Toda of Pamplona

Toda
Toda
	Toda's tomb's inscription
Queen consort of Pamplona
Tenure	905 – 925
Queen regent of Pamplona
Regency	931–934
Monarch	García Sánchez I
Queen ofDeioandLizarrara
Reign	c. 958
Died	958
Burial	Monastery of San Millán de Suso
Spouse	Sancho I of Pamplona
Issue	Garcia Sanchez I of Pamplona; Urraca Sánchez of Pamplona; Onneca Sánchez of Pamplona;
Father	Aznar Sánchez of Larraun
Mother	Onneca Fortúnez

Toda Aznárez(Basque:Tota Aznar;died 15 October 958), known asToda of Pamplona,wasqueen of Pamplonaby her marriage toSancho I.She ruled the kingdom asregentduring the minority of her sonGarcía Sánchez Ifrom 931. She was herself descended from the previous royal dynasty, Aritza.

Family

Toda was daughter ofAznar Sánchez of Larraun,paternal grandson of KingGarcía Íñiguez of Pamplona,while her motherOnneca Fortúnezwas a daughter of KingFortún Garcés.Thus, Toda was a descendant of theÍñigo Aristadynasty of Navarrese monarchs. Toda was an aunt or cousin of CaliphAbd-al-Rahman III.^[a]Toda was married to KingSancho I of Pamplona,with whom she had the following children:

Urraca,queen of León from 931 until 951 as the wife ofRamiro II;
Onneca,queen of León from 926 until 931 as the wife ofAlfonso IV;
Sancha, countess of Castile as the wife ofFernán González;
Velasquita, married first to CountMunio VélazofÁlava,then to Galindo ofRibagorza,and finally to Fortún Galindez;
Orbita;
García I,king of Pamplonafrom 925 until 970.

Having died while their son was still underage, Toda's husband was succeeded by his brotherJimeno Garcés,who was married to Toda's sisterSancha.

Rule

With the death of her brother-in-law King Jimeno in 931, Queen Toda became regent and guardian for her young son,García Sánchez I.In 934 Toda signed a treaty pledging allegiance to her nephew Abd-ar-Rahman III, and released hostages of the Banu Di n-Nun clan, the caliph confirming the rule of her son García (this has sometimes been interpreted as an act of the Caliph to liberate García from his mother's direct control). This led to the rebellion inFalcesby a count Fortún Garcés, an "irascible man who hated Muslims", the uprising being suppressed with Cordoban arms. Toda violated her treaty in 937, forcing a punitive campaign.

During several stretches she appears in the royal charters of the kingdom to the exclusion of her daughter-in-law, the queen, from 947 to 955, and again in 959. In 958 she was ruling her own subkingdom, in the area of "Deio"and"Lizarrara".^[2]^[3]

The same year, she took an interest in the health of herLeonesegrandsonSancho I,whose obesity was largely responsible for his dethronement.^[4]^[5]Toda requested the assistance of Abd-ar-Rahman III, theCaliphate of Córdobabeing renowned for its physicians. The caliph sent her his Jewish physicianHasdai ibn Shaprut,who promised to cure Sancho on condition that Toda visit the city ofCórdoba.^[6]Therefore, Toda, her son García Sánchez I of Pamplona and grandson Sancho I of León, nobles and clergymen arrived in Córdoba, where they were received with full honors and amid much pomp.^[4]^[7]^[8]The arrival of this Christian queen in the capital of an Islamic caliphate enhanced Abd-ar-Rahman III's prestige among his subjects,^[9]and is considered a landmark in the history of medievaldiplomacy.^[10]Sancho's medical treatment was successful, and he was "relieved from his excessive corpulence."^[11]^[12]

Toda was an energetic diplomat, arranging political marriages for her daughters among the competing royalty and nobility of ChristianIberia.She died in 958.

Notes

^The relationship of Toda and her siblings to Abd al-Rahman III is based on the genealogy of the rulers of Pamplona found in theCódice de Roda,which reports that Sancho, Toda and Sancha were born to Onneca's first marriage to Aznar Sánchez, and Abd-al-Rahman III was grandson of a second marriage to Emir‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad.However, the resulting timeline has been dismissed as it would necessitate Toda being improbably old at the time of her son García's birth. Most historians have concluded that theCódicereversed the order of Onneca's marriages, though this alternative timeline is not without its own difficulties. Arturo Cañada Juste has recently proposed that a different error underlies the problem, that theCódicepartially confused Onneca Fortuñez, wife of Aznar Sánchez, with her aunt Onneca Garcés, wife ofAznar Galíndez II of Aragon.Were it the latter Onneca who was also wife of ‘Abdullah, it would resolve chronological concerns, while making Abd-al-Rahman III the first cousin, rather than nephew, of Toda and her siblings.^[1]

References

^Cañada Juste, "Doña Onneca"
^Collins, Roger (30 April 2016)."Queens-Dowager and Queens-Regent in Tenth-Century León and Navarre".In Parsons, John Carmi (ed.).Medieval Queenship.Springer. p. 89.ISBN 978-1-137-08859-8.
^Roger Collins, "Queens-Dowager"
^^a ^bCantera Burgos, p. 363
^Hajji, p. 74
^Nykl, pp. 6–7
^Vallvé Bermejo, p. 177
^Hajji, p. 75
^Guichard, p. 101
^Azizur Rahman, p. 147
^Hajji, p. 76
^Jayyusi, p. 37

Sources

Azizur Rahman, Syed (2001).The Story of Islamic Spain.New Delhi: Goodword Books.ISBN 978-81-87570-57-8.
Cañada Juste, Arturo (2013)."Doña Onneca, una princesa vascona en la corte de los emires cordobeses".Príncipe de Viana(in Spanish).74(258): 481–502.ISSN 0032-8472.
Cantera Burgos, Francisco(1966). "Christian Spain". InRoth, Cecil(ed.).The World History of the Jewish People.2nd series: Medieval Period. Vol. 2, The Dark Ages: Jews in Christian Europe, 711–1096. Tel Aviv: Massadah Publishing. pp. 357–381.OCLC 230268286.
Collins, Roger, "Queens-Dowager and Queens-Regnant in Tenth-Century León and Navarre", in John Carmi Parsons,Medieval Queenship,1998, pp. 79–92
Guichard, Pierre (2008). "El apogeo del Islam andalusí (siglo X – inicios del siglo XIII)".Las Españas medievales.Biblioteca de Bolsillo, v. 133 (in Spanish). Barcelona: Editorial Critica. pp. 85–127.ISBN 978-84-7423-812-9.
Hajji, Abd al-Rahman Ali (1970).Andalusian Diplomatic Relations with Western Europe during the Umayyad Period (A.H. 138–366 / A.D. 755–976): An Historical Survey(1st ed.). Beirut: Dar al-Irshad.OCLC 3242315.
Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. (1992).The Legacy of Muslim Spain.Handbuch der Orientalistik. Vol. Part 1, Volume 12. Leiden: E.J. Brill.ISBN 978-90-04-09599-1.
Nykl, Alois Richard (1974).Hispano-Arabic Poetry and Its Relations with the Old Provençal Troubadours.Geneva: Slatkine.OCLC 461778757.
Vallvé Bermejo, Joaquín (1992).El Califato de Córdoba.Colecciones MAPFRE 1492, v. 6 (in Spanish). Madrid: Editorial MAPFRE.ISBN 978-84-7100-406-2.

Royal titles
Preceded by Auria	Queen consort of Pamplona 905–925	Succeeded by Sancha Aznárez or Andregoto Galíndez

[2] The relationship of Toda and her siblings to Abd al-Rahman III is based on the genealogy of the rulers of Pamplona found in theCódice de Roda,which reports that Sancho, Toda and Sancha were born to Onneca's first marriage to Aznar Sánchez, and Abd-al-Rahman III was grandson of a second marriage to Emir‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad.However, the resulting timeline has been dismissed as it would necessitate Toda being improbably old at the time of her son García's birth. Most historians have concluded that theCódicereversed the order of Onneca's marriages, though this alternative timeline is not without its own difficulties. Arturo Cañada Juste has recently proposed that a different error underlies the problem, that theCódicepartially confused Onneca Fortuñez, wife of Aznar Sánchez, with her aunt Onneca Garcés, wife ofAznar Galíndez II of Aragon.Were it the latter Onneca who was also wife of ‘Abdullah, it would resolve chronological concerns, while making Abd-al-Rahman III the first cousin, rather than nephew, of Toda and her siblings.^[1]

[1] Cañada Juste, "Doña Onneca"

[3] Collins, Roger (30 April 2016)."Queens-Dowager and Queens-Regent in Tenth-Century León and Navarre".In Parsons, John Carmi (ed.).Medieval Queenship.Springer. p. 89.ISBN 978-1-137-08859-8.

[4] Roger Collins, "Queens-Dowager"

[Cantera-5] Cantera Burgos, p. 363

[6] Hajji, p. 74

[7] Nykl, pp. 6–7

[8] Vallvé Bermejo, p. 177

[9] Hajji, p. 75

[10] Guichard, p. 101

[11] Azizur Rahman, p. 147

[12] Hajji, p. 76

[13] Jayyusi, p. 37

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