Nuño Pérez de Lara (died 3 August 1177) was a
Castilian nobleman, politician and military leader. He began his career at the court of the
Emperor Alfonso VII, during whose reign he took part in the ''
repoblación
The ''Repoblación'' (, ; pt, Repovoação, ) was the ninth-century repopulating of a large region between the River Duero and the Cantabrian Mountains, which had been depopulated in the early years of the Reconquista.
In the reign of Alfonso ...
'' of the
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
and the defence of the
Almohad
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...
frontier. Between 1164 and 1169 he governed Castile as
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
for the underage
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 ...
, and he continued to exercise semi-regal power in the kingdom until 1176. He founded two monasteries and fostered the cult of
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
in Spain. He died taking part in 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 ...
'' of
Cuenca.
Family
Nuño was the third of four sons 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 ...
and his wife Ava, probably from northern France.
[Barton, 269–70. This article relies heavily on these pages, which provide a comprehensive list of Nuño's issue, offices, ''tenencias'', and religious endowments, as well as known private transactions.] His elder brothers were
Álvaro and
Manrique and he had a younger brother named Rodrigo. Sometime before March 1154 Nuño married
Teresa Fernández, an illegitimate daughter of
Fernando Pérez de Traba
Fernando (or Fernán) Pérez de Traba (''c''.1090–1 November 1155), also Fernão Peres de Trava ( or ) in Portuguese, was a nobleman and count of the Kingdom of León who for a time held power over all Galicia. He became the lover of Countess T ...
and
Theresa, Countess of Portugal
Theresa (Portuguese: ''Teresa''; Galician-Portuguese: ''Tareja'' or ''Tareixa''; Latin: ''Tarasia'') (1080 – 11 November 1130) was Countess of Portugal, and for a time claimant to be its independent Queen. She rebelled against her half-sis ...
. Together they were the parents of Álvaro,
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 ...
,
Gonzalo
Gonzalo may refer to:
* Gonzalo (name)
* Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town
* Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy
* Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014
See also
* Gonzalez (disambiguation)
* Gonzales (disambiguation)
* ...
, Sancha (wife of
Sancho, Count of Provence
Sancho (died 1223), also spelled Sanç or Sanche, was a Catalano-Aragonese nobleman and statesman, the youngest son of Queen Petronilla of Aragon and Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona. He was at different times the count of Cerdanya (c.11 ...
) and countess Elvira, perhaps wife of
Ermengol VIII, Count of Urgell Ermengol (or Armengol) VIII (1158 – 1208), known as ''el de Sant Hilari'', was the Count of Urgell from 1184 to his death. He was a son of Ermengol VII and Dulce, daughter of Roger III of Foix.
In 1178, he married Elvira of Subirats, with whom h ...
.
Early public career
In February 1141 Nuño entered public life, subscribing a charter of the monastery of
San Pedro de Arlanza
San Pedro de Arlanza is a ruined Benedictine monastery in north central Spain.
It is located in the valley of the river Arlanza in Hortigüela, Burgos. Founded in 912, it has been called the "cradle of Castile" (''cuna de Castilla''). It was aban ...
. In March 1145 he was appointed imperial ''
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 ...
'', a post he held until February 1155, an unusually long term for an office that was typically held by younger noblemen early in their careers.
In 1146 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 op ...
'' of
Aguilar de Campoo, his first recorded fief. He held an interest in some houses in the important city of
Toledo, which he granted to
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 ...
in November 1148. There exists a charter dated 1 July 1152 which claims to be a ''
fuero
(), (), () 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 ...
'' conceded by Nuño with the consent of the king to the city of Castro Benavente, now
Castronuño
Castronuño is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a give ...
, but it is probably a forgery. The attached list of witnesses indicates that it cannot pre-date 1156, although the re-settlement of the town had occurred as early as 1154. It had been directed by Nuño with the assistance of bishop
Navarro of Salamanca and his archdeacon Cipriano. The ecclesiastics took the lead in the construction of new churches and the provision of liturgical books and vestments, while Nuño oversaw the repopulation of the village. Between February and December 1154 Nuño received the frontier ''tenencia'' of
Montoro
Montoro is a city and municipality in the Córdoba Province of southern Spain, in the north-central part of the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Overview
It is located about east-northeast of the capital of the province, Córdoba. In 2008, t ...
.
As ''alférez'' Nuño was used to spending his time at court and governing his fief ''in absentia'', but when Montoro came under Almohad attack in the spring of 1156 he was called to defend it. He was unsuccessful. The fortress fell and he was probably captured. He was not ransomed and returned to court until January 1157. With the loss of Montoro he was transferred to the ''tenencia'' of ''Avia'' (perhaps
Abia de las Torres
Abia de las Torres is a municipality located in the province of Palencia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research cen ...
), which he continued to govern until his death. In March 1156 Alfonso VII granted Nuño the
vill
Vill is a term used in English history to describe the basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing.
Medieval developments
The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit—a geographical ...
of
Alcabón and in 1158 Nuño exchanged his lands at Castronuño with the
Hospitallers
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
for theirs at
Torre de Herrín. In 1158 Alfonso granted Nuño the ''tenencia'' of
Villagarcía, and in 1160 those of
Cabezón (until 1173),
Covillas (briefly), and
Herrera (until his death). In 1160 Nuño and his brothers fought a
battle at Lobregal with the rival
Castros, whom they had earlier that year exiled from the kingdom. They were defeated and Nuño was captured by
Fernando Rodríguez de Castro
Fernando Rodríguez de Castro (1125–1185) was a Kingdom of Castile, Castilian nobleman, statesman and military leader who made his career in Kingdom of León, León. He was the leader of the House of Castro during the civil wars that followed t ...
. By March 1162 Nuño had been granted the title ''
comes
''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count".
Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...
'' (count), probably by his brother Manrique, who was regent at the time for the young king, Alfonso VIII. That same year Nuño was made guardian (or tutor) of the king, a responsibility he received against in 1172 and 1173, and was rewarded with the ''tenencias'' of
Dueñas (until 1175) and
Moratinos.
Regency of Castile and later years
When Manrique died in 1164, Nuño succeeded him as regent of Castile. In 1165 he began governing the ''tenencias'' of
Carrión (until 1176, or his death) and
Villafáfila
Villafáfila is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* ...
. In March 1168 Alfonso VIII put the town of
Chillón and its
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
mine under the joint control of Nuño and 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 ...
.
On 11 November 1169 Alfonso came of age, yet Nuño continued "dwelling on the affairs of the kingdom" (''manente super negotia regni'') as late as 31 October 1176. In 1170 the king gave Nuño charge of
Villavaquerín, transferring him to that of
San Román (1171) and then
Cuenca de Campos
Cuenca de Campos is a municipality of Spain in the region of Tierra de Campos in Valladolid province, autonomous community of Castile and León. It covers an area of with a population of 272 inhabitants in 2012.
Economy
Its economy is based on ...
(1172–76) and
Tamariz (1172). In 1173 Nuño was governing the ''tenencias'' of
Amaya,
Castrojeriz
Castrojeriz or Castrogeriz is a locality and municipality located in the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León (Spain), the comarca of Odra-Pisuerga, the judicial district of Burgos, head of the town council of the ...
,
Saldaña, and
Tariego. In May 1174 Nuño exchanged an estate belonging to a certain Don Sarracín with the monastery of Arlanza for the vill of
Huérmeces. That same year a certain
Bernard
Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname.
The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...
secured his
simoniacal
Simony () is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of Jesus payment in exchange for their empowering him to imp ...
election as
Bishop of Osma
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Osma-Soria ( la, Oxomen(sis)–Sorian(a)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in northern Spain. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan ...
by paying Nuño and Pedro de Arazuri 5,000 ''
maravedí
The ''maravedí'' () or ''maravedi'' (), (from '' Almoravid dinar''), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11th and 19th c ...
es''. In 1176 Nuño received some houses in Toledo that had once belonged to
Sancha Raimúndez from the archbishop,
Cerebruno, for an annual rent of five ''maravedíes''. They also gave some houses they owned near the imperial palace to the archbishop.
In 1176 Nuño Pérez de Lara was appointed governor of the ''tenencias'' of
Nájera
Nájera () is a small town, former bishopric and now Latin Catholic titular see, former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre, located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, northern Spain, on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the F ...
,
Ubierna, and
Valeria. One year later, in July 1177, he was present at the siege of
Cuenca. He was killed in action a few weeks later on the 3rd of August. His widow fled to the Leonese court and there married King
Ferdinand II.
Religious patronage
On 29 January 1160 Nuño and his wife founded the
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 ...
convent of Santa María at
Perales, with lands also in
Zorita
Zorita is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto N ...
. In 1169 Nuño, his brother Álvaro, and Gonzalo and Sancha Osorio renounced their rights over the monastery of
Aguilar de Campoo, a daughter house of that of
Retuerta
Retuerta is a municipality and town located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research cente ...
, and established some
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
there. They provoked controversy by expelling the monks of Retuerta's other nearby daughter house at
Herrera de Pisuerga
Herrera de Pisuerga is a municipality located in the province of Palencia, Castile and León, Spain. It takes its name from the River Pisuerga.
According to the 2004 census (INE
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:
Institutions
* Institut für Nuk ...
and transferring its properties to Aguilar, engendering a dispute that was only resolved in 1173. Aguilar adopted the
Praemonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
rule and rapidly became the most important Praemonstratensian monastery in the peninsula and patronised by the king. Nuño was especially generous to the cathedrals of the realm, endowing those of
Santa María de León (1170),
Santa María de Burgos (1174), and
Santa María de Toledo. At the last they founded a chapel dedicated to
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
in 1174 and endowed it further in 1177 with the village of
Alcabón, some houses in Toledo, twenty cows, and one hundred sheep. Nuño have specifically intended to promote the cult of Thomas in Spain. In 1172 he made a grant of half the village of
Aceca to 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 ...
. Sometime before 1174 Nuño and his wife founded a hospital beside the Cistercian monastery of Saint Nicholas in
Itero del Castillo for travellers on the
Way of Saint James
The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...
crossing the
Pisuerga
The Pisuerga is a river in northern Spain, the Duero's second largest tributary. It rises in the Cantabrian Mountains in the province of Palencia, autonomous region of Castile and León.
Its traditional source is called Fuente Cobre, but it has ...
by the bridge (''puente de Itero'') there.
[Barton, 199.]
Notes
Works cited
*Barton, Simon. ''The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
*
Fletcher, Richard A.br>
''The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century''.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
*Reilly, Bernard F. ''The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126–1157''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.
*Rodríguez-Picavea Matilla, Enrique. "La Orden de Calatrava en la meseta meridional castellana: encomiendas y distrubución geográfica de las propiedades (1158–1212)." ''Hispania'', 51:179 (1991), 875–899.
*Sánchez de Mora, Antonio. ''La Nobleza Castella en la Plena Edad Media: El Linaje de Lara (ss. XI-XIII)''. Doctoral Thesis, Universidad de Sevilla, 2003.
*Yáñez Neira, María Damián
"El monasterio cisterciense de Perales, cuna de la recolección."''Publicaciones de la Institución Tello Téllez de Meneses'', 59 (1988), 387–414.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lara, Nuno Perez De
12th-century births
1177 deaths
People of the Reconquista
Nuno
Regents of Castile