Nuño Pérez de Lara

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The ruins of the castle of Castrojeriz, which Nuño governed in 1173–77

Nuño Pérez de Lara (died 3 August 1177) was a

Alfonso VIII, and he continued to exercise semi-regal power in the kingdom until 1176. He founded two monasteries and fostered the cult of Thomas Becket in Spain. He died taking part in the Reconquista of Cuenca
.

Family

Nuño was the third of four sons of Pedro González de Lara and his wife Ava, probably from northern France.[1] His elder brothers were Álvaro and Manrique and he had a younger brother named Rodrigo. Sometime before March 1154 Nuño married Teresa Fernández, an illegitimate daughter of Fernando Pérez de Traba and Theresa, Countess of Portugal. Together they were the parents of Fernando, Álvaro, Gonzalo II, Sancha (wife of Sancho, Count of Provence), María (abbess of Perales) and countess Elvira, perhaps wife of Ermengol VIII, Count of Urgell.[2]

Early public career

In February 1141 Nuño entered public life, subscribing a charter of the monastery of

tenencia of Aguilar de Campoo, his first recorded fief. He held an interest in some houses in the important city of Toledo, which he granted to Gonzalo de Marañón in November 1148. There exists a charter dated 1 July 1152 which claims to be a fuero conceded by Nuño with the consent of the king to the city of Castro Benavente, now Castronuño, but it is probably a forgery. The attached list of witnesses indicates that it cannot pre-date 1156, although the re-settlement of the town had occurred as early as 1154. It had been directed by Nuño with the assistance of bishop Navarro of Salamanca and his archdeacon Cipriano.[3] The ecclesiastics took the lead in the construction of new churches and the provision of liturgical books and vestments, while Nuño oversaw the repopulation of the village.[4] Between February and December 1154 Nuño received the frontier tenencia of Montoro
.

As alférez Nuño was used to spending his time at court and governing his fief in absentia, but when Montoro came under Almohad attack in the spring of 1156 he was called to defend it. He was unsuccessful. The fortress fell and he was probably captured.

Cabezón (until 1173), Covillas (briefly), and Herrera (until his death). In 1160 Nuño and his brothers fought a battle at Lobregal with the rival Castros, whom they had earlier that year exiled from the kingdom. They were defeated and Nuño was captured by Fernando Rodríguez de Castro.[6] By March 1162 Nuño had been granted the title comes (count), probably by his brother Manrique, who was regent at the time for the young king, Alfonso VIII. That same year Nuño was made guardian (or tutor) of the king, a responsibility he received against in 1172 and 1173, and was rewarded with the tenencias of Dueñas (until 1175) and Moratinos.[1]

Ruins of the castle of Cuenca, where Nuño was killed

Regency of Castile and later years

When Manrique died in 1164, Nuño succeeded him as regent of Castile. In 1165 he began governing the tenencias of

Bishop of Osma by paying Nuño and Pedro de Arazuri 5,000 maravedíes.[7] In 1176 Nuño received some houses in Toledo that had once belonged to Sancha Raimúndez from the archbishop, Cerebruno, for an annual rent of five maravedíes.[8] They also gave some houses they owned near the imperial palace to the archbishop.[9]

In 1176 Nuño Pérez de Lara was appointed governor of the tenencias of

Ubierna, and Valeria. One year later, in July 1177, he was present at the siege of Cuenca. He was killed in action a few weeks later on the 3rd of August.[10] His widow fled to the Leonese court and there married King Ferdinand II
.

Religious patronage

On 29 January 1160 Nuño and his wife founded the

Way of Saint James crossing the Pisuerga by the bridge (puente de Itero) there.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Barton, 269–70. This article relies heavily on these pages, which provide a comprehensive list of Nuño's issue, offices, tenencias, and religious endowments, as well as known private transactions.
  2. ^ Sánchez de Mora, pp. 215–308. Barton, pp. 269–270 gives two additional daughters, Leonor and Teresa.
  3. ^ Barton, 189.
  4. ^ Fletcher, 171.
  5. ^ Reilly, 186.
  6. ^ Barton, 154.
  7. ^ Barton, 193.
  8. ^ The charter recording this transaction, found in a thirteenth-century cartulary copy, is published in Barton, 327.
  9. ^ Barton, 81.
  10. ^ Barton, 182.
  11. ^ The charter of foundation is published in Yáñez Neira, 394–95.
  12. ^ Barton, 198.
  13. ^ Barton, 200. The charter of this endowment, an original, is published in Barton, 328.
  14. ^ Barton, 199.

Works cited

  • Barton, Simon. The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • Fletcher, Richard A. The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
  • Reilly, Bernard F. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126–1157. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.
  • Rodríguez-Picavea Matilla, Enrique. "La Orden de Calatrava en la meseta meridional castellana: encomiendas y distrubución geográfica de las propiedades (1158–1212)." Hispania, 51:179 (1991), 875–899.
  • Sánchez de Mora, Antonio. La Nobleza Castella en la Plena Edad Media: El Linaje de Lara (ss. XI-XIII). Doctoral Thesis, Universidad de Sevilla, 2003.
  • Yáñez Neira, María Damián. "El monasterio cisterciense de Perales, cuna de la recolección." Publicaciones de la Institución Tello Téllez de Meneses, 59 (1988), 387–414.
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