García V of Nájera (in Spanish, García V El de Nájera), was king of Navarre from 1035 to 1054. He was the eldest legitimate son and heir of Sancho the Great, thus he succeeded in his father's inheritance of Navarre. He not only received the patrimony of his family, he was given a seniority amongst his brothers, a sort of "High Kingship". However, his father divided his many conquests among García's brothers: Ramiro, the eldest but illegitimate son, received the petty kingdom of Aragón; Ferdinand, the second eldest legitimate son, received Castile (which his father received through marriage to his mother); and his youngest surviving son (legitimate), Gonzalo, received the kingdoms of Sobrarbe and Ribagorza.
In 1037, Ferdinand requested García's aid against his brother-in-law, Bermudo III of León, in battle near Pisuerga. The two brothers defeated Bermudo, who died in battle, the final descendant of Pedro de Cantabria, and Ferdinand succeeded in León.
By aiding Ferdinand, García received his brother's favour and, in a repartition of Castile, he expanded Navarre to the bay of Santander and incorporating the entire Basque Country.
Soon he was confronted by his brother Ramiro at Tafalla (1043) and defeated him.
He was one of the Christian kings to profit greatly from the weakened taifa kingdoms inhabiting the vacuum that was the Caliphate of Córdoba. In 1045, he conquered Calahorra.
Relations eventually soured with Ferdinand and war broke out between the fraternal kingdoms, García dying in the Battle of Atapuerca, 15 September, 1054.
His nickname comes from his foundation of the Monastery of Santa María de Nájera in 1052.
Family
He was married, in 1038, to Estefanía de Foix, daughter of Ramon Borrell, Count of Barcelona, the count of Barcelona (her dowry was the Cameros), and they produced nine children (four sons, five daughters):
- Sancho "El de Peñalén", king of Navarre, married Placencia
- Ramiro (d.1083), lord of Calahorra, married Teresa
- Ferdinand, lord of Bucesta, married Nuña de Vizcaya
- Raymond the Fraticide (Ramón el Fratricida), lord of Murillo and Cameros
- Ermesinda, married Fortún Sánchez de Yarnoz
- Mayor, married Guy II of Masón.
- Urraca (d.1108), married García Ordóñez
- Jimena
- Mencia (d.1106), married Lope de Nájera
He also had bastard sons:
- Sancho, lord of Uncastillo and Sangüesa, married Constanza, grandfather of García VI Ramírez, king of Navarre
- Ramiro
He is sometimes number García III because he was the third of his dynasty (Jiménez).