Toda Aznárez, also
Teuda de Larraun or
Tota (c. 885-aft. 970), was the
queen-consort of Pamplona through her marriage to
Sancho I, who reigned 905-925, and was regent of Pamplona, 931-934. Later in life, she ruled a subkingdom created for her.
She was the daughter of Aznar Sánchez, lord of
Larraun, paternal grandson of king
García Íñiguez of Pamplona, while her mother
Onneca Fortúnez was a daughter of king
Fortún Garcés. Thus, Toda's children were also descendants of the
Arista dynasty of Navarrese monarchs. She was sister of Sancha Aznárez, wife of king
Jimeno Garcés, her husband's brother and successor, while Toda and Sancha were also aunts of Caliph
Abd-ar-Rahman III, through their mother's first marriage to
‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad.
With the death of her brother-in-law Jimeno in 931, she became regent and guardian for her young son,
García Sánchez I. In 934 Toda signed a treaty pledging allegiance to her nephew Abd-ar-Rahman III, and released hostages of the Banu Di n-Nun clan, the caliph confirming the rule of her son García (this has sometimes been interpreted as an act of the Caliph to liberate García from his mother's direct control). This led to the rebellion in
Falces by a count Fortún Garcés, an "irascible man who hated Muslims", the uprising being suppressed with Cordoban arms. Toda violated her treaty in 937, forcing a punitive campaign.
During several stretches she appears in the royal charters of the kingdom to the exclusion of her...
Read More