Fernando Díaz ('' floruit'' 1071–1106) was a Spanish nobleman and military leader in the

Kingdom of León The Kingdom of León; es, Reino de León; gl, Reino de León; pt, Reino de Leão; la, Regnum Legionense; mwl, Reino de Lhion was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in 910 when t ...

, the most powerful Asturian magnate of the period. He held the highest rank in the kingdom, that of count (Latin ''comes''), from at least 24 September 1089. He was the last Count of

Asturias de Oviedo {{unreferenced, date=August 2009 Asturias de Oviedo is one of the historical '' comarcas'' in the Kingdom of Asturias. It extended from the Eo River in the west to the Deva River in the east, and from the Bay of Biscay in the north to the Cordiller ...

and was succeeded by a

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

, a '' novus homo'', perhaps in an ecclesiastical–royal effort to curtail the power of the Asturian aristocracy. Castañeda1

Fernando was the second son of

Diego Fernández Diego Fernández () was a Spanish adventurer and historian of the 16th century. Biography Born at Palencia, he was educated for the church, but about 1545 he embarked for Peru, where he served in the royal army under Alonzo de Alvarado. Andrés H ...

and his second wife, Cristina Fernández, daughter of Fernando Gundemáriz and granddaughter of Gundemaro Pinióliz. His father and his elder brother Rodrigo before him were also Counts of Asturias. His younger sister Jimena was the wife of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, ''el Cid''. Fernando's first wife was Goto González, the eldest daughter of Gonzalo Salvadórez and his first wife, Elvira Díaz. Goto was dead by July 1087 when Fernando, as an executor of her will, made a donation to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña of the land in Hermosilla inherited by Goto from her father and her uncle, Álvaro Salvadórez. By 31 July 1096, Fernando was married to Enderquina (Henderquina) Muñoz, a daughter of count Munio González. As her ''

arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

'' (special gift of a husband to a wife) she received the monastery of Santa María in Oviedo on 17 April 1097. On 20 September 1120 the "children of count Fernando and countess Lady Enderquina" made a donation of the monastery of Santa Cruz de Castañeda to the Abbey of Cluny "for the souls" of their grandfather Munio and his wife Mayor. The names of Fernando's children with Enderquina were Diego, Munio, Sancha, Jimena, Aldonza, and María. Fernando is first mentioned in a charter kept at the monastery of

San Pedro de Eslonza The Monastery of San Pedro de Eslonza is a former Benedictine monastery in Gradefes, in the province of León, central Spain. Today in ruins, it was once the second most important monastery in the province, after the monastery of San Benito ...

and dated 15 October 1071.Barton (1997), 235, provides a set of vital statistics and a brief biography of Fernando, from which this article is largely drawn. There is a highly dubious reference to Fernando with the title of count, an act of

Alfonso VI 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. ...

, dated 8 May 1080, but the first secure reference to Count Fernando dates to 1089. A document of 18 January 1086 preserved in the cartulary of San Vicente de Oviedo is the earliest reference to his holding 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 oppo ...

'' of Asturias de Oviedo, which he had until at least the 7 February 1104. In April 1098 Fernando and Enderquina donated the monasteries of San Andrés de Agüera and San Esteban de Villar de Cobos to a certain priest named Juan Peláez of

Belmonte de Miranda Belmonte de Miranda ( Asturian: ''Miranda'') is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Salas, on the east by Grado, to the south by Somiedo and Teverga, and on the west by ...

. According to the cartulary of the monastery of

Sahagún Sahagún () is a town and municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León and the province of León. It is the main populated place in the Leonese part of the Tierra de Campos natural region. Sahagún contains som ...

, Fernando visited the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

and Jerusalem in 1100. While this is usually taken to refer to a pilgrimage after the success of the First Crusade, it may indicate that Fernando was one of the few Spaniards who participated in the Crusade.Reilly (1989), 305. According to the ''

Crónicas anónimas de Sahagún The ''Crónicas anónimas de Sahagún'' are two short chronicles composed by the monks of Sahagún two centuries apart. They survive only in sixteenth-century Spanish translations. The first is a catalogue of the excesses of the middle and upper ...

'', in 1101 Alfonso VI received a decorated cross made from the wood of the True Cross from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus. The king proceeded to donate it to the monastery of Sahagún. It has been thought that Fernando probably brought the present back from Constantinople after his pilgrimage. Around 1104, Fernando and Enderquina were engaged in lawsuits with the bishop Pelagius of Oviedo concerning episcopal seignory in Asturias.Barton and Fletcher (2000), 67–68. These also involved Munio, the abbot of the San Juan Bautista de Corias, who had previously settled a division of

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

s and properties with Fernando and Enderquina in 1097 and 1099. In 1104, Fernando and Enderquina exchanged the villa of Reconco for that of Laureda with the abbey of Corias. Fernando does not appear in any documents after 19 March 1106, and it has been speculated he died at the Battle of Uclés in May 1108.Reilly (1989), 354.

References

*Barton, Simon (1997). ''The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Barton, Simon (2000)
"From Tyrants to Soldiers of Christ: The Nobility of Twelfth-century León-Castile and the Struggle Against Islam"
''Nottingham Medieval Studies'', 44. *Barton, Simon and Fletcher, Richard A. (2000). ''The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest''. Manchester: Manchester University Press. *Canal Sánchez-Pagín, José María (1991). "Jimena Muñoz, amiga de Alfonso VI". ''Anuario de estudios medievales'', 21:11–40. *Reilly, Bernard F. (1982)
''The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126''.
Princeton: Princeton University Press. *Reilly, Bernard F. (1989)

Princeton: Princeton University Press.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Fernando 1100s deaths Counts of Asturias Christians of the First Crusade People of the Reconquista Place of death unknown