Fernando González de Marañón (died April 1219) was the sixth Grand Master of the Order of Santiago from 1206 until 1210. Fernando was born in the second half of the twelfth century. His family was of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

se origin, but active in the

kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; es, Reino de Castilla, la, Regnum Castellae) was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th centu ...

. He was the son of Count

Gonzalo de Marañón Gonzalo de Marañón (''floruit'' 1141–1178) was a Castilian magnate during the reigns of Alfonso VII (1126–57), Sancho III (1157–58), and Alfonso VIII (1158–1214). By January 1174 he had attained the rank of count (Latin ''comes''), the ...

, who may have been a member of the confraternity of Cáceres organized by

Pedro Fernández de Castro Pedro Fernández de Castro (Algeciras, 1342), nicknamed ''el de la Guerra'' ('of the War'), was a powerful Galician noble and military figure of the House of Castro, descended by illegitimate lines from the kings of Castile-Leon- Galicia. Pedr ...

, which became the Order of Santiago in 1170.Carlos de Ayala Martínez
"González de Marañón, Fernando"
'' Diccionario biográfico español'' (Real Academia de la Historia, 2018). Fernando succeeded Suero Rodríguez as grand master in 1206. He resettled the domains owned by his order, granting ''

fueros (), (), () or () is a Spanish legal term and concept. The word comes from Latin , an open space used as a market, tribunal and meeting place. The same Latin root is the origin of the French terms and , and the Portuguese terms and ; all ...

'' to Huélamo and

Villarrubia de Santiago Villarrubia de Santiago is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members ...

and new rights to Ocaña. He reached an agreement on cooperation with the

Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava ( es, Orden de Calatrava, pt, Ordem de Calatrava) was one of the four Spanish military orders and the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Orde ...

and maintained good relations with the

Papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. Between 1207 and 1210, he received five bulls from

Innocent III Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 J ...

dealing with the rights of the order, its internal discipline and its relations with the secular clergy, among other things. Since the truces that

Alfonso VIII of Castile Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (''El Noble'') or the one of Las Navas (''el de las Navas''), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at ...

had signed with the

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fo ...

prevented the order from fulfilling its purpose of fighting them, Fernando received Innocent III's approval to bring his knights into the service of King

Peter II of Aragon Peter II the Catholic (; ) (July 1178 – 12 September 1213) was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213. Background Peter was born in Huesca, the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile. In 1205 he acknowled ...

. In 1210, he went from

Uclés Uclés is a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located in the province of Cuenca, Castilla–La Mancha. The municipality spans across a total area of 64.61 km2 and, as of 1 January 2020, it has a registered population of 212. History ...

through

Albarracín Albarracín () is a Spanish town, in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community of Aragon. According to the 2007 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 1075 inhabitants. Albarracín is the capital of the mountainous Sier ...

to join Peter II's offensive towards

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. The knights of Santiago captured the fortresses of Jabaloyas, Villarquemado and before joining the siege of Montalbán. Peter left the siege early and the castle was captured by the knights. In June, Peter conferred it on them and it became their headquarters in Aragon. Fernando resigned the mastership later in 1210 and died in April 1219. A contrary report is given by , according to which Fernando died shortly after the conquest of Montalbán and was buried in Alarcón.

References

{{reflist 12th-century births 1219 deaths Grand Masters of the Order of Santiago