García Méndez de Sotomayor or Garcí Méndez II de Sotomayor, the second of his name
(1280 – ?) was a
Castilian noble and head of the
Méndez branch of the
House of Sotomayor who founded the
Lordship del Castillo de Carpio.
Family origins
The
House of Méndez de Sotomayor held title over the Señorio del Castillo de Carpio and the later Marquesado. The family was originally landed with title over
Soutomaior
: ''For the former Formula-1 driver see Nelson Piquet Souto Maior''
Soutomaior is a municipality in the province of Pontevedra, autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. According to the INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut ...
,
Province of Pontevedra
Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, and Ourense, ...
,
Galicia founded by
Mendo Páez de Sorred, the
Ricohombre of King
Alfonso VII of León and Castile.
García Méndez was one of the sons of Alfonso García de Sotomayor, III Señor de Sotomayor and his wife Urraca Pires Barroso though it appears that García Méndez did not inherit his father's title over Sotomayor. His paternal grandfather was Garcí Méndez I de Sotomayor, ''Conquistador de Córdoba''.
Biography
In the mid 1200s,
Ferdinand III of Castile
Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguel ...
was involved in a series of
Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
campaigns against the
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...
and other minor Christian and Moorish territories in the area around
El Carpio,
Andalucía,
Province of Córdoba as a part of his campaign for Alcocer (Al-Qusayr). After victory in this campaign in 1240, Ferdinand III divvied the land up between the Castilian crown and the nobles who took part in the campaign as Señorios and other titles tied to the Castilian crown. Heavily involved in the fighting, the House of Sotomayor was awarded much of the land principally in the area around El Carpio. By 1325, the Sotomayor lands, passed down by various family members, were collected and amassed by García Méndez de Sotomayor who was responsible for the founding of the
Lordship del Castillo de Carpio. The foundation of the Señorio is generally placed at 1325, the year that the tower at El Carpio was completed. The tower and its surrounding fortifications would serve as the center of administration for the Señorio and the Marquesado of Carpio until the title became associated with the
Dukes of Alba
Duke of Alba de Tormes ( es, Duque de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as Duke of Alba, is a title of Spanish nobility that is accompanied by the dignity of Grandee of Spain. In 1472, the title of ''Count of Alba de Tormes'', inherited by ...
.
Marriage and descendants
García Méndez married Juana Rodríguez de Jodar and the couple had 5 children:
* Garci Méndez de Sotomayor, II Señor del Castillo de Carpio (b. 1310) - who went on to become the II Señor del Castillo de Carpio.
* Alfonso García de Sotomayor - birthdate unknown, possibly older than brother Garci Méndez
* Sancho García de Sotomayor
* Ruy Méndez de Sotomayor
* María Méndez de Sotomayor
See also
*
Lordship del Castillo de Carpio
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez de Sotomayor, Garcia
1280 births
Year of death missing
Garcia Mendez de Sotomayor
Señors of Castillo de Carpio
14th-century Castilian nobility