Sancho III of Castile (1134 – 31 August 1158) was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158. During the Reconquista, in which he took an active part, he founded the Order of Calatrava.[1] He was called el Deseado (the Desired) due to his position as the first child of his parents, born after eight years of childless marriage.

He was the eldest son of King Alfonso VII of Castile and Berenguela of Barcelona.[2] During his father's reign, he appears as "king of Nájera" as early as 1149. His father's will partitioned the kingdom between his two sons: Sancho inherited the kingdoms of Castile and Toledo, and Fernando inherited Leon. The two brothers had just signed a treaty when Sancho suddenly died in the summer of 1158, being buried at Toledo.[3]

He had married in 1151 to Blanca of Navarre, daughter of García Ramírez of Navarre, having two sons;

• Alfonso VIII of Castile, his successor
• infante García, who died at birth in 1156, apparently also resulting in the death of Blanca.

There may also have been an older son who died in infancy.

Notes

References

• Busk, M. M., The history of Spain and Portugal from B.C. 1000 to A.D. 1814, Baldwin and Cradock, 1833.
• Conant, Kenneth John, Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture, 800 to 1200, Yale University Press, 1959.
• O'Callaghan, Joseph F., A History of Medieval Spain, Cornell University Press, 1975.

Further reading

• Szabolcs de Vajay, "From Alfonso VIII to Alfonso X" in Studies in Genealogy and Family History in Tribute to Charles Evans on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, 1989, pp. 366–417.

Preceded by
Alfonso VII King of Castile
1157–1158 Succeeded by
Alfonso VIII