Mayor of Castile

Who was Mayor of Castile?

Mayor of Castile was queen of Navarre. She was originally called Muniadona and is variously called Munia Mayor. In Spanish, she is called Muniadona de Castilla. It is said that her husband Sancho III of Navarre renamed her from her contemporary name Muniadona to Mayor, for she was the eldest in her family, yet since she had an aunt of the same name, the story is clearly apocryphal. She was the daughter of Count Sancho García of Castile. Her marriage to Sancho made her Queen consort of Navarre.

In 1029, the Count García Sánchez of Castile, Mayor's brother, was assassinated by the Vela family, Castilian exiles in León. Mayor's husband, Sancho the Great, claimed his role as feudal overlord to pass the county to their second son, Ferdinand. Likewise this brought a nominal legitimate claim to the counties of Ribagorza and Sobrarbe to her husband, who had already taken control of them militarily.

Mayor was the mother of four sons and perhaps two daughters:

⁕King García Sánchez III of Navarre

⁕Ferdinand the Great, king of León and Castile

⁕Ramiro, known from a 1020 charter that also names his brother García and half-brother Ramiro I of Aragon