Sancho GarcÃÂa (died 5 February 1017), called of the Good Laws (in Spanish, el de los Buenos Fueros), was the count of Castile and ÃÂlava from 995 to his death in 1017.
Sancho was the son of count GarcÃÂa Fernández and his wife Ava of Ribagorza, the daughter of Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza. Sancho rebelled against his father with the support of Al-Mansur of Córdoba. This resulted in the partition of the county between father and son, and the county was not reunited until his father's death five years later. He renewed the Reconquista by rebelling against Almanzor, alongside GarcÃÂa Gómez and their mutual cousin GarcÃÂa Sánchez II of Pamplona. Sancho led the coalition that was defeated at the Battle of Cervera in July 1000, but in early September successfully turned back the Córdoban invasion of his county. Almanzor died in 1002, leaving the Caliphate of Córdoba in crisis. Sancho ruled for another 15 years. In 1010, he intervened in Ribagorza, bringing about an end to Muslim domination there and leading to the abdication of his aunt countess Toda, and the establishment of a partition between Castilian-educated William Isarn, illegitimate son of Toda's brother and predecessor count Isarn, and Raymond Sunyer of Pallars, husband of Sancho's sister Mayor. Following his death in 1017, he was succeeded by his own son GarcÃÂa.
Count Sancho GarcÃÂa was called El de los Fueros (literally, "He of the Rights" or "of the Charters"), because of the rights or charters which he granted to the various cities. In 1011, he founded the Monastery of San Salvador de Oña where he was buried.
Sancho married Urraca, whose parentage has not been found in contemporary records. However, based on them having given a daughter the name of a founder of the Banu Gómez clan, she has been identified as sister of rebel GarcÃÂa Gómez and daughter of count Gómez DÃÂaz of Saldaña by Sancho's aunt, Muniadona Fernández of Castile. They had:
They may also have been parents of: