Pedro Ansúrez (''
floruit
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
'' 1065–1117; died probably 9 September 1118) was a
Castilian nobleman, count of
Liébana
Liébana is a '' comarca'' of Cantabria (Spain). It covers 575 square kilometres and is located in the far southwest of Cantabria, bordering Asturias, León and Palencia. It is made up of the municipalities of: Cabezón de Liébana, Camaleño ...
,
Saldaña and
Carrión in the closing decades of the eleventh century and the opening decades of the twelfth. He is considered the founder and first lord of
Valladolid
Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...
.
Pedro was a descendant of the
Beni Gómez family of Castilian nobility, the son of
Ansur Díaz, by his first wife, whose name is unknown. His grandfather,
Diego Fernández, was a count of Saldaña and Carrión. Pedro married twice, the first time by 17 June 1084
[Barton, ''Aristocracy'', 275–76.] to Elo (or Eylo), daughter of Count Alfonso Muñoz and Aldonza González of
Trigueros. She was dead by 17 September 1114, when Pedro made a donation for the good of her soul to the canons of the
cathedral of Valladolid
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Holy Assumption (), better known as Valladolid Cathedral, is a Catholic Church architecture, church in Valladolid, Spain. The main layout was designed by Juan de Herrera in a Renaissance architecture, Renaissance- ...
, and he appears the next day with his second wife, Elvira Sánchez, whom he may have wed some time before.
[ Pedro had five children: Alfonso, Fernando, María, Mayor, and Urraca. Alfonso died young and his sarcophagus, commissioned by Pedro, can still be seen in the museum of Sahagún. Pedro and Elo's children were raised in the household of a lesser nobleman: that of Citi Álvarez and his wife Froilo, who were duly rewarded for their services with a grant of land.
]
Pedro was one of the nobles closest to 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 ...
, although the later claim that he was Alfonso's tutor or guardian during his youth must be dismissed, since the king and Pedro were of roughly the same age.[ During 24 July–3 September 1067 Pedro served as the ]majordomo
A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a larg ...
of Alfonso's court.[ He was raised by the king to the rank of count perhaps as early as 22 November 1068, certainly before 1 November 1070, after which time he always signs charters using the title. In 1072, he accompanied Alfonso into exile in Toledo. Later, when Alfonso returned to inherit the kingdoms of León and Castile, Pedro and Eylo were charged with the ]repopulation Repopulation is the phenomenon of increasing the numerical size of human inhabitants or organisms of a particular species after they had almost gone extinct.
Organisms
An example of an organism that has repopulated after being on the brink of extin ...
of Valladolid. This they did with men from their counties of Saldaña and Carrión. However, the city really began to grow when its lordship was given to Pedro some years later. He became a prolific builder, constructing a large palace for himself and his wife, which has not survived, and a hospital. He built a bridge over 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 ...
and many religious edifices, like the church of Santa María la Antigua and the Colegiata de Santa María, which served as the site of the cathedral (the bishop's seat). The environs of Valladolid formed the outer limits of the Kingdom of Castile
The Kingdom of Castile (; : ) was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile (, ), as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, the Ca ...
at his time and Pedro was responsible for the repopulating of the region between Liébana and Cuéllar
Cuéllar () is a municipality in the Province of Segovia, within the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain.
The municipality had a population of 9,730 inhabitants according to the municipal register of inhabitants (INE) as of 1 Janu ...
. His massive frontier district included the historically significant city of Toledo. In 1095, his lordship included Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
.
Around 1087, at the time of the marriage of Alfonso's eldest daughter and heiress apparent, Urraca, to Raymond of Burgundy
Raymond of Burgundy (c. 1070 – 24 May 1107) was the ruler of Galicia as vassal of Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the Emperor of All Spain, from about 1090 until his death. He was the fourth son of Count William I of Burgundy and Stephanie ...
, the king appointed Pedro to be her guardian (''tutor''), and she stayed at his court according to the later '' Primera Crónica General'' (late 13th century).[ This probably served to prevent the accumulation of too great influence in the hands of the French. Towards the end of the century, Pedro's power and influence were diminished by the extension of that of the Capetians Raymond and Henry of Burgundy.
When his daughter María was widowed by the ]Count of Urgel
This is a list of the counts of Urgell, a county of the Principality of Catalonia in the 10th through 13th centuries.
{{circa, 798–870 Counts appointed by the Carolingians
*798–820 Borrell, count of Urgell and Cerdanya
*820–824 Aznar Ga ...
, Ermengol V, Pedro transferred the guardianship of her son, Ermengol VI, to Raymond Berengar III of Barcelona. Between 1103 and 1108, Pedro was in exile in Urgell, having displeased Alfonso VI. He took an active part in the conquest of Balaguer. Pedro brought with him to Urgell his armour-bearer (''armiger''), a knight by the name of Íñigo Pérez. Only the greater magnates could afford to employ officers like this. The ''armiger'', or ''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 "knight" or "cavalier", and it was commonly Latinised ...
'', was responsible for leading Pedro's ''mesnada'' (retinue
A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers.
Etymology
The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', ...
) into battle.
In 1114, out of fear of Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
, Pedro Ansúrez donated some land at Fuensaldaña to the church of Valladolid
Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...
.
In 1143, Sancho Ansúrez, Pedro's grandson by his daughter Urraca, introduced the Premonstratensian Order
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 in the Catholic Church ...
into Spain when he became abbot of Fuentesclaras, moved to Retuerta in 1146. Sancho had studied under Saint Norbert at Prémontré.[Barton, ''Aristocracy'', 197.]
Notes
Sources
*Barton, Simon F. ''The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
*Reilly, Bernard F.
The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca 1109–1126.
' Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1982.
*Reilly, Bernard F.
' Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1988.
*Rodríguez Fernández, J. ''Pedro Ansúrez''. León: 1966.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansurez, Pedro
1110s deaths
Counts of Liébana
Counts of Saldaña
Lords of Valladolid
Year of birth unknown
Banu Gómez