Kingdom of Najera

The kingdom of Najera was a kingdom located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula between the years 923 and 1076, it covered the territories of the valley of the Ebro River, from the current Miranda de Ebro to Tudela. It was the precursor of the Kingdom of Navarra and cradle of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragón. From the year 925 onwards, the monarch of the kingdom of Nájera was the same as that of Pamplona and was renamed "kingdom of Nájera-Pamplona", which would be the predecessor of the kingdom of Navarra. The capital of the kingdom of Nájera was the city of Nájera, currently located in the autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain.

In the monastery of Santa María la Real is the royal pantheon where the tombs of the kings of the kingdom of Nájera-Pamplona, precursor of the kingdom of Navarra, are located. The kings of the Jimena dynasty, or the Abarca dynasty, are buried here, which remained on the throne from 918 to 1076, and the one that followed García Ramírez, who reigned from 1135 to 1234. This dynasty comes from the Abarcas dynasty.

Origins


The beginnings of the kingdom of Nájera date back to the year 918 when the Pamplona king Sancho Garcés I, in collaboration with Ordoño II of León, recovers Nájera and La Rioja Media y Alta (from the current Miranda de Ebro to Tudela) from Muslim rule. These new territories are left under the dominion of his son García Sánchez with the name of "Kingdom of Nájera".

Five years later, in the year CE 923, of the recovery of the castle, or fortress, of Nájera Sancho Garcés gives those lands to his son García Sánchez I who is still a child, and establishes the court of the kingdom of Nájera. Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona, uncle of García Sánchez I, appointed counselor and tutor of the same.

After the destruction of Pamplona by Abderramán III in CE 924 and the death of his father the following year, García Sánchez I also becomes king of Pamplona, moving his residence to Nájera, establishing his court in this city, to the detriment of Pamplona. Since that time, the kingdoms of Pamplona and Nájera appear linked to the same monarch, although they continue to maintain separate entities; therefore, the kingdom is renamed "kingdom of Nájera-Pamplona".

Sancho Garcés got sick and going from monastery to monastery, seeking his healing, he died in 925. He was succeeded by his son García Sánchez who was already reigning in Nájera and expanded his states with the lands of Pamplona. Thus the Pamplona dynasty is established in the Kingdom of Nájera and the notaries say in privileges and in royal deeds that the granting monarchs reign in Nájera and Pamplona.

García Sánchez developed an active policy of repopulating the new territories and supported the monasteries in the area with large donations, especially San Millán de la Cogolla.

Sancho Garcés II would maintain the same policy during the first years (CE 970–994), but the campaigns of Almanzor would force him, as well as his son García Sánchez II «el Temblón» (CE 994–1004), to sign capitulations and pay tributes to Córdoba.

Heyday
With Sancho III the Elder (CE 1004-1035) the kingdom reached its greatest extent, covering a good part of the northern third of the peninsula, from Catalonia to Cantabria. Sancho III was the great promoter of the city of Nájera, where he held Cortes and granted the famous fuero of Nájera, origin of Navarrese legislation and basis of national law; he also minted currency in Nájera, thus creating one of the first Christian mints in the peninsula. This monarch was rightly called 'Rex Ibericus', 'Rex totius Hispaniae' and 'Rex Imperator'. He favored pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela, establishing shelters and hospitals, and turning the city into a key point of the Jacobean route of the Camino de Santiago.

After the death of Sancho III, his Empire was divided among his sons García Sánchez III, king of Nájera-Pamplona, Fernando I count of Castile and future king of León, Ramiro I king of Aragon and Gonzalo Sánchez king of Ribagorza, in this way, Nájera becomes the cradle of the kingdoms of Navarra, Castilla and Aragón, corresponding to the first-born, García Sánchez III (CE 1035-1054), called "the one from Nájera", for having been born and being buried in the city, the patrimonial territories of the kingdoms of Nájera and Pamplona, as well as political hegemony over the other Christian kingdoms of the peninsula.

García Sánchez III extended his domains through the Rioja Baja conquering Calahorra to the taifa of Zaragoza. Of deep Catholic faith, he founded the monastery of Santa María la Real and names it the episcopal seat of the kingdom, endowmenting it with numerous properties. He also created the Order of Cavalry of the Pitcher or the Terrace, the first among the peninsular Christian kingdoms; and favored the monastic desks of San Millán, Nájera and Albelda. He died in the battle of Atapuerca (Burgos) in the fight against his brother Ferdinand I of Castile, in September 1054.

Dismemberment
After the murder of his father, at the age of 14 he is succeeded Sancho Garcés IV (CE 1054- 1076),  proclaimed in the same field of Atapuerca. Sancho II the Fort, king of León and Castile invaded the mountains of Oca, La Bureba and Navarre itself, conquering the Plaza de Viana. Sancho Garcés IV sought the help of his cousin Sancho Ramírez of Aragon, who defeated the Castilians in Viana in 1067. Later, in 1076 Alfonso VI king of León and Castile (son of Ferdinand I of Castile) temporarily invaded La Rioja who with Al-Muqtadir wanted to put a submissive king in Nájera-Pamplona. The last king of Nájera Sancho Garcés IV the nobleman or the one of Peñalén, dies at the hands of his brother Ramón, who took him down the precipice of Peñalén (Navarra), in Funes, while he hunted.

After the death of Sancho Garcés, a second period begins in which there are no longer Kings of Nájera, except for the years that it was governed by Sancho III de Castilla, because sovereignty is claimed by the kings descendants of Sancho Garcés III; the city of Nájera was taken by Alfonso VI, and he leaves the command of the conflicts caused by this event, which led to the division of the kingdom, the Navarre part was annexed to the Kingdom of Aragon and thus putting an end to the so-called kingdom of Nájera, being renamed Señorío de Nájera and Duchy of Nájera.

Under Castile, he formed a county under García Ordóñez until his death in the battle of Uclés in 1108. The subsequent wedding between Urraca de León and Alfonso I of Aragon temporarily unites the crowns of León-Castilla and Aragón-Pamplona briefly between 1109 and 1114. The had Diego López I de Haro until CE 1113 in which Alfonso I of Aragon, El Batallador dispossesses this of the tenure of Nájera and puts in his place Fortún Garcés Cajal, who will have it between CE 1113 After the death of the Battler, Nájera, Calahorra and other border places were annexed to the kingdom of Castile by Alfonso VII of León and Castile, who alleged hereditary rights and restores the borders his grandfather Alfonso VI.

Main milestones

 * The Fuero de Nájera (CE 1020), contemporary with that of León, was granted by Sancho Garcés III, it is the predecessor of the fueros de Logroño. Navarra and the Basque Country.
 * The codices Vigiliano (CE 976) and Emilianense (CE 994) are written, which contain numerous councils and epistles, which decree pontifical and territorial law to the Kingdom of Nájera; thus celebrating famous Synods (CE 1067, 1143 and 1155).
 * To the Curias de Nájera attended, called by their king, the nobles, magnates and knights of their extensive domains and the bishops, abbots and priors of Pamplona, Calahorra, Labourd, Valpuesta, Osma, Burgos, Oca, Silos, Álava, San Millán and Nájera.
 * The bishoprics of Nájera and Calahorra, mainly by King García Sánchez III, had immense ecclesiastical jurisdiction, from which the dioceses of Guipúzcoa, Vizcaya and Alava were detached. This circumstance reveals the extraordinary influence on the spiritual order exercised by the La Rioja Church in such extensive territories until the middle of the CE 19th century.
 * The Ordinament of Nájera, promulgated in the Courts of the city, celebrated by Alfonso VII in CE 1137–1138, is the first medieval written Code and source of the Alcalá and later ones.
 * The first Christian mint was located in Nájera, when minting currency in the city under the reign of Sancho Garcés III.
 * García Sánchez III founded the Military Order of Terraza.

List of monarchs
The first monarch is García Sánchez I and the last Sancho IV, all of them belonging to the same family and dynasty; the Jimena dynasty.

Queen consorts

 * Andreagoto Galíndez, Countess of Aragon and Queen Consort of Nájera-Pamplona, was the first wife of García Sánchez I.
 * Teresa Ramírez, queen consort of Nájera-Pamplona, was the second wife of García Sánchez I.
 * Urraca Fenández, Castilian nobleman, queen consort of León (2 occasions) and queen consort of Nájera-Puneplona, wife of Sancho Garcés II.
 * Jimena Fernández, queen consort of Nájera-Pamplona, was the wife of García Sánchez II.
 * Muniadona of Castile, queen consort Nájera-Pamplona, La Ribagorza and Castile, wife of Sancho Garcés III


 * Estefanía, queen consort of Nájera-Pamplona, wife of García Sánchez III
 * Placencia of Normandy, queen consort of Nájera-Pamplona, was the wife of Sancho Garcés IV

Main infrastructures: the monasteries

 * Monastery of Santa María La Real de Nájera, one of the most emblematic places of La Rioja, royal pantheon of the kings of Nájera-Pamplona. It was ordered to be built by García Sánchez III and his wife Estefanía in 1052.


 * Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla-Yuso, ordered to be built by García Sánchez III in 1053, the remains of San Millán were moved. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997, it was known for some time as the cradle of Castilian, for having found in a codex of that monastery the Glosas Emilianenses, the first Romance writings of the current area of Castilian.
 * Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla-Suso, founded by San Millán in the CE 5th century. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in CE 1997. It has the tombs of the seven Infantes of Lara and Gonzalo de Berceo as well as that of the queen Toda de Pamplona.
 * Monastery of Valvanera, invocation of the Virgin of Valvanera, patron saint of La Rioja. The first abbey was built in 990.
 * Alcázar de Nájera, of Muslim origin, was the royal palace of the kings of Nájera-Pamplona.