Juan Vélaz (sometimes Juan Vélez or Juan Vela) was the lord of Álava from 1174 until 1179. He was the eldest son of Count

Vela Ladrón Vela Ladrón or Latrónez (died 1174) was a Spanish nobleman who ruled the Basque counties of Álava, Biscay (Vizcaya) and Guipúzcoa. He succeeded his father as count of Álava in 1155 or 1156. He acquired Biscay around 1160 and Guipúzcoa aroun ...

, whom he succeeded. Juan's father is last cited as count on 28 July 1174 and died shortly thereafter. Juan is first recorded as holding Álava in November 1174, when he was in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

to witness the charter of the village of Villanueva de Araquil (Hiriberri). Although his father maintained his independence of action by dividing his allegiance between King

Sancho VI of Navarre Sancho Garcés VI (; 21 April 1132 – 27 June 1194), called the Wise (, ) was King of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194. He was the first monarch to officially drop the title of ''King of Pamplona'' in favour of King of Navarre, thus cha ...

and King

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 Alarc ...

, Juan does not appear to have ever attended the Castilian court while he was lord of Álava. In 1175, Alfonso VIII invaded the Basque lands of Álava, Vizcaya and

Guipúzcoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantique ...

. There is no record of Juan governing Álava in 1178, after the arbitral decision of

Henry II of England Henry II () was King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...

the previous year. In a treaty of 15 April 1179 Alfonso recognised the sovereignty of Navarre over Álava. In the same treaty Juan was granted the right to switch allegiance to the king of Castile if the king of Navarre ever tried to dispossess him of any of his lands without a trial. It is unknown in what circumstances Juan was removed from Álava, but before the year was out Sancho had taken over the county. Sancho divided Álava into several smaller tenancies. By 1181, Juan had taken up service with Alfonso of Castile. On 21 March he signed as a witness the treaty of Medina de Rioseco, which ended a war (1179–81) between Castile and León and defined their border around the river Cea. On 12 May 1182 he was with the royal court at

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

. There is no further record of him after that.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velaz, Juan Counts of Álava Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown