Álvaro Pérez de Lara (died 15 September 1172) was a nobleman of the

Lara family The House of Lara (Spanish: ''Casa de Lara'') is a noble family from the medieval Kingdom of Castile. Two of its branches, the Duques de Nájera and the Marquesado de Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain. The Lara family gained num ...

. He was the youngest son of

Pedro González de Lara Pedro González de Lara (died 16 October 1130) 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 Tou ...

. His mother was Eva, who may have been a daughter of Pedro Froilaz de Traba, or perhaps a Frenchwoman. She was originally married to

García Ordóñez García Ordóñez (died 29 May 1108), called de Nájera or de Cabra and Crispus or el Crespo de Grañón in the epic literature, was a Castilian magnate who ruled the Rioja, with his seat at Nájera, from 1080 until his death. He is famous in li ...

, but was married to Pedro by November 1127 at the latest. Álvaro is mentioned in documents between 8 February 1141 and 10 May 1172. He held the ''

tenencia In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as oppo ...

'' of Aguilar de Campóo for a long time early in his career (1146–65). He also patronised the Praemonstratensian monastery there. On 15 February 1149 he called himself ''filius comitis'' ("the count's son") in a document, perhaps to indicate his aspiration for a comital title. He is first recorded as a count (Latin ''comes''), the highest title granted in the kingdom, on 19 November 1166. Early in 1160 he and his brothers

Manrique Manrique (var. Manríquez) is (1) a name of Visigothic origin, a given name derived from the Gothic name Ermanaric ('' rmanarico'', '' er]manrique'') later translated into Spanish and (2) a surname. Given name * Manrique Pérez de Lara (died 1164) ...

and Nuño Pérez de Lara, Nuño were defeated at the Battle of Lobregal by the rival

Castro family The House of Castro is an Iberian noble lineage present in the since the Middle Ages in the kingdoms of Castile, Galicia, and Portugal. Though its exact origins are disputed, the House of Castro became one of the most powerful families of the ...

in one of the most violent aristocratic feuds of twelfth-century Spain.Barton, 154. He was also present with his brothers at the

Battle of Huete The Battle of Huete took place in 1164 between the Lara family and its allies, and the Castro family and its supporters. It was part of the civil war which engulfed the Kingdom of Castile following the death of Sancho III (1158), wherein competi ...

in the summer of 1164, where the Laras were defeated by the Castros a second time and Manrique was killed. During the latter part of his career, Álvaro ruled

Asturias de Santillana Asturias de Santillana is a historical ''comarca'' whose territory in large part corresponded to the central and western part of today's autonomous community of Cantabria, as well as the extreme east of Asturias. Most of the province of Asturias ...

(1156–70) and briefly held the ''tenencia'' of

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence o ...

(1168), the top military post in the capital of Castile. He also briefly held the ''tenencias'' of

Grajal Grajal de Campos (), ''Grayal de Campos'' in Leonese language, is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2010 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 246 inhabitants. There is a histo ...

(1162) and Viesgo (1155).

Notes

References

*This article is based on Simon Barton (1997), ''The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), especially p. 229, which contains a brief ''curriculum vitae''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lara, Alvaro Perez de 1172 deaths Year of birth unknown 12th-century nobility from León and Castile House of Lara