Sancho VII of Navarre

From Freepedia

Sancho VII of Navarre was king of Navarre from 1194 to 1234, surnamed "the Strong" ("Sancho el Fuerte" in Spanish, "Santxo Azkarra" in Basque).

He was the son of Sancho VI of Navarre, succeeding his father in 1194. He was the last male-line descendant of the first dynasty of kings of Navarre, the Pamplona dynasty.

As a young man Sancho is rumoured to have been the homosexual lover of the future king Richard I of England, who later married his sister Berengaria, who may have resembled him.

In the year 1200, he led an expedition in Africa. Taking advantage of his absence, the kings of Castile and Aragon invaded Navarre, which lost the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya to Castile.

His leadership was decisive in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the year 1212.

Sancho went into retirement ("el Encerrado") at some point, when his youngest sister Blanca took administration of the kingdom (see note in Kings of Navarre family tree) and died in 1229. His eldest sister, Berengaria, queen of England, died 1232, thus leaving Sancho alone as children of Sancho VI. When he died, Blanca's son Theobald of Champagne was recognized as the next monarch in Navarre.