Vímara PeresVímara is an originally

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

ic name of Germanic origin (cognate with Weimar or Guimar) and Peres is a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

, meaning son of Pedro or Peter. The name can therefore be equated with Weimar/Guimar Peterson. (died in Galicia, 873) was a ninth-century nobleman who served as the first

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 ...

Life

Family

His father, (d. after 867), sometimes called Pedro Theón of Pravia, and possibly the son of

Bermudo I of Asturias Bermudo I (also Vermudo or Veremund), called the Deacon or the Monk ( 750 – 797), was the King of Asturias from 788 or 789 until his abdication in 791. He was a son of Fruela of Cantabria, a nephew of Alfonso I, and a brother of Aurelius. ...

, was a member of the Curia Regis of King Alfonso III and appears in January 867 confirming a royal charter jointly with other nobles, including Count Rodrigo of Castile. Pedro was actively involved in the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

and was also responsible for ousting and defeating the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

when they invaded Galicia in 858. Besides Vímara, Pedro was also the father of . The old Christian version of ‘Vímara’ is believed to be derived from ‘Weimar’ cite url=https://surnames.behindthename.com/name/weimar/submitted a name from any of several places like one Weimar in Hesse and another in Thuringia, from Old High German wīh "holy" and mari "standing water". Although old-fashioned, it is still used in Portugal today as Guímaro.

Count

Vímara was a vassal of the King of

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Alfonso III, and was sent to reconquer and secure from the

Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...

(

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

s and

Berbers Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arab migrations to the Maghreb, Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connec ...

who had invaded

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

), in the west coastal fringe of

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities inclu ...

, the area from the

Minho River The Minho ( ; ) or Miño ( ; ; ; ) is the longest river in the autonomous community of Galicia in Spain, with a length of . It forms a part of the international border between Spain and Portugal. By discharge volume, it is the fourth largest r ...

to the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

, including the city of '' Portus Cale'', later

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 ...

and

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (S ...

, from where the name of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

emerged. The Kingdom of Asturias was divided internally into several counties or royal provinces. Portus Cale was one of these Asturian counties. In 868, Vímara Peres was named

by King Alfonso III after the reconquest of the region north of the

Douro The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish Soria Province, province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern par ...

river. Later Portuguese historians viewed this event as the earliest milestone in the history of the state of Portugal, although Portugal did not achieve independence until the 12th century. He was able to expel the Moors and founded a fortified town under his own name ''Vimaranis'' (of Vimar) which later became ''Guimaranis'', present-day Guimarães (the Portuguese call it "The Cradle City"). Vímara Peres died in 873 in Vama, possibly identified as Guimarães or Bama in the territory of Touro, A Coruña.

Issue

Most historians agree that he was the father of: * Lucídio Vimaranes (Lucídio, son of Vímara), who succeeded Vímara as the governor of the county. Although the identity of his wife was not recorded in any contemporary charters, her name could have been Trudildi. If that was the case, Vímara would have been the father of: * Audivia Vimaranes who was married to Count Gutierre Aloítez.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peres, Vimara 9th-century births 873 deaths Counts of Portugal County of Portugal History of Porto Medieval history of Portugal People of the Reconquista 9th-century counts of Portugal (Asturias-León)