García Garcés de Aza was a Castilian

Kingdom of Castile

Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...

 magnate "renowned for his wealth and dullness", yet "a prominent figure in the later Andalusian campaigns

Reconquista

The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...

 of the Emperor between 1150 and 1157". His second name, "Garcés" (sometimes "García"), is a patronymic

Patronymic

A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...

, indicating that his father was also named García, while his third name, "de Aza" is a toponymic frequently found in contemporary documents, in this case indicating that he held the tenencia of Aza. His father was in fact García Ordóñez

García Ordóñez

García Ordóñez , called de Nájera or de Cabra and in the epic literature Crispus or el Crespo de Grañón, was a Castilian magnate who ruled the Rioja from Nájera from 1080 until his death. He is famous in literature as the rival of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid, whose high position at court he...

, and his mother was the latter's second wife, Eva, probably a Frenchwoman. She re-married after García Ordóñez's death to Pedro González de Lara

Pedro González de Lara

Pedro González de Lara was a Castilian magnate. He served Alfonso VI as a young man, and later became the lover of Alfonso's heiress, Queen Urraca. He may have joined the First Crusade in the following of Raymond IV of Toulouse, earning the nickname el Romero...

, and García Garcés was thus a half-brother of Eva's children by Pedro and closely allied with the House of Lara

House of Lara

The House of Lara or Casa de Lara are a noble family, known from the medieval Kingdom of Castile.Two of its branches, those from the Duke of Nájera and from the Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain...

.

According to the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, a contemporary account of the deeds of the Emperor Alfonso VII of León and Castile, when that king first entered the capital city of León after his succession in March 1126, García Garcés was among the Castilians who came to do homage

Homage

Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....

 and pledge fealty

Fealty

An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...

. García served Alfonso as alférez

Alférez

Alférez is a junior officer rank also used in Spain, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The variant Alferes is used in Portugal and was formerly also used in Brazil. A naval variant, Frigate Alférez, is used in Spain, Dominican Republic and Peru. "Alférez" is often translated as ensign...

between 12 December 1126 and 13 November 1127, while his brother Pedro Garcés was alférez between 29 May and 18 September 1131. This post was generally reserved for younger nobleman early in their careers, the different dates of their respective tenures reflect the difference in their ages. In 1142 García was acting as a civil judge in Ávila.

In 1147, during Alfonso VII's summer campaign against Almería

Almería

Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...

, García does not appear to have joined the army until later, for he does not appear in any document emanating from Alfonso's court until 4 June, when he was at Calatrava

Calatrava

-Spain:* Calatrava la Vieja , Spanish medieval town* Calatrava la Nueva, Spanish medieval castle and convent-Philippines:* Calatrava, Negros Occidental, a municipality in the Philippines...

. He neither appears in any later royal charters issued during the campaign, suggesting that he may have been posted at Calatrava with a garrison and did not take part in the sieges of Andújar

Andújar

Andújar is a Spanish municipality of 38,539 people in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andújar is situated. To the south are agricultural fields and...

, Baeza

Baeza

Baeza is a town of approximately 16,200 inhabitants in Andalusia, Spain, in the province of Jaén, perched on a cliff in the Loma de Baeza, a mountain range between the river Guadalquivir on the south and its tributary the Guadalimar on the north. It is chiefly known today as having many of the...

, or Almería.

On 10 November 1155, while both were with the royal court at Ayllón

Ayllón

Ayllón is a municipality located in the province of Segovia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2007 census , the municipality has a population of 1,243 inhabitants....

, García sold an estate at Alcolea

Alcolea

-External links: - Diputación Provincial de Almería...

 to his half-brother Manrique Pérez de Lara

Manrique Pérez de Lara

Manrique Pérez de Lara was a magnate of the Kingdom of Castile and its regent from 1158 until his death. He was one of the most important counsellors and generals of three successive Castilian monarchs: Alfonso VII , Sancho III and Alfonso VIII...

 for one thousand maravedís. The charter of sale was drawn up by a certain Sancho, who signed it as "chancellor of Count Manrique". García married a younger daughter of Pedro Fróilaz de Traba

Pedro Fróilaz de Traba

Pedro Fróilaz de Traba was the most powerful secular magnate in the Kingdom of Galicia during the first quarter of the twelfth century. According to the Historia compostelana, he was "spirited ... warlike ... of great power .....

, sometimes named Eva and other times Sancha. In 1157, with his wife, Sancha Pérez, García donated their monasterium (monastic church) of San Florencio near Aza to the abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos

Santo Domingo de Silos

Santo Domingo de Silos is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 292 inhabitants....

 "for the relief of our souls and the remission of all our sins". García and his wife had at least two daughters: Elvira and Mayor, who married Gonzalo de Marañón

Gonzalo de Marañón

Gonzalo de Marañón was a Castilian magnate during the reigns of Alfonso VII , Sancho III , and Alfonso VIII . By January 1174 he had attained the rank of count , the highest in the kingdom. He was one of the earliest members of the Spanish nobility to adopt a toponymic as a family name...

. He may have had another two, named Sancha and María, but a Juana, mother of Domingo de Caleruega, is apocryphal.

In 1159, according to Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada

Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was a Navarrese-born Castilian Roman Catholic bishop and historian....

 in his De rebus Hispaniae

De rebus Hispaniae

De rebus Hispaniae or Historia gothica is a history of the Iberian peninsula written in Latin by Archbiship of Toledo Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada en the first half of the thirteenth century on behalf of King Ferdinand III of Castile....

, the Lara family, after they had succeeded by guile in wresting custody of the young King Alfonso VIII from his guardian, Gutierre Fernández de Castro, placed him under the care of García Garcés. It soon became apparent, however, that he was not wealthy enough to properly look after royalty and he was placed in the household of Manrique. Also in 1159, García donated the hostel of Tardajos

Tardajos

Tardajos is a municipality located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 622 inhabitants.-History:...

 to the Diocese of Burgos.