king of the Spanish state of Leon from 956, a younger son of Ramiro II.

After succeeding his brother, Ordoño II, Sancho was overthrown by a revolt of his nobles and replaced by his cousin Ordoño IV. Sancho sought help from the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān III (Abd al-Raḥmān IIIʿ), who helped him regain his throne in 960.

second king of Portugal (1185–1211), son of Afonso I.

Sancho's reign was marked by a resettlement of the depopulated areas of his country, by the establishment of new towns, and by the rebuilding of frontier strongholds and castles. To facilitate his plans, he encouraged foreign settlers and enlisted bishops, religious orders, and nobles in his colonization projects, granting vast territories to the military orders (the Hospitalers, the Templars, the Orders of Calatrava and Santiago). After an invasion by the Almohad prince Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr, Sancho used the help of a passing crusader fleet to capture Silves from the Moors (1189), but lost it (1191) and other lands south of the Tagus River when al-Manṣūr again attacked. Sancho quarreled both with his bishops and with Rome over the payment of tribute.