'García I Íñiguez' (d.
870) was
king of Pamplona from
851/2 to his death. He was educated in
Córdoba, as a guest at the court of the
Emir of Córdoba. He was the son of
Íñigo I of Pamplona, the first king of their dynasty. When his father was stricken by
paralysis in
842, he became
regent of the kingdom (or perhaps co-regent with his uncle
Fortún Íñiguez). He and his kinsman
Musà ibn Musà ibn Fortún of the
Banu Qasi rebelled against the Cordoban emir in
843. This rebellion was put down by Emir
Abd-ar-Rahman II, who attacked the Kingdom of
Pamplona, defeating García badly and killing Fortún. At his father's death in
851/2, he succeeded to the crown. (He is explicitly said to have been the successor of his father by the chronicler ibn Hayyan, although
Jimeno I of Pamplona appears already to have been ruling in another part of the kingdom prior to Íñigo's death.)
In
859, a contingent of
Vikings made an expedition to
Navarre. The Pamplonan government abandoned the old alliance with Banu Qasi and made a new pact with the
kings of Asturias.
Ordoño I of Asturias and García triumphed over the new
Scandinavian invaders in the
Battle of Albelda that year. In 860, García's son and heir
Fortún was imprisoned by the
Moors. He languished in Córdoba for the next 20 years. García I favoured the
pilgrims who travelled to
Santiago de Compostela, and attempted to guarantee peace for that traffic. He zealously defended his country against the encroachments of
Islam.
In 870, García died. As his heir was in the hands of his enemies, the son of Jimeno I,
García Jiménez, who was already ruling another part of the kingdom, is thought to have governed the entire kingdom as regent. Garcia's son, Fortún Garcés, was released in
880, and when he returned, became king of Pamplona in his own right.
The identity of García's wife or wives is poorly documented, and has been subject to much speculation. An undated confirmation of an earlier lost charter refers to King García and Queen Urraca Mayor, and this is thought by some to refer to García Íñiguez and an otherwise unknown wife. Based on her name alone, it has been suggested that she was of the
Banu Qasi, but other historians have given her different parentage, or even a different king as husband. Likewise, royal princess Leodegundia Ordoñez of Asturias, daughter of
Ordoño I of Asturias, is known to have married a ruler of Pamplona, and García Íñiguez is one of those speculated to have been this prince.
García Íñiguez had following children:
★
Fortún Garcés, the future king & maternal grandfather of
Toda Aznárez, wife of king
Sancho I Garcés
★ Sancho Garcés, paternal grandfather of
Toda Aznárez, wife of king
Sancho I Garcés
★ Velasco Garcés.
★ Onneca Garcés, wife of
Aznar II Galíndez.
He has been speculated also to have been father of Jimena, wife of
Alfonso III of León, but there is no direct evidence of this.