García Sánchez was the last independent count of Castile from 1017 to his death. Son of Sancho García and his wife Urraca, he succeeded his father when he was only a boy.

During his minority the post of regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 was held by several Castilian magnates and Urraca

Urraca of Covarrubias of Castile

Urraca of Castile, daughter of García Fernández of Castile and Ava of Ribagorza, became abbess of Covarrubias, Spain. She shared the regency for García Sánchez of Castile together with magnates of the realm, after her brother Sancho had been killed....

, Abbess

Abbess

An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....

 of Covarrubias

Covarrubias

Covarrubias is a village and municipality in the province of Burgos in the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León.It has 640 inhabitants, and it is near Mecerreyes and Hortigüela....

, the young count's aunt. The county fell under the protection of King Sancho III of Navarre

Sancho III of Navarre

Sancho III Garcés , called the Great , succeeded as a minor to the Kingdom of Navarre in 1004, and through conquest and political maneuvering increased his power, until at the time of his death in 1035 he controlled the majority of Christian Iberia, bearing the title of rex Hispaniarum...

 (Sancho the Great).

He reached his majority in 1028. He was assassinated the next year when leaving the royal palace in León by the brothers Rodrigo Vela and Íñigo Vela. He had gone there to meet his fiancée, the princess Sancha, daughter of Alfonso V of León

Alfonso V of León

Alfonso V , called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. He was the son of Bermudo II by his second wife Elvira García of Castile. The Abbot Oliva called him "Emperor of Spain"....

.

The countship was assigned to his nephew Ferdinand

Ferdinand I of León

Ferdinand I , called the Great , was the Count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the King of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain , and his heirs carried on the tradition...

, younger son of his sister Mayor

Mayor of Castile

Mayor of Castile was queen of Navarre. She was originally called Muniadona and is variously called Munia Mayor . In Spanish, she is called Muniadona de Castilla...

 and her husband Sancho the Great.