![\"\"](\"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Toda_Aznares_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal.jpg\")
<\/a>![Wikidata<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTota Aznar, or Toda as she was more commonly called, was born in the 9th century – possibly on January 2, 876. She was born into nobility. Her father was Don Aznar S\u00e1nchez, Lord of Latraun, and her mother was Do\u00f1a Oneka. She was the granddaughter of King Fortu\u00f1o Garc\u00e9s “the Monk”; as such, she belonged to the Arista<\/a> dynasty.<\/li>\n\n\n\nShe married Sancho I of Pamplona<\/a>, Sancho Garc\u00e9s, who was of the Ximena dynasty. Thus their marriage united the two most powerful families of Pamplona. <\/li>\n\n\n\nToda was a very skilled diplomat. As one example, she arranged the marriage of her daughter Sancha first to Ordo\u00f1o II of Asturias. When he died, she arranged the marriage of Sancha with \u00c1lvaro Harrameliz, and after he died, with Fern\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, the Count of Castile, bringing the County of \u00c1lava as her dowry. She arranged similar marriages for her other daughters, solidifying the position and power of her family.<\/li>\n\n\n\nSancho I died in 925. His brother, Ximeno Garc\u00e9s (who also was Toda’s sister Sancha’s husband), succeeded him, but also became the guardian of Sancho and Toda’s son Garc\u00eda S\u00e1nchez I<\/a>. Ximeno didn’t last long, dying in 931, at which point Garc\u00eda became king, but since he was still a minor, Toda became regent and his guardian.<\/li>\n\n\n\nThe royalty of Pamplona was intertwined with the nearby Muslim rules (Toda was aunt or, more likely cousin, to Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III<\/a>). In 934, Toda signed a treaty with Abd-al-Rahman III, which helped to cement the rule of her son, but by 937 Toda had already broken her treaty, leading to conflict. In 939, she is noted as having defeated “an innumerable army of Saracens,” saving the king.<\/li>\n\n\n\nAfter Garc\u00eda rose to the throne in his own right, Toda becomes less prominent in records. However, by 958 she is noted as ruling her own subkingdom in the areas of Deio<\/a> and Lizarrara<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\nHer last great feat as a powerful ruler was promoting her grandson, Sancho I<\/a> of Le\u00f3n, known as Sancho the Fat. She enlisted the aid of Abd-ar-Rahman III to cure Sancho’s obesity, which his Jewish physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut<\/a> said he would do if Toda visited C\u00f3rdoba<\/a>, the seat of Abd-ar-Rahman’s power. She did, along with her son and grandson, and this visit proved to be a huge diplomatic event. Sancho was cured and went on to reclaim the throne of Le\u00f3n.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nA full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPrimary sources: Estorn\u00e9s Lasa, Bernardo. Toda Azn\u00e1rez de Larraun<\/em>. Au\u00f1amendi Encyclopedia. Available at: https:\/\/aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus\/en\/toda-aznarez-de-larraun\/ar-139997\/<\/a>; Toda of Pamplona<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The medieval history of the Basque Country is both fascinating and so convoluted. There are so many marriages back and forth between different families as royals tried to consolidate and expand power that it becomes dizzying. A great example is Tota, or Toda, Aznar of Pamplona. Her skill as a diplomat and in establishing power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836,13],"tags":[4356,4353,4355,336,4354,4352],"class_list":["post-7669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-history","tag-abd-al-rahman-iii","tag-fortuno-garces","tag-garcia-sanchez-i","tag-pamplona","tag-sancho-i","tag-tota-aznar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Toda_Aznares_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1ZH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8446,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions\/8446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q2288810#\/media\/File:Toda_Aznares_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_(Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal).jpg\"){kind=link}
- \n
- Tota Aznar, or Toda as she was more commonly called, was born in the 9th century – possibly on January 2, 876. She was born into nobility. Her father was Don Aznar S\u00e1nchez, Lord of Latraun, and her mother was Do\u00f1a Oneka. She was the granddaughter of King Fortu\u00f1o Garc\u00e9s “the Monk”; as such, she belonged to the Arista<\/a> dynasty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- She married Sancho I of Pamplona<\/a>, Sancho Garc\u00e9s, who was of the Ximena dynasty. Thus their marriage united the two most powerful families of Pamplona. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Toda was a very skilled diplomat. As one example, she arranged the marriage of her daughter Sancha first to Ordo\u00f1o II of Asturias. When he died, she arranged the marriage of Sancha with \u00c1lvaro Harrameliz, and after he died, with Fern\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>, the Count of Castile, bringing the County of \u00c1lava as her dowry. She arranged similar marriages for her other daughters, solidifying the position and power of her family.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sancho I died in 925. His brother, Ximeno Garc\u00e9s (who also was Toda’s sister Sancha’s husband), succeeded him, but also became the guardian of Sancho and Toda’s son Garc\u00eda S\u00e1nchez I<\/a>. Ximeno didn’t last long, dying in 931, at which point Garc\u00eda became king, but since he was still a minor, Toda became regent and his guardian.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The royalty of Pamplona was intertwined with the nearby Muslim rules (Toda was aunt or, more likely cousin, to Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III<\/a>). In 934, Toda signed a treaty with Abd-al-Rahman III, which helped to cement the rule of her son, but by 937 Toda had already broken her treaty, leading to conflict. In 939, she is noted as having defeated “an innumerable army of Saracens,” saving the king.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- After Garc\u00eda rose to the throne in his own right, Toda becomes less prominent in records. However, by 958 she is noted as ruling her own subkingdom in the areas of Deio<\/a> and Lizarrara<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Her last great feat as a powerful ruler was promoting her grandson, Sancho I<\/a> of Le\u00f3n, known as Sancho the Fat. She enlisted the aid of Abd-ar-Rahman III to cure Sancho’s obesity, which his Jewish physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut<\/a> said he would do if Toda visited C\u00f3rdoba<\/a>, the seat of Abd-ar-Rahman’s power. She did, along with her son and grandson, and this visit proved to be a huge diplomatic event. Sancho was cured and went on to reclaim the throne of Le\u00f3n.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A full list of all of Buber’s Basque Facts of the Week can be found in the Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Primary sources: Estorn\u00e9s Lasa, Bernardo. Toda Azn\u00e1rez de Larraun<\/em>. Au\u00f1amendi Encyclopedia. Available at: https:\/\/aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus\/en\/toda-aznarez-de-larraun\/ar-139997\/<\/a>; Toda of Pamplona<\/a><\/em>, Wikipedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The medieval history of the Basque Country is both fascinating and so convoluted. There are so many marriages back and forth between different families as royals tried to consolidate and expand power that it becomes dizzying. A great example is Tota, or Toda, Aznar of Pamplona. Her skill as a diplomat and in establishing power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[836,13],"tags":[4356,4353,4355,336,4354,4352],"class_list":["post-7669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basque-fact-of-the-week","category-history","tag-abd-al-rahman-iii","tag-fortuno-garces","tag-garcia-sanchez-i","tag-pamplona","tag-sancho-i","tag-tota-aznar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Toda_Aznares_-_The_Portuguese_Genealogy_Genealogia_dos_Reis_de_Portugal.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1ZH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7669"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8446,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions\/8446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- She married Sancho I of Pamplona<\/a>, Sancho Garc\u00e9s, who was of the Ximena dynasty. Thus their marriage united the two most powerful families of Pamplona. <\/li>\n\n\n\n