Stephanie or Estefania (died after 1066) was Queen of Navarre as the wife of García Sánchez III of Navarre. Early chroniclers are in conflict over her parentage.
Origins
Parentage Stephanie was born at an unknown date,II #56, III.1 #145; Moriarty, Plantagenet Ancestry of King Edward III and Queen Philippa of Hainault, p80, 109 and is first recorded as wife of García in a document dated 1038/40. There are two theories concerning Stephanie's parentage. The first is that she was the daughter of Berenguer Ramon I, Count of Barcelona. Another theory is Stephanie was the daughter of Bernard-Roger, Count of Bigorre and his wife Garsenda.
Possible first marriage There are other hints, besides the dubious account of the Chronicle of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif, to an earlier marriage by Stephanie. Histoire Générale de Languedoc, giving no quote or source reference, reports the existence of a 1036 marriage contract attributed to Stephanie.Histoire Générale de Languedoc; 3rd edn. Tome IV, p. 117, citing Marca (Béarn), p. 709. An episode related in the Chronica Naierensis tells that a daughter of queen Stephanie by a prior husband was promised as wife to Sancho II of Castile, but she was abducted and married by an illegitimate son of García. Jaime de Salazar y Acha suggests that this represents the authentic account of the marriage of García's bastard son, Sancho Garcés, Lord of Uncastillo, to his wife Constanza, though traditional accounts give her different parentage. He recognizes the problem with identifying the father with Roger I of Tosny and follows an alternative reconstruction that would make the Iberian crusader a distinct Roger de Tosny, nephew of Roger I.Jaime de Salazar y Acha, "Nuevos datos para la identificación familiar de la reina Estefanía de Pamplona", Príncipe de Viana vol. 68 (2007), no. 242, pp. 853-864
Issue Stephanie had the following children by García: Sancho IV "El de Peñalén", king of Navarre, married Placencia Ramiro (d.1083), lord of Calahorra Ferdinand Garcés, lord of Bucesta Ramón Garcés "the Fratricide" (Ramón el Fratricida), lord of Murillo and Cameros Ermesinda Garcés, married Fortún Sánchez de Yarnoz Mayor GarcésHer alleged marriage to Guy II de Maçón has been contested. Her last appearance is at the Monastery of Santa María la Real of Najera on 14 May 1077, as Maior, Garsiae regis filia, making a donation post obitum of some houses in Nájera and properties in Villela, Atayo and Janua. Urraca Garcés (d.1108), married Castilian count García Ordóñez JimenaAppears for the last time on 27 May 1085 at the Monastery of Santa María la Real of Najera confirming a donation made by her brother Ramiro.
She may also have been mother by an earlier marriage, perhaps to Roger Ι of Tosny, of: Constanza, wife of Sancho Garcés, Lord of Uncastillo
References
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