Sancho I of León

Sancho I of León, called the Crassus (c. 935-between November 15 and December 19, 966), was king of León in two different periods: between 956 and 958; and between 960 and 966. He was succeeded in 958 by Ordoño IV and, upon his death, by his son Ramiro.

Biography

Son of Ramiro II and his second wife, Queen Urraca Sánchez, he was the grandson of King Sancho Garcés I and Toda Aznárez. Ramiro II was succeeded by his son Ordoño III in 951 with the opposition of the infante Sancho, who He competed for the Leonese crown. Sancho had the support of part of the nobility, his grandmother Toda and the Count of Castile, Fernán González, brother-in-law of Ordoño. Ordoño defeated them next to the walls of León.

When Ordoño died in 956, Sancho I ascended the Leonese throne, but two years later, rejected for his extreme fatness, he was dethroned by the Leonese and Castilian nobles, led by Count Fernán González, who named Ordoño IV king.. Sancho had refused to respect the peace that the late Ordoño had agreed with the Cordobans, who sent an army against him that defeated him in 957, an event that increased his discredit and favored his overthrow.

Then, Sancho went to the side of his grandmother, Queen Toda Aznárez of Pamplona, whom he asked for help to recover his kingdom. She made a deal with the caliph of Córdoba, Abderramán III, to get treatment from the doctor of his court Hasday ibn Saprut and help for the recovery of the throne of León in exchange for some places on the banks of the Duero.

Queen Toda, Sancho I and his wife Teresa Ansúrez traveled to Córdoba in 958. There Hasday ibn Saprut treated Sancho for his obesity, he weighed 240 kilos, not allowing him to take more than infusions for forty days. Afterwards, and in accordance with the signed pact, a Pamplona-Muslim army took Zamora in the spring of 959 and León in the second half of 960, and restored Sancho I as king. Ordoño IV fled to Asturias.

The king soon forgot his agreement with the Muslims, who then began to support Ordoño IV, although this time their confrontation did not go beyond a few punitive raids. In the last years of his reign, noble rebellions occurred and the independence of the Castilian and Galician counts was strengthened.

In 966 King Sancho founded the monastery of San Pelayo in the city of León, consecrated in honor of the Cordoban martyr Saint Pelayo whose remains were transferred by the king to the capital of the kingdom of León, although they were later taken to Oviedo. Located next to the pantheon of kings of San Isidoro de León, this monastery replaced that of San Salvador de Palat de Rey as a court monastery and became the "head of the homonymous infantazgo", the infantry of San Pelayo, where the infantas were confined. who took the habit as well as the widowed queens. Years later, in 1148, the monastery was moved to Carbajal de la Legua and since then it was known as the monastery of Santa María de Carbajal and the Benedictine nuns who lived there, the "Carbajalas".

In 966 his reign ended when he died after being poisoned, according to Sampiro's chronicle, in the Galician monastery of Castrelo de Miño by the rebel count Gonzalo Menéndez, who gave him a poisonous apple: Gundisaluus, qui dux erat (...) veneni pocula illi in pomo duxit. The identification of Count Gonzalo Menéndez as the Count Gonzalo who poisoned the king is not supported by all historians as his patronymic is not indicated and because of the existence of another count contemporary named Gonzalo Muñoz (Moniz). He was succeeded by his son Ramiro III de León. Although the exact day of his death is not known, it will have occurred between November 15, the date of the last diploma in which Sancho I appears, and December 19, the date of the first diploma of his son Ramiro III..

Burial

He was buried in the monastery of Castrelo de Miño and later his mortal remains were transferred to the city of León, where they were buried in the church of San Salvador de Palat del Rey. This church was part of a monastery, which has now disappeared., which was founded during the reign of Ramiro II of León by his daughter, Infanta Elvira Ramírez, who wanted to be a nun. Kings Ordoño III of León and Ramiro II of León, father and brother, had previously been buried in the same temple. of Sancho I the Crassus.

The mortal remains of the three Leonese sovereigns buried in the church of San Salvador de Palat del Rey were later transferred to the basilica of San Isidoro de León, where they were placed in a corner of one of the chapels on the Gospel side, where the remains of other kings also lay, such as Alfonso IV of León, and not in the pantheon of kings of San Isidoro de León.

Marriage and offspring

He married before March 28, 959 with Teresa Ansúrez, daughter of Count Ansur Fernández and Countess Gontroda Núñez. As a result of this marriage, a son was born:

• Ramiro III de León (961 -984). It happened to his father on the throne of Leon.