Monasterio de Villamayor de los Montes - 3

García Fernández de Villamayor ( 1170 – 1241) was a Castilian nobleman. His career unfolded primarily at court, where he served as ''

Mayordomo mayor {{short description, High Steward of Spain The Mayordomo mayor (High Steward) was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the person and rooms of the King of Spain. The Office of “Mayordomo mayor” wa ...

'' (royal high steward) to Queen

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introd ...

, Queen Berengaria, and King Ferdinand III. Along with his wife Mayor Arias, he was in charge of the education of ''

Infante ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to t ...

'' Alfonso, the first-born son of King Ferdinand who went on to become King

Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

Biography

Family origins

García Fernández, founder of the House of Villamayor, was probably born in the 1170s near Villaldemiro. His name first appears on a document of 1194 in which the grandchildren of Ordoño Pérez and Urraca Fernández granted to the

Bishop of Burgos The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Burgos is one of Spain's Latin Metropolitan sees.
''

Las Hormazas. Although history knows him as García (or Garcí) Fernández de Villamayor, in the sources he is identified as "de Villaldemiro". Villamayor and Villaldemiro are towns located about 20 km south 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 of t ...

, and it is in this area, around the basins of the rivers Arlanzón and Arlanza, that his holdings were clustered. There is no direct documentary evidence to confirm the family origins of García Fernández. It has been proposed that he was a grandson of the García Ordóñez de Villamayor who appears in the 1170 treaty between

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 ...

and

Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, hi ...

, which would make his family a secondary branch of the House of Aza, although according to the most reliable studies, he was a descendant of Martín Díaz, member of a noble family of

Tierra de Campos Tierra de Campos ("Land of Fields") is a large historical and natural region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain. It is a vast, desolate plain with practically ...

. His father was likely the same Fernando García who appears as a signatory to royal privileges during the reign of Alfonso VIII and who took part in 1212 in the

Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab ( ar, معركة العقاب), took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the ''Reconquista'' and the medieval history of Spain. The Christ ...

, although again there is no explicit confirmation in the documentary record. Moreover, his maternal ancestry is completely unknown. García Fernández's first wife was Teresa Muñoz, to whom he was already married in 1203 and who died around 1212. She is possibly the daughter of Muño García and the sister of Ruy Muñoz de Guzmán (forebear of the

House of Guzmán The House of Guzmán (''Casa de Guzmán'') is an old and noble Spanish family that emerged in Kingdom of Castile, Castile in the 12th century and became one of the most prominent dynasties of the Spanish kingdom until the 18th century. The origin ...

) and she held a sizeable inheritance concentrated in the area around Lerma. Three children were born of this marriage: Rodrigo, Fernando, and Mayor, with whom García Fernández signed an agreement in 1228 regarding the distribution of their mother's bequests. Another indication of the close relationship with the House of Guzmán is provided by the donations of the children of García Fernández to the Royal Abbey of Saint Dominic of Caleruega, made due to the "great affinity" which united them with his contemporary

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientis ...

. After the death of Teresa Muñoz, and no later than 1216, García Fernández married Mayor Arias. At least seven children were born of this union:

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

Alfonso Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

, Diego, Teresa, Marina, Urraca, and Mencía. The family origins of Mayor are uncertain, although there are many indications of a close relationship with Galicia and the powerful Galician House of Limia.

Royal high steward

The post of ''

'' (''maiordomus curie regis'' or royal high steward) was an important honor reserved for the foremost figures of the nobility. In contrast with those of the ''

alférez In medieval Iberia, an ''alférez'' (, ) or ''alferes'' (, ) was a high-ranking official in the household of a king or magnate. The term is derived from the Arabic ('' al-fāris''), meaning "horseman" or "cavalier", and it was commonly Latinised ...

'', the obligations of the high steward touched upon the private sphere of the sovereign: his home, his table, the administration of the treasury, and the control of revenues and expenses, functions which conferred political influence and opportunities for personal enrichment. The high steward supervised a large number of servants, waiters, groomsmen, larderers, etc. Moreover, high stewards appear regularly as signatories to royal charters. In principle, García Fernández can be considered to have belonged, by lineage and patrimony, to the middle nobility, far from the influence and prestige enjoyed at the time by families such as the

House of Lara The House of Lara (Spanish: ''Casa de Lara'') is a Nobility, 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 ...

or the

House of Haro The House of Haro, La Rioja, Haro was one of the most powerful families of Castile during the Middle Ages and strongly supported the Expansionist nationalism, expansionist policies of Alfonso VI of Castile. As a reward, Íñigo López, Lord of Bisc ...

. His later successful rise in social standing was due not to military prowess or matrimonial alliances, but rather to his position at court. He was high steward to Queen

, wife of King

Alfonso VIII 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 ...

, between 1211 and 1213; to Queen Berengaria, daughter of Alfonso VIII and mother of Ferdinand III between 1217 and 1232; and finally to Ferdinand III himself between 1232 and 1238. He also appears on some documents as royal high steward to Ferdinand III between 1224 and 1230, a time when the post was held by

Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón Gonzalo Rodríguez Girón ( 1160–1231), also known as Gonzalo Ruiz Girón, firstborn son of Rodrigo Gutiérrez Girón and María de Guzmán, was one of Kingdom of Castile, Castile's wealthiest and most powerful nobles. He was based in Tierra de C ...

. It is possible that this indicates a close relationship with the Girón family, already attested in other sources, and that García Fernández served as steward to Gonzalo as well as to Queen Berengaria.

Education of Alfonso X and later career

According to the prevailing custom at court concerning the education of royal ''infantes'', a custom later set down in the ''

Siete Partidas The ''Siete Partidas'' (, "Seven-Part Code") or simply ''Partidas'', was a Castilian statutory code first compiled during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284), with the intent of establishing a uniform body of normative rules for th ...

'', García Fernández was designated tutor to future King

Alfonso X the Wise Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

, along with Urraca Pérez as nanny. It seems that Alfonso recalled this period with nostalgia and gratitude; years later he justified some exemptions granted to the village of Celada del Camino with the following words: It was in these years that Alfonso X encountered the

Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian languages, West Iberian Romance languag ...

language, which he later would use in the composition of the

Cantigas de Santa Maria The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). Traditionally, they ar ...

. In these important responsibilities the confidence which Berengaria and Ferdinand III placed in him was confirmed. He supported them during the rebellion of the nobility led by the

and later accompanied the king at the Siege of Jaén in 1230. Once his tutelage of Alfonso had come to an end, he became more involved in the military campaigns in Andalusia: he held the post of ''alcaide'' (commander of the fortress) of

Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...

in 1233 immediately after the city was taken, and took part, along with Ferdinand, in the conquest of Córdoba in 1236. The royal family's favor also extended to his son

, who from 1242 already appears as a signatory to royal privileges granted by Ferdinand III, and who was appointed royal high steward by Alfonso X (who must have been his childhood playmate) as soon as he acceded to the throne. He held this post from 1252 to 1260, when he was named admiral of the fleet deployed to battle the

Marinids The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

in the attack on the port of

Salé Salé ( ar, سلا, salā, ; ber, ⵙⵍⴰ, sla) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town. Founded in about 1030 by the Banu Ifran ...

, and in the later conquest of

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

in 1264. Juan also appears, along with his brother Alfonso, as the men in charge of the demarcation of the border between Castile and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as agreed in 1263.

Death

García Fernández dictated his will on 20 October 1241, according to a document whose authenticity is disputed due to its being a much later copy and to the problems of dating it presents:

Spanish Era The Spanish era ( la, Æra Hispanica), sometimes called the era of Caesar, was a calendar era (year numbering system) commonly used in the states of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th century until the 15th, when it was phased out in favour of the ...

year 1278 indeed corresponds to AD 1240, but 20 October fell on a Sunday in 1241. In any event, García Fernández had already died by 1242 when his wife, Mayor Arias, made donations in his memory to Juan de Soria, Bishop of Burgos and to the

Cathedral of Toledo , native_name_lang = , image = Toledo Cathedral, from Plaza del Ayuntamiento.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption ...

. The will allows us to measure the extent of his fortune at the time of his death. He bequeathed a total of 6000 '' maravedís'' to several ecclesiastical institutions, especially to

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monasteries, including the one at Villamayor, to which he left a fifth of his personal effects and landed estates. To his son Juan went his knightly attire, his horse to the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

, and three goshawks to Queen Berengaria. He left his jewelry and other goods, not only to his wife and children, but also to the abbey at Villamayor and ''Infante'' Alfonso. To free those of his vassals who were then prisoners of the Moors he also set aside quantities between 100 and 500 ''maravedís'', according to each case.

Landed estates

García Fernández came to hold properties or feudal rights across a wide area which spread from Galicia to

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

. There is documentation confirming 75 such holdings, of which 72 were concentrated in Castile. Throughout most of his life García Fernández pursued an active policy of land acquisition. In the first stage, coinciding with the period of his marriage to Teresa Muñoz from 1203 to 1212, these acquisitions centered on the area around Villaldemiro. Between 1212 and 1216 the purchases halted, probably due to the repercussions of the

, in which he may have taken part, the death of

, and the consequent political agitation. In 1216 acquisitions are recorded in Vilviestre de Muñó, near Villaldemiro, possibly related to his marriage to Mayor Arias. The period of greatest expansion of his landed holdings corresponds to the years between 1219 and 1234, when his position at court as royal high steward under Berengaria and Ferdinand III allowed him to amass riches sufficient for the enlargement of his legacy. At the end of this period, in 1232 when he acceded to the position of royal high steward, we find the only case in which he held sole lordship over a village when the king granted him Manzaneda, in the Galician ''comarca'' of

A Limia A Limia is a Comarcas of Galicia, comarca in the Galician Ourense (province), Province of Ourense. The overall population of this local region is 20,075 (2019). Municipalities Baltar, Ourense, Baltar, Os Blancos, Calvos de Randín, Porqueira, Rai ...

, in compensation, according to the donation document, for his support in attaining the crown of León. The unusual location could be related to the family origins of Mayor Arias, to whom in 1255

made another donation with the same conditions, that of Cevico de la Torre due to the "many services he had done for him". In this period he made several acquisitions in Celada, an area where the king himself had spent part of his childhood. Also important were the donations he received from the king in Andalusia as a result of the Castilian conquests of the period. These may include lands in Baeza,

, and Córdoba, as well as those received after his death by his wife and children in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

and Benacazón. Nevertheless from 1234 up to his death seven years later the purchases ceased, although his wife Mayor Arias added to them in later years. One possible explanation is a greater involvement in the military campaigns of the

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 ...

in Andalusia. Most of García Fernández's possessions were acquired as '' behetrías'' (communities with the right to choose their own lord) and, in fact, a good part of the information we have on their later development comes from the '' Becerro de las Behetrías de Castilla''. Eventually his expansive domains were split up, due especially to the great number of his descendants, and by the middle of the 14th century the family held scant feudal rights even in the area of Villamayor.

Abbey of Santa María la Real of Villamayor

Monasterio de Villamayor de los Montes - 13

In 1223, García Fernández acquired a monastery dating back to the 11th or early 12th century and dedicated to

Saint Vincent of Saragossa Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_m ...

, and turned it into a Cistercian convent dedicated to Mary and Saint Vincent which was inaugurated in 1228. He placed it under the dependency of the

Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas The Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located approximately 1.5 km west of the city of Burgos in Spain. The word ''huelgas'', which usually refers to "labour strikes" in modern Spanish, refers i ...

, while allowing it its legal and patrimonial independence. García Fernández endowed it abundantly both at its foundation as well as in his will. It is from the archives of this abbey that a good part of the information we have on García Fernández comes: some 60 documents referring directly to him or to his wife Mayor Arias. Female members of the family continued to hold key posts in the abbey long after his death. The first

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

was Marina Arias, probably Mayor's sister, and García's daughters Marina and Mayor also led the community. The latter was still the abbess in 1286 when two granddaughters of the founder occupied the posts of prioress and precentrix.

Marriage and children

García Fernández had three children from his marriage to Teresa Muñoz ( 1203 – 1212): * Rodrigo García de Villamayor (before 1212 – 1255) * Fernán García de Villamayor (before 1212 – after 1259) * Mayor García de Villamayor (before 1212 – after 1286) From his second marriage to Mayor Arias ( 1216 – 1241) were the following children: *

Juan García de Villamayor ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

(before 1228 – after June 1266), served as ''

mayordomo mayor {{short description, High Steward of Spain The Mayordomo mayor (High Steward) was the Officer of the Royal Household and Heritage of the Crown of Spain in charge of the person and rooms of the King of Spain. The Office of “Mayordomo mayor” wa ...

'' to King

Alfonso García de Villamayor Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

(before 1226 – 1292), served as ''mayordomo mayor'' to King Alfonso X and '' adelantado mayor'' of Andalusia, and married Leonor Alfonso, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso de Molina, one of his descendants would be María Micaela G. de Molina who would be mistress of. * Diego García de Villamayor (after 1216 – after 1286) * Mencía García de Villamayor (after 1216 – after February 1262) * Marina García de Villamayor (after 1216 – after February 1262) * Teresa García de Villamayor (after 1216 – after February 1262) * Urraca García de Villamayor (after 1216 – ?) It is possible, although doubtful, that Elvira and Mayor were also children of this union.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villamayor, Garcia Fernandez de Spanish untitled nobility Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 1240s deaths