Gutierre Vermúdez (or Gutier Bermúdez) (died 1130) was a nobleman of the
Kingdom of León, with interests primarily in
Galicia, mainly in the northeast, around
Lugo. He was a strong and loyal supporter of both
Queen Urraca
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...
(1109–26) and the
Emperor Alfonso VII (1126–57).
Gutierre was a son of
Vermudo Ovéquiz, a son of Count
Oveco Vermúdez. His mother was Jimena Peláez, daughter of
Pelayo Fróilaz and Aldonza Ordóñez. (At that time it was customary for children to have a given name and a
patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor.
Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...
; Ovéquiz is son or daughter of Oveco, Peláez of Pelayo, Pérez of Pedro, etc.) Gutierre was a relative of the
Vela family and a brother of
Suero Vermúdez. He married Toda Pérez, daughter of
Pedro Fróilaz de Traba
Pedro Fróilaz de Traba ('' fl.'' 1086–1126) was the most powerful secular magnate in the Kingdom of Galicia during the first quarter of the twelfth century. According to the ''Historia compostelana'', he was "spirited ... warlike ... of great p ...
and Mayor Rodríguez de Bárcena, some time before 18 January 1117. In 1125 she made a donation to the
monastery of Carboeiro. After her husband's death, on 1 March 1143 she joined her brother
Rodrigo Pérez and her son
Vela Gutiérrez in making a donation to
Sobrado dos Monxes, which had been founded by her brothers
Fernando
Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...
and
Vermudo in 1118. The trio did the same again on 20 March 1155, the last time Toda is recorded alive.
Gutierre is first recorded in a document of 18 January 1086. In the time of
Alfonso VI, Gutierre got in a dispute with the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monks of
San Juan de Corias over the payment of tolls (''portazgo'') on the movement of goods through the lordship of
Laciana
Laciana, ''Tsaciana'' in Leonese language, is a comarca in the province of León, Spain. It had 11,904 inhabitants in 2005. The rivers of this comarca flow towards the Atlantic Ocean. Local people speak a certain variant of the Leonese language ...
. The king exempted the abbey from tolls in Laciana. In May 1112 Gutierre was raised to the rank of
Count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
(Latin ''comes'') and granted 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 op ...
s'' (fiefs) of Montenegro (which he retained until at least 1115 and perhaps until the end of Urraca's reign) and
Monterroso
Monterroso is a municipality in Lugo province in Galicia in north-west Spain.
History
Monterroso was the seat of an important '' tenencia'' in medieval Galicia. Among its known tenants were:
*Suero Vermúdez (''c''.1100)
*Gutierre Vermúdez (1 ...
. In 1117 he and his wife purchased land in
Vigo
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...
. In 1122 he made endowments to the
regular clergy of
San Juan de Caabeiro and to San Juan de Corias. In 1126 he made peace with the new king, Alfonso VII, immediately, while he was still in Galicia. He later came to
Zamora in April to make the oath of fealty, according to the ''
Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris''. Later that spring
Arias Pérez led a rebellion in Galicia. According to the ''
Historia compostellana
The (fully titled in la, De rebus gestis D. Didaci Gelmirez, primi Compostellani Archiepiscopi) is an anonymously-written historical chronicle based on the relation of events by a writer in the immediate circle of Diego Gelmírez, second bisho ...
'', Alfonso charged a certain "Count G" and the prelate
Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez or Xelmírez ( la, Didacus Gelmirici; c. 1069 – c. 1140) was the second bishop (from 1100) and first archbishop (from 1120) of the Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, modern Spain. He is a prominent fig ...
''per litteras suas'' (i.e. in writing) with putting it down. This anonymous count may have been Gutierre or perhaps
Gómez Núñez. Sometime between 1127 and 1129 he made a further donation to the Benedictines of
Lourenzá, and in 1128 to the
military order of the
Templars
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
. In February 1129 Gutierre exchanged all his estates in the
Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain.
It is coextensiv ...
with his brother Suero for all of the latter's lands in Galicia.
By a charter dated 30 October 1130, his last known public act, Gutierre made a donation of the monastery of San Salvador de Villafrío to the
Cathedral of Saint Mary in Lugo, then under construction under the master builder Raimundo de Monforte. There is a discrepancy, however, between this and a diploma dated to 23 September that same year by which his wife made a donation to Lourenzá for the good of her late husband's soul; one of the documents is dated incorrectly. Toda made a donation to Lourenzá again in May 1131. Gutierre was buried at Lourenzá, although it was located in western Galicia, a zone dominated by the
House of Traba. Gutierre's son Vela never attained the same rank as his father; he served as a knight (''miles'') in the military household of Alfonso VII and was rewarded with the villa of
San Esteban de Nogales in May 1149.
[.] Vela's son,
Ponce Vela de Cabrera, married to Aldonza Alfonso de León, illegitimate daughter of King
Alfonso IX
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. ...
, is the ancestor of the Ponce de León.
Notes
References
* Especially p. 262, which contains a brief ''
curriculum vitae''
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermudez, Gutierre
1130 deaths
11th-century births