Fortún Garcés of Pamplona

Fortún Garcés (Basque: Orti Gartzez; died 922) nicknamed the One-eyed (el Tuerto), and years later the Monk (el Monje), was King of Pamplona from 882 until 905. He appears in Arabic records as Fortoûn ibn Garsiya (فرتون بن غرسية). He was the eldest son of García Iñíguez and grandson of Íñigo Arista, the first king of Pamplona. Reigning for about thirty years, Fortún Garcés would be the last king of the Íñiguez dynasty.

Fortún was born at an unknown date, being the eldest son of García Íñiguez, king of Pamplona, and a woman named Urraca, who could have been the granddaughter of Musa ibn Musa ibn Qasi, the leader of the Banu Qasi clan. Little is known about his early life.

King García Íñiguez had worked towards a closer relationship with the Kingdom of Asturias, distancing himself and his kingdom from the Banu Qasi dynasty that ruled the lands near the Ebro river. He was involved in repeated armed conflicts with the Muslim forces of the Banu Qasi, and Muhammad I, emir of Córdoba, who invaded Pamplona in the year 860 and captured Fortún in Milagro, along with his daughter Onneca Fortúnez and took them hostages in Córdoba. The Wali of Zaragoza Muhammad ibn Lubb sieged and ultimately destroyed the castle of Aibar, resulting in the death of the king García Íñiguez. After the death of his father, Fortún Garcés was allowed to return to Pamplona to take his place as king. Fortún Garcés reigned with a policy very accommodating to the wishes of the Banu Qasi clan, which caused anger between the Pamplonese nobility. He would frequently retire to the Monastery of Leyre.

Royal pantheon in the Monastery of Leyre

A drastic change took place in 905, when Sancho Garcés was chosen by the Pamplonese nobility to replace Fortún Garcés as king. The reasons behind this decision reside in the fact that Sancho Garcés had a very well respected military prestige and had the support of important figures such as Raymond I, Count of Pallars and Ribagorza, Galindo Aznárez II, Count of Aragon and Alfonso III, King of Asturias.

Fortún Garcés permanently retired to the Monastery of Leyre in 905, where he died in 922.

Fortún was married to Auria, who could have been the granddaughter of Musa ibn Musa ibn Qasiwith whom he had the following children:

• Íñigo Fortúnez, married to Sancha Garcés, daughter of García Jiménez of Pamplona and Onecca Rebelle of Sangüesa.
• Aznar Fortúnez, little is known about him.
• Velasco Fortúnez, who had three children: Jimena, wife of Íñigo Garcés, son of García Jiménez of Pamplona.
• Lope Fortúnez
• Onneca Fortúnez, first married to Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi of Córdoba and later to Aznar Sánchez of Larraun, with whom she had several children, including Queen Toda of Pamplona.

• Rei 2011/2012, pp. 44-45.
• ^ Cañada Juste 2013, p. 482.
• Martínez Díez 2007, p. 25.