Sancho VII of Navarre Sancho VII Sánchez ( 17 April 1154 – 7 April 1234 ) , called the Strong ( " el Fuerte " in Spanish , " Antso Azkarra " in Basque ) or the Prudent , was the King of Navarre from 1194 to his death . His retirement at the end of his life has given rise to the alternate nickname " el Encerrado " or " the Retired . " The historian and forensic anthropologist , Luis del Campo , who studied his mortal remains , affirms that he was 2 . 23 metres ( 7 . 3 feet ) in height . He was probably the eldest child of Sancho VI and Sancha , daughter of Alfonso VII of León , born soon after their marriage , probably in Tudela , their usual residence . He was the elder brother of Berengaria , who was married to Richard I of England in 1191 on the island of Cyprus on the way to the Holy Land for the Third Crusade . Sancho and Richard were reputed to have been good friends and close allies , even before the marriage brought them together . The French took advantage of Richard ' s captivity in Germany and captured certain key fortresses of the Angevin dominions including Loches . When Richard returned to his continental lands in 1194 , the knights of Sancho were besieging the castle for him . As soon as Richard arrived though , Sancho was forced to return to Navarre at the news of the death of his father . He was crowned in Pamplona on 15 August . He arrived late at the Battle of Alarcos in 1195 and thus ruined good relations with the Castilian sovereign Alfonso VIII . The ensuing confrontation resulted in Sancho devastating Soria and Almazán and Alfonso accepted the Peace of Tarazona . Sancho made expeditions against Murcia and Andalusia , and , between 1198 and 1200 , he campaigned in Africa , probably in the service of the Almohads , whose help he wanted against Castile . Taking advantage of his absence , Alfonso VIII of Castile and Peter II of Aragon invaded Navarre , which lost the provinces of Álava , Guipúzcoa , and Biscay to Castile . These conquests were subsequently confirmed by the Treaty of Guadalajara ( 1207 ) . His leadership was decisive in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in the year 1212 . In that engagement , the Christian forces of Sancho , Alfonso , Afonso II of Portugal , and Peter II of Aragón allied to defeat the forces of the Almohad Caliph Muhammad an - Nasir . Sancho ' s troops cut the chains guarding the tent and Slavic guards ring of the Miramamolín , supreme commander of the Al - Andalusian Forces . For this , it is believed the chains became the symbol of Navarre and replaced the sable eagle on a golden field with a golden chain on a gules field in the Navarrese coat - of - arms . But others suspect they represented the Basques ' star - like Sun of Death seen on their Hilarri ( Basques ' Stelae ) or houses traditionally for protection , and perhaps painted on their shields too with the same religious purpose , meaning of Life or Death , or the new Imagery used for Jesus or Christianity as for others were the Christi Anagram or plain Cross on the shield . His relations with the countries north of the Pyrenees were notably better than his Castilian ones . Several Pyreneean counties declared themselves his vassals and he concluded treaties with John of England , and the various Aragonese kings of his time , the aforementioned Peter II and James I . With the latter he signed at Tudela , in 1231 , which was never finished , a treaty stating that whoever survived the other would inherit unopposed the other ' s kingdom . Sancho continued the construction of a new cathedral in Pamplona , as begun by his father and to be finished by his successor . The construction of a certain Gothic bridge over the Ebro has also been attributed to him . As the result of prolonged and painful illness , starting with a varicose ulcer on his right leg and ashamed of it and his consequent obesity , Sancho went into retirement at Tudela at some point , when his youngest sister Blanca came from Champagne and took administration of the kingdom ( see note in Kings of Navarre family tree ) until she died in 1229 . His eldest sister , Berengaria , queen of England , died in 1232 , thus leaving Sancho alone among the children of Sancho VI . When he died in his castle at Tudela , probably of complications related to the varicose ulcer in his leg , Blanca ' s son Theobald was recognized as the next monarch of Navarre on the 7th of April . According to Alberic de Trois - Fontaines , Sancho left a library of 1 . 7 million books . The cultural contacts with the Muslim Kingdoms that he visited and battled with , his friendship with his brother in Law Richard the Lionheart and his sister Blanca ' s Court of Troyes , at the time the most refined in Europe , must have left an important influence on the King ' s personal intellect , bringing to him an advantageous outlook from the one well set already by their father at his youth , full however with peccadilloes and other impetuous extravaganza . The kingdom he left with a wealthy treasury and improved communications was in his day one of the most advanced in human rights , and its Jewish Community enjoyed the best standing in Christian Europe , which after all had been the work and result of the Jimenez Royal House for centuries . He was originally interred in the church of San Nicolás , but was later moved to Roncesvalles after much resistance from the local Clergy . His remains have since been exhumed for study and examined by the physician Luis del Campo , also the king ' s biographer , who measured him at 2 . 23 metres tall ( 7 ' 3 " feet ) , probably the basis for his " strength " alias . Marriages . Sancho was married twice . The identity of his second wife is disputed . His first wife was Constance , daughter of Raymond VI of Toulouse , whom he married about 1195 . He later repudiated her and was divorced ( 1200 ) . His second wife was , according to some sources , Clemence , daughter of Frederick I , Holy Roman Emperor . Other sources , however , name a daughter of Abu Yaqub al - Mustansir Yusuf II , Emir of Morocco . Some modern writers have alleged that his unsuccessful marriages were the result of homosexuality , but the chronicle of Charles of Viana acknowledges a son who predeceased his father at fifteen years of age in an accident and he had several known bastards : Ferdinand , William , and Roderick , all of unknown maternity .