Muniadona of Castile

Muniadona of Castile (c. 995 – 1066), also called Mayor or Munia, was Queen of Pamplona (1011 – 1035) by her marriage with King Sancho Garcés III, who later added to his domains the Counties of Ribagorza (1017) and Castile (1028) using her dynastic rights to these territories.

Eldest child and daughter of Sancho García, Count of Castile and his wife Urraca,[1] probably a member of the Banu Gómez family,[2] she married King Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona before 27 June 1011 when both appear confirming certain privileges of the Monastery of San Millán.

[3] In 1017, William Isarn, Count of Ribagorza was assassinated during an expedition to the Val d'Aran.

[4] William's illegitimacy had resulted in his claim to the county being challenged, and it had been partitioned between him and his cousin Mayor García, daughter of García Fernández of Castile by William's aunt, Ava de Ribagorza, along with her husband Count Raymond III of Pallars Jussà.

William's death without heirs led Mayor and Raymond to claim the entire county, but this was contested by Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona, asserting the dynastic rights of his wife Muniadona, who as eldest daughter of Mayor's brother, Count Sancho García, could claim to be the rightful heiress of her grandmother Ava, and hence of Ava's father Count Raymond II of Ribagorza.