso VI's daughter Urraca, Queen of Castile and León, and claimed the imperial title. However, the marriage failed and the kingdoms of Castile and León passed out of the dynasty, to Urraca's son by a prior marriage. The Kingdom of Aragon and that of Navarre likewise went their separate ways following Alfonso's death, the former passing to his brother, the latter to a descendant of its original ruling family, with each eventually passing to other dynasties through heiresses: Petronilla of Aragon, who married the ruler of Barcelona and thus united those two realms into the Crown of Aragon; and Blanca, sister of Sancho VII of Navarre, whose 1234 death brought Jiménez rule to an end.
The Borgias of Italy in the 15th century would present a pedigree that traced their ancestry to Pedro de Atarés, lord of Borja, Zaragoza, who had been a competitor for the thrones of Navarre and Aragon following the death of Alfonso the Battler. Pedro was a scion of this family, being grandson of Sancho Ramírez, Count of Ribagorza, illegitimate brother of king Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. Such a descent would thus have made the Borgias male-line descendants of the Jiménez dynasty. However, the descent was a fabrication.
See also: Kings of Navarre family tree. Emperors in bold. Date of assumption of imperial title in bold and parentheses.
| Ruler | Born | Reign | Death | Ruling part | Consort | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| García Jiménez | c.835 | c.850-885 | After 885 | Pamplona | Oneca of Sangüesa two children Dadildis of Pallars two children | Sub- or co-king in a part of Pamplona, during the rule of Garcia I Iñiguez and/or Fortún Garcés of Pamplona. | |
| Sancho I Abarca | c.860 | 905-925 | 10 December 925 | Pamplona | Toda Aznárez of Larraun six children | Supplanted Fortun Garcés as king of Pamplona | |
| Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona | c.860 | 925-932/3 | 932/3 | Pamplona | Sancha Aznárez of Larraun three children | Brother of Sancho I. He appears as prince or king, first acting alone, then along with his nephew, Garcia. | |
| Toda Aznárez of Larraun (regent) | 2 January 876 | 925-933 | 15 October 958 | Pamplona | Sancho I of Pamplona six children | Regent in name of her son. | |
| 919 | 933-970 | 22 February 970 | Pamplona | Andregoto Galíndez of Aragon c.935 (annulled 943) two children Teresa of León c.943 three children | Minor son of Sancho I at the time of his father's death, he first appears a few years later as co-king with his uncle Jimena, then sole king under the regency of his mother. At his death the Kingdom of Viguera was created for his younger son. | ||
| Sancho II | 938 | 943-970 | 994 | Aragon | Urraca Fernández of Castile 962 four children | Son of Garcia Sánchez I and Andregoto. | |
| 970-994 | Pamplona & Aragon | ||||||
| c.945 | 970-981 | 9 July 981 | Viguera | Unknown two sons | Son of Garcia Sánchez I and Teresa of León. First king of Viguera. | ||
| ? | 981-1002 | c.1002 | Viguera | Unknown a daughter? | Left no male descendants and was succeeded by his brother. Possibly regent, or even king, of Pamplona 1000-1002 | ||
| 964 | 994-1000 | (29 July?) 1000 | Pamplona (994-1000) | Jimena Fernández of Cea c.988 four children | |||
| Urraca Fernández of Castile (regent) | ? | 994-997 | 1007 | Aragon | Urraca Fernández of Castile 962 four children | Daughter of Fernán González of Castile and Sancha Sánchez of Pamplona. Previously wife of Ordoño III of León and Ordoño IV of León. | |
| Gonzalo Sánchez | ? | 994-997 | 997 | Aragon | Unmarried | Son of Sancho II. Ruled under regency of his mother, probably died still a minor. | |
| In 997 Aragon was reabsorbed in Pamplona | |||||||
| ? | 1002-1025 | c.1025? | Viguera | Toda two children | After his death with no male descendants, Viguera was reabsorbed in Pamplona. | ||
| In 997 Viguera was reabsorbed in Pamplona | |||||||
| Jimena Fernández of Cea (regent) | c.970 | 1000-1014 | c.1045 | Pamplona & Aragon | Garcia Sánchez II c.988 four children | Regent in name of her son, with her mother-in-law. | |
| Sancho III the Great | c.992 | 1014-1035 (1034) | 18 October 1035 | Pamplona | Muniadona of Castile c.1011 five children | His death precipitated a division of the historical Pamplona lands, a distribution that evolved into three Iberian kingdoms: Aragon, Navarre and Castile. | |
| Ferdinand I the Great | 1016 | 1029-1037 1037-1065 (1056) | 27 December 1065 | Castile Castile & León | Sancha, Queen of León 1032 five children | Younger son of Sancho III, he was named count of Castile by his father following the death of his maternal uncle in 1029. He merged this into the Kingdom of León, which he acquired in right of his wife Sancha in 1037. At his death he divided his kingdom into three for his sons, while naming his daughters suzereign over cities. | |
| Garcia Sánchez III of Nájera | 1012 | 1035-1054 | 1 September 1054 | Pamplona | Stephanie of Foix 1038 Barcelona eight children | Eldest legitimate son of Sancho III, received Pamplona and suzereignty over his brothers. | |
| Gonzalo Sánchez | 1020 | 1035-1045 | 26 June 1045 | Unmarried | Son of Sancho III, received the counties of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza, which came from his mother, who had rights over those territories. Left no descendants, and his territories went to his half-brother Ramiro. | ||
| Sobrabe and Ribagorza were absorbed by Aragon | |||||||
| Ramiro I | 1006/7 | 1035-1063 | 8 May 1063 | Aragon | Ermesinda of Foix c.1035 five children Agnes of Aquitaine I after 1049 no children | Natural son of Sancho III, received lands in Aragon that he eventually expanded into a sub-kingdom through the absorption of his brother Gonzalo's counties. | |
| 1039 | 1054-1076 | 4 June 1076 | Pamplona | Plaisance of Normandy c.1068 three children | Assassinated. He left a minor child, Garcia Sanchez, but he was considered not fit for the throne for his age, and the throne was given to the king of Aragon. | ||
| Sancho Ramírez (V of Pamplona) | 1042 | 1063-1076 1076-1094 | 4 June 1094 | Aragon Pamplona & Aragon | Isabella of Urgell 1065 (annulled 1070) one child Felicia of Roucy 1076 three children | Son of Ramiro I, was chosen as the new king of Pamplona in 1076, reuniting the kingdoms once more. | |
| Sancho II the Strong | 1038/9 | 1065-1071 1071-1072 | 7 October 1072 | Castile Castile & León | Alberta no children | Son of Ferdinand I, from 1071 deposed his brothers and took briefly control of all the inheritance of his father, before he was assassinated. | |
| Castile was reabsorbed in León | |||||||
| Garcia II | 1042 | 1065-1071 | 21 March 1090 | Galicia | Unmarried | Son of Ferdinand I, from 1071 he was deposed by Sancho II and Alfonso; tried to return after Sancho's assassination, but Alfonso arrested and banished him to the Castle of Luna, where he eventually died many years later. | |
| Galicia was reabsorbed in Castile, and then in León | |||||||
| Alfonso VI the Brave | 1040 | 1065-1071 1072-1109 (1077) | 21 March 1090 | León León & Castile | Agnes of Aquitaine 1073/4 no children Constance of Burgundy 1079 one child Bertha (of Savoy?) 25 November 1093 no children Isabel (Zaida?) c.1100 two (three?) children Beatrice 1108 no children | Reunited the inheritance of his father and conquered Kingdom of Toledo, but his only surviving children were daughters. The kingdom went to eldest daughter Urraca, while the County of Portugal, given to his daughter Theresa and her husband, would become the Kingdom of Portugal a generation later. | |
| Peter I | 1068 | 1094-1104 | 28 December 1104 | Aragon & Pamplona | Agnes of Aquitaine 1086 Jaca two children Bertha (of Savoy II?) 1097 no children | Son of Sancho Ramírez. His own children didn't survive him and he was succeeded by his brother Alfonso. | |
| Theresa | 1080 | 1096-1128 | 11 November 1130 | Portugal | Henry of Burgundy 1096 six children | Daughter of Alfonso VI, co-ruled in Portugal with her husband since 1096. Her ambition of reuniting the county with the old Kingdom of Galicia, with her adoption of royal title from 1116, and alliances with important Galician families led the Portuguese nobles to support her son Afonso Henriques as a candidate for the comital throne. Deposed after her defeat at Battle of São Mamede in 1128. | |
| With the death of Teresa the line of the Jimena family died out in Portugal, which was inherited by Afonso Henriques, from the Portuguese House of Burgundy. | |||||||
| Alfonso I the Battler | 1073 | 1104-1134 (1109) | 7 September 1134 | Aragon & Pamplona | Urraca I of León and Castile 1109 (annulled 1112) no children | Died without children. Left his kingsdoms to the knightly orders, the nobility of the two kingdoms chose different scions of the Jimenez dynasty as their kings, separating the two kingdoms. | |
| Urraca the Reckless | April 1079 | 1109-1111 1109-1126 (1109) | 8 March 1126 | Galicia León & Castile | Raymond of Burgundy c.1087 two children Alfonso I of Aragon 1109 (annulled 1112) no children | Daughter of Alfonso VI, abdicated from Galicia to her son in 1111. Her problematic marriage with Alfonso of Aragon brought many conflicts between the spouses, even after their separation in 1112. Those conflicts endured throughout her reign. | |
| With the death of Urraca the line of the Jimenez family died out in León & Castile, which were inherited by Alfonso VII of León and Castile, from the House of Ivrea. | |||||||
| Garcia V (Ramírez) the Restorer | ? | 1134-1150 | 21 November 1150 | Pamplona | Margaret of L'Aigle 1130 four children Urraca of Castile the Asturian 24 June 1144 León no children | Grandson of Sancho Garcés, illegitimate son of Garcia Sánchez III of Pamplona. | |
| Ramiro II the Monk | 24 April 1086 | 1134-1137 | 16 August 1157 | Agnes of Aquitaine 13 November 1135 Jaca (annulled 1136/7) one child | Last surviving son of Sancho Ramirez. Withdrawn from monastic life to inherit the throne, then as soon as his daughter was old enough to marry, he wed her to the Count of Barcelona, to whom he passed royal authority. | ||
| Sancho VI the Wise | 1133 | 1150-1194 | 27 June 1194 | Navarre | Sancha of Castile 2 June 1157 Carrión de los Condes six children | He was the first monarch to adopt the title King of Navarre. | |
| Petronilla I | 29 June/11 August 1136 | 1137-1164 | 15 October 1173 | Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona August 1150 Lleida five children | Petronila I of Aragon, only daughter of Ramiro II, got married with Ramon Berenguer IV, ruler of the count of Barcelona. The dynastic union in 1137 gave rise to the Crown of Aragon. Through the prenuptial agreement (Capitulaciones matrimoniales) under Aragonese law, Petronila I was the sole queen, while Ramon Berenguer IV only becoming consort princeps but not king nor proprietor of the Kingdom of Aragon. After his death, Petronila abdicated in 1164 to their son, Alfonso II of Aragon who continued the dynasty of House of Aragon and also inheritating the title of count of Barcelona following his father's House of Barcelona. After the abdication, she pursued a monastic life for herself.[7] | ||
| Sancho VII the Strong | 17 April 1154 | 1194-1234 | 7 April 1234 | Navarre | Constance of Toulouse 1195 (annulled 1200) no children | Left no descendants. The Navarrese throne went to his French nephew, the count of Champagne. | |
| With the death of Sancho VII the line of the Jimenez family died out in Navarre, which were inherited by Theobald I of Navarre, from the House of Champagne. As Sancho VII was the last living member of the family at the time of his death, Jimena dynasty became extinct after his death. | |||||||