Nuno Mendes or Nuño Menéndez (died February 1071) was the last

count of Portugal The County of Portugal (Galician-Portuguese: ''Comtato de Portugalle''; referred to as Portugalia in contemporary documents) refers to two successive medieval counties in the region around Guimarães and Porto, today corresponding to litoral Nor ...

from the family of

Vímara Peres Vímara PeresVímara is an originally Visigothic name of Germanic origin (cognate with Weimar or Guimar) and Peres is a patronymic, meaning son of Pedro or Peter. The name can therefore be equated with Weimar/Guimar Peterson. (died in Galici ...

. The son of Count

Mendo Nunes Mendo Nunes (Spanish: Menendo Núñez; (1020/10281050/1054) was a Count of Portugal from the family of Vímara Peres as the son of Nuno Alvites and Ilduara Mendes. Biographical sketch Mendo succeeded his father, who died in 1028, in the gov ...

(Menendo Núñez), his desires for greater autonomy for Portugal led him to face King Garcia II of Galicia.

Biographical sketch

A patron of the

Monastery of Guimarães Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Oliveira is a collegiate church in Guimarães, Portugal. It is classified as a National Monument. History The church was founded as a double monastery in about 949 by Countess Mumadona Dias, the widow of Count Hermen ...

, he first appears in the curia regis of King

Ferdinand I of León Ferdinand I ( 1015 – 24 December 1065), called the Great (''el Magno''), was the count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the king of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have ...

in 1059, and with the title of count for the first time in 1070 when he appears confirming a donation made by King Garcia II. He married Goncina with whom he appears on 17 February 1071 making a donation to the Monastery of Santo Antonino de Barbudo of some properties in Luivão ( Lage, Vila Verde), confirming as ''Ego comes Nunus Menendiz et uxor mea comitissa domna Goncina'' ("I, Count Nuno Menéndez and my wife Countess dona Goncina"). On 18 February 1071 he fought in the Battle of Pedroso, near the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães, and his defeat and death led the winning Garcia II to call himself King of Galicia and Portugal. The County of Portugal was then subsumed into the crowns of Galicia and León until regranted by King

Alfonso VI of León and Castile Alfonso VI (1 July 1109), nicknamed the Brave (''El Bravo'') or the Valiant, was king of Kingdom of León, León (10651109), Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia (10711109), and Kingdom of Castile, Castile (10721109). After the conquest of Toledo, Spai ...

a quarter-century later. He owned properties in

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

( Nogueira, Santa Tecla, Dadim, Barros and

Gualtar Gualtar is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of ...

) and

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

( Cerqueda) which were probably confiscated after his defeat and given later by King

Alfonso VI of León 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. ...

to his son-in-law

Sisnando Davides Sisnando Davides (died 25 August 1091) was a Mozarab nobleman and military leader of the Reconquista, born in Tentúgal, near Coimbra. He was a contemporary and acquaintance of El Cid, but his sphere of activity was in Iberian Peninsula, Iberia ...

. Although the battle of Pedroso has been mistakenly dated in January of that year, as mentioned in the ''

Chronica Gothorum The ''Chronicon Lusitanum'' or ''Lusitano'' (also ''Chronica Lusitana'' or ''Chronica/Chronicon Gothorum'') is a chronicle of the history of Portugal from the earliest migrations of the Visigoths (which it dates to 311) through the reign of Port ...

'', this donation proves that the battle took place in February rather than in January.

Marriage and issue

Nuno Mendes married Goncina and had at least one daughter, named Loba "Aurevelido" Nunes. Loba married

, and with him had Elvira Sisnandes (whose husband Count Martim Moniz succeeded Sisnando as

Count of Coimbra The County of Coimbra ( Old Galician: ''Comtato de Coimbra'') was a political entity consisting of the lands of Coimbra, Viseu, Lamego and Santa Maria da Feira, in modern Portugal. History Counts of the Christians of Coimbra During the Visig ...

). Nuno Mendes could also have been the father of Count

Gómez Núñez Gómez Núñez (or Gomes Nunes in Portuguese; ''floruit'' 1071–1141) was a Kingdom of Galicia, Galician and Second County of Portugal, Portuguese political and military leader in the Kingdom of León. His power lay in the valley of the Minho (ri ...

and his brother Count Fernando.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendes, Nuno Year of birth missing 1071 deaths Counts of Portugal County of Portugal 11th-century counts of Portugal (Asturias-León)