Gonzalo Peláez
Gonzalo Peláez (died March 1138).
Of uncertain origins, Gonzalo may have been the son of Pelayo Peláez and Mumadonna (Mayor) González. The only link is a charter of 1097 by which a certain Mummadonna cognomento domna Maiore Gundesaluiz ("Mumadonna called lady Mayor González") made a donation to the
Rule in the Asturias
Gonzalo first appears in the record in 1095, but without a noble title. By July 1110 he had received the
In light of his unusual position, Gonzalo was referred to in various ways in contemporary documents. In the earliest reference to his castellany, he was just cited as Gonzalo in Oveto, in
The
Rebellions
First rebellion
In 1132, for reasons unknown, but perhaps connected to the revolt of the
Second rebellion
In 1133 Alfonso went to Oviedo and demanded the surrender of the castles. Gonzalo refused and prepared to fight at Proaza. The Chronica reports that "he had killed the horse the King was riding, along with several men."[14] Again unable to suppress the rebellion, Alfonso left troops under the command of Suero Vermúdez and Pedro Alfonso, who had the help of "all of the Asturians", though what the chronicler means by this last phrase is unclear.[17] Suero first attacked Buanga and Pedro Alba de Quirós, although Gonzalo was then at Proaza. The royal forces tightened the encirclement of Gonzalo's strongholds. Ambushes were prepared on all roads leading to his castles and over the mountains. The Chronica records that "whomever they caught, they sent away with his hands cut off," which "was done for several days".[14]
The uprising, still ongoing, is mentioned in a royal charter of May 1134 (Gundinsalvo comite in rebellione posito in castro buanga samna).
Third rebellion
Gonzalo undersigned four documents on 26 May 1135, and participated in the business of the royal court a week later (2 June).[17] This reconciliation—made just in time for Alfonso's coronation as Imperator Hispaniae—appears to have quickly failed, for in July 1135 Alfonso awarded the property of Gonzalo Peláez to Rodrigo Martínez and Rodrigo González de Lara,[20] and a royal document of December 1135 records that Gonzalo was then in open revolt in Buanga.[21] The next spring the king and Gonzalo again reconciled, and the latter was with the court at Sahagún throughout March 1136.
Last rebellion, exile and death
Gonzalo remained with the court and on good terms with the king until at least late October, when the court was at
Gonzalo never did, for he died—Deo disponente ("God disposing") in the words of the Chronica—in March the next year (1138). The author of the Chronica, an obvious partisan of Alfonso VII, notes caustically that he "caught a fever and died an exile in a foreign land."[14] His knights bore his body back to Oviedo for burial, as the king permitted.[22] In 1143 his surviving sister, Cristina Peláez, and her husband, Gonzalo Vermúdez, made a grant to the church of Oviedo for the sake of his soul.[23]
Notes
- Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, cf. Barton (1997), 259 n1.
- ^ The Chronica clearly numbers his revolts at four, cf. book I, §30, §43, §46.
- ^ Barton (1997), 259 n2.
- ^ Barton (1997), 259; Reilly (1982), 287. Urraca describes the recipient as fideli meo (my vassal).
- ^ a b c Reilly (1982), 286–87.
- ^ He is referred to as Suarium comitem in the document, cf. Reilly (1982), 288.
- ^ Gundisaluus Pelagii comes.
- ^ Barton (1997), 126; Reilly (1998), 34.
- ^ CAI, I, §4. "Consul" was usually synonymous with "Count".
- ^ Barton (1997), 140; CAI, I, §16, gives the Leonese message to the Aragonese king:
You are aware of the evils which you have caused not only in Castile, but in all the kingdom. You also know that last year you swore to return to the King of León the castles and cities which belong to him. If you carry out these terms, there will be peace between you and Alfonso VII. If not, then prepare to fight. Let him to whom God grants victory rule his kingdom in peace.
- ^ a b Barton (1997), 259.
- ^ a b Reilly (1998), 33–34.
- ^ CAI, II, 114.
- ^ a b c d e CAI, I, 40–46.
- ^ a b c CAI, I, 30–31.
- ^ Fletcher (1978), 74.
- ^ a b c Barton (1997), 113–15.
- ^ Suero cannot be traced there after March 1131, cf. Barton (1997), 115 n67, who places the negotiations for Luna before the surrender, while the Chronica places it after.
- ^ Barton (1997), 139.
- ^ Barton (1997), 78 n51.
- ^ Comite Gondissaluo Pelaiz sedente in Castro Boanga ("Count Gonzalo Peláez 'sitting' [i.e. holding out] in the castle of Buanga"), cf. Barton (1997), 114 n64.
- ^ Barton (1997), 90.
- ^ Barton (1997), 207.
Bibliography
- Primary sources
- Lipskey, Glenn Edward. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor: A Translation of the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris. PhD dissertation, Northwestern University. 1972. Cited as CAI in the notes.
- Secondary literature
- Barton, Simon. The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
- Calleja Puerta, Miguel. "Nacimiento de la frontera: el destierro portugués del conde asturiano Gonzalo Peláez." Revista da Faculdade de Letras: Historia, 15:1(1998), 213–228.
- Calleja Puerta, Miguel. "El destierro del conde Gonzalo Peláez: aportación a la historia política de los reinos cristianos peninsulares del siglo XII." Cuadernos de historia de España, 76(2000):17–36.
- Fernández Conde, Francisco Javier. "Singularidá d'Asturies na Edá Media." Lletres asturianes: Boletín Oficial de l'Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 100(2009):127–140. Abstract.
- Fletcher, Richard A. The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
- Floriano Cumbreño, Antonio C. Estudios de Historia de Asturias. Oviedo: 1962. See especially pp. 153–169.
- García García, M. Elida. "El conde asturiano Gonzalo Peláez." Asturiensia medievalia, 2(1975):39–64.
- Reilly, Bernard F. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982.
- Reilly, Bernard F. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126–1157. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.