Tragi Comedy war
in Spain
a capacity which had been
Sancho Ramírez eventually
diminished by the division of
made peace with him anyway.
The War of the Three
Sancho of Castile did try to
Sanchos breaks out
extend his influence over the
between three Spanish
Muslim taifa of Zaragoza,
kingdoms in 1065–1067. The
which owed him parias.
kingdoms were all ruled
According to the twelfth-
by Jiménez kings who were
century Crónica Najerense, a
first cousins: Sancho II of
battle was fought during which
Castile, Sancho IV of Navarre,
campaign his alférez, Rodrigo
and Sancho of Aragon, all
Díaz de Vivar, defeated his
grandsons of Sancho the
Navarrese
Great.
counterpart, Jimeno Garcés,
Ferdinand's kingdom in 1065.
and gained the
nickname campi doctor or
Castile retook Álava,
the Montes de Oca,
and Pancorvo, as well as
Bureba and Alta Rioja, but the
conflict ended in a stalemate
November 1066 when the
death of Sancha of León,
Ferdinand's widow, opened
the way to war between
Ferdinand's sons. The central
issue in the conflict, the
possession of the border
territories, was resolved in
1076 when Sancho IV was
The three Sanchos went to
"master of the field [of battle]",
war with each other over the
later to become famous
division of the kingdom of
in Spanish literature as el
Sancho the Great in 1035.
Campeador.
That division had left Navarre
Between August and
Navarre, and Alfonso VI of
with a supremacy over the
September 1067 Sancho
León and Castile, who
"petty kingdoms" of Castile
Ramírez led a counterattack
received the disputed lands.
and Aragon, last year
against Castile. Reporters
Navarre was a vassal of
from the Chronicle of San
Castile , but following the
Juan de la Peñ while
death of Ferdinand the Great,
diplomats close to the pope
the Castilian monarch died
attributes a rout to the
and his kingdom was divided
Navarrese and Aragonese
between his sons, with the
at Viana, while the Primera
eldest, Sancho, taking Castile.
crónica attributes victory to
Sancho of Castile was
Sancho of Castile.
covetous of the lands
of Bureba and Alta Rioja.
The partrticipation of a
Ferdinand had helped
Castilian magnate from the
reconquer them from
Navarrese border in an act by
the Caliphate, but then had
which Sancho formally
ceded them to his elder
defined the jurisdiction of
brother García Sánchez III of
the Diocese of Oca (the only
Navarre, the father of Sancho
bishopric in Castile) strongly
IV.
suggests that Sancho was in
a strong position.The
Earlier this year a following a
chronicler of San Juan de la
series of frontier raids,
Peña, said that Sancho of
Sancho IV of Navarre asked
Castile was forced to raise the
for an alliance from Sancho
siege of Viana and flee on a
Ramírez of Aragon. Most of
horse bedecked only in
the war took place in the
its halter; that he
region of Burgos and La
subsequently convinced Abd
Rioja. The war was also
ar-Rahman of Huesca to go to
fought over Castile's ability to
war with Aragon; and that
take part in the Reconquista,
assassinated by his own
brother and his kingdom
partitioned between Sancho
Ramírez, who became king of