Menendo González
Encyclopedia
Menendo González (died 6 October 1008) was a semi-autonomous Duke of Galicia
and Count of Portugal
(997–1008) and a dominant figure in the Kingdom of León
around the turn of the second millennium. He was the tutor and father-in-law of King Alfonso V
from at least 1003. He maintained peaceful diplomatic relations with the Caliphate of Córdoba
until 1004, after which there was a state of war. In his last years he had to deal with Viking
raids, during one of which he may have been killed.
and his wife Ilduara Peláez. Menendo's wife is variously known in contemporary sources as Toda, Tota, Todadomna, Tutadomna, Tutadonna, etc. One twelfth-century source calls her Mayor.
Menendo had at least five sons and three daughters. One son, Rodrigo Menéndez, was a direct ancestor in the maternal line of Urraca Fróilaz, wife of Pedro Fróilaz de Traba
. Another, Gonzalo (attested 1007–14), is cited with the title of count, and one Ramiro (attested 1005–14) was the armiger regis, or royal alférez
, a post his father had also held. His other sons were Egas and Munio (both attested 1007–14). Besides his daughter Elvira (of whom more below), he had daughters named Ilduara
(attested 1025–58) and Ildoncia/Eldonza (attested 1014). Ilduara married Nuño Aloitiz, a count in Portugal.
Before 999 King Vermudo II
placed his heir, Alfonso V, under the tutorship of his alférez Menendo. Alfonso was only five at his father's death (September 999) and he spent the early years of his reign in the care of Menendo and his wife. The earliest act of Alfonso as king dates to 13 October 999, and it lists as confirmants first Count Menendo González (“Menendus Gundisaluiz, comes”) and then "Duke" (count) Sancho García of Castile (“Santius, dux, Garsea prolis”). Menendo also appears in contemporary documents with the ducal title, as in dux domnus Menendus proles Gundisalvi.
The young Alfonso always appears in his early charters beside his mother, Elvira García, a sister of the count of Castile and possibly exercising the regency under his influence. After 1003 Elvira no longer appears in royal charters, perhaps she was removed in a palace coup by Menendo. In subscribing one royal act Menendo went so far as to call himself "he who under the authority of the aforementioned king ordains and guides all things" (“qui sub imperio iam dicti regis hec omnia ordinavit et docuit”). In 1004 Sancho challenged the regency of Menendo. Both counts petitioned the Córdoban
hajib
Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar to arbitrate the dispute. According to Ibn Khaldun
, a hearing took place and al-Muzaffar's deputy, the qadi
of the Mozarabic community of Córdoba, Asbag bin Abd Allah bin Nabil, found in favour of Menendo. According to some sources this took place in Córdoba
with the two disputant counts in attendance, but according to others it took place in León.
In 1000, as regent, Menendo confirmed the testament of Hilal, called Salvatus, the Mozarabic abbot of San Cipriano de Valdesalce, after the queen-regent Elvira and the young king and before five bishops of the realm. A charter dated 23 December 1001 records the settlement of a dispute concerning the monastery of Celanova
by Alfonso V and "his elder, the lord Menendo, son of Gonzalo" (“senatus sui domni Ermenagildi Gundisaluiz prolis”). Another charter dated 11 January 1002 records the donation of San Andrés de Congostro to the monastery of Celanova and was confirmed by "duke Menendo, son of Gonzalo" (“Menendus dux prolis Gundisaluiz”).
and the frontier with Portugal, Menendo entered into a pact with al-Muzaffar, which included a clause calling for military collaboration in 1003. That year Leonese and Castilian troops assisted the Córdobans in their attack on Catalonia
. This pact seems to have been broken when, in 1005, a Córdoban army marched with the intent of taking Zamora
. The city was not captured, but much territory was seized. For the remainder of Menendo's regency there was no peace with the Córdobans.
There is an ivory pyxis
containing a contemporary chalice
and paten
in the treasury of the Cathedral of Braga. The pyxis has an inscription on the rim of its lid which allows it to be dated rather precisely to between 1004, when the hajib Abd al-Malik received the title he bears in the inscription, Sayf al-Dawla, and 1007, when he received the higher title of al-Muzaffar. The pyxis had found its way into the hands of Menendo González sometime before his death, since an added inscription on the bottom of it relates its donation to the church by him and his wife, Toda. It reads: IN N[omi]NE D[omi]NI MENENDUS GUNDISALVI ET TUDAD[o]MNA SUM. It has been suggested that the chalice and paten, which appear to be made to fit the pyxis, were possibly commissioned by Menendo for the pyxis he obtained during a campaign against Córdoba, so to be donated to Braga. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the pyxis was originally a gift from the court of Córdoba to the Leonese regent during diplomatic negotiations. Historian Serafin Moralejo sees it presented to Menendo by Asbagh the qadi as "a good-will gift ... a bitter one indeed and a warning oo, since the title of Sayf al-Dawla carved on its lid commemorated the raid the hajib had launched on León one year earlier." The iconography of the pyxis is peaceful, and its original function could have been at a "marriage, or an occasion of a calendrical observance such as a summer of fall harvest festival". The carvings of birds eating fruit may imitate a well-used Christian eucharist
ic motif dating back to Visigothic times
. If so, the piece may have been designed to serve as a diplomatic gift to a Christian ruler, perhaps Menendo.
The Islamic historian Ibn Khaldun
, dating it by the anno Hegirae, places Menendo's death between 17 September 1007 and 4 September 1008. The Chronicon Lusitanum
records Menendo's death under the year 1008 as taking place on 6 October (Æra
1046. II. Non. Octobris occisus fuit Comes Menendus). The wording suggests that Menendo was assassinated. He was succeeded as regent by the queen-mother Elvira and the count of Castile. Towards 1013 Alfonso V, by then of age, married Elvira Menéndez, Gonzalo's daughter. She gave him a son, Vermudo III, his successor, and a daughter, Sancha
, who married Ferdinand of Castile and passed the Leonese throne on to him. She died on 2 December 1022. In 1014 Alfonso confirmed all the possessions of the monastery of Guimarães
, founded by Menendo's grandmother, Mumadona Díaz.
It has been suggested that Menendo was perhaps killed defending Portugal from a Viking
raid. According to the later Icelandic saga Heimskringla
, the Vikings under Olaf Haraldsson
attacked Gunnvaldsborg (from hypothetical Latin *Gundisalvus-burgus), probably to be identified as a descriptive toponym meaning "city of González" (Portuguese: cidade de Gonçalves) and indicating Tui
, which was in Menendo's lordship and is independently known to have been destroyed by Vikings about this time. In the words of the Heimskringla:
There is a Latin document of 1024 titled “Tudensis sedes post Normannorum vastationem Ecclesiae Divi Jacobi attributa”: the see of Tui was assigned to the church of Santiago after being laid waste by the Northmen.
Kingdom of Galicia
The Kingdom of Galicia was a political entity located in southwestern Europe, which at its territorial zenith occupied the entire northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Founded by Suebic king Hermeric in the year 409, the Galician capital was established in Braga, being the first kingdom which...
and Count of Portugal
County of Portugal
The County of Portugal was the region around Braga and Porto, today corresponding to littoral northern Portugal, from the late ninth to the early twelfth century, during which it was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León.-History:...
(997–1008) and a dominant figure in the Kingdom of León
Kingdom of León
The Kingdom of León was an independent kingdom situated in the northwest region of the Iberian Peninsula. It was founded in AD 910 when the Christian princes of Asturias along the northern coast of the peninsula shifted their capital from Oviedo to the city of León...
around the turn of the second millennium. He was the tutor and father-in-law of King Alfonso V
Alfonso V of León
Alfonso V , called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. He was the son of Bermudo II by his second wife Elvira García of Castile. The Abbot Oliva called him "Emperor of Spain"....
from at least 1003. He maintained peaceful diplomatic relations with the Caliphate of Córdoba
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ruled the Iberian peninsula and part of North Africa, from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous...
until 1004, after which there was a state of war. In his last years he had to deal with Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raids, during one of which he may have been killed.
Family
Menendo González was probably the eldest son and successor of Gonzalo MenéndezGonzalo Menéndez
Gonzalo Menéndez was a Count of Portugal in the Kingdom of León. He regularly carries the title count , the highest in the kingdom, in surviving documents. He may have used the title magnus dux portucalensium...
and his wife Ilduara Peláez. Menendo's wife is variously known in contemporary sources as Toda, Tota, Todadomna, Tutadomna, Tutadonna, etc. One twelfth-century source calls her Mayor.
Menendo had at least five sons and three daughters. One son, Rodrigo Menéndez, was a direct ancestor in the maternal line of Urraca Fróilaz, wife of Pedro Fróilaz de Traba
Pedro Fróilaz de Traba
Pedro Fróilaz de Traba was the most powerful secular magnate in the Kingdom of Galicia during the first quarter of the twelfth century. According to the Historia compostelana, he was "spirited ... warlike ... of great power .....
. Another, Gonzalo (attested 1007–14), is cited with the title of count, and one Ramiro (attested 1005–14) was the armiger regis, or royal alférez
Alférez
Alférez is a junior officer rank also used in Spain, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The variant Alferes is used in Portugal and was formerly also used in Brazil. A naval variant, Frigate Alférez, is used in Spain, Dominican Republic and Peru. "Alférez" is often translated as ensign...
, a post his father had also held. His other sons were Egas and Munio (both attested 1007–14). Besides his daughter Elvira (of whom more below), he had daughters named Ilduara
Ilduara Mendes
Ilduara Mendes was a Countess of Portugal, the daughter of Menendo González. She ruled with her husband Nuno Alvites, and following his death, on behalf of their son and heir Mendo Nunes....
(attested 1025–58) and Ildoncia/Eldonza (attested 1014). Ilduara married Nuño Aloitiz, a count in Portugal.
Regency of Alfonso V
Bermudo II of León
Bermudo II , called the Gouty , was the King of Galicia and León . His reign is summed up by Justo Pérez de Urbel's description of him as "el pobre rey atormentado en la vida por la espada de Almanzor y en muerte por la pluma vengadora de un obispo" Bermudo (or Vermudo) II (956–999), called the...
placed his heir, Alfonso V, under the tutorship of his alférez Menendo. Alfonso was only five at his father's death (September 999) and he spent the early years of his reign in the care of Menendo and his wife. The earliest act of Alfonso as king dates to 13 October 999, and it lists as confirmants first Count Menendo González (“Menendus Gundisaluiz, comes”) and then "Duke" (count) Sancho García of Castile (“Santius, dux, Garsea prolis”). Menendo also appears in contemporary documents with the ducal title, as in dux domnus Menendus proles Gundisalvi.
The young Alfonso always appears in his early charters beside his mother, Elvira García, a sister of the count of Castile and possibly exercising the regency under his influence. After 1003 Elvira no longer appears in royal charters, perhaps she was removed in a palace coup by Menendo. In subscribing one royal act Menendo went so far as to call himself "he who under the authority of the aforementioned king ordains and guides all things" (“qui sub imperio iam dicti regis hec omnia ordinavit et docuit”). In 1004 Sancho challenged the regency of Menendo. Both counts petitioned the Córdoban
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ruled the Iberian peninsula and part of North Africa, from the city of Córdoba, from 929 to 1031. This period was characterized by remarkable success in trade and culture; many of the masterpieces of Islamic Iberia were constructed in this period, including the famous...
hajib
Hajib
The term "hajib" is not to be confused with the word "hijab", which is a headscarf for Muslim women.A hajib was a government official in Al-Andalus and Egypt. They began as treasurers or Chamberlains but by 756, the position had evolved to be equivalent to a vizier or higher....
Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar to arbitrate the dispute. According to Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology and economics...
, a hearing took place and al-Muzaffar's deputy, the qadi
Qadi
Qadi is a judge ruling in accordance with Islamic religious law appointed by the ruler of a Muslim country. Because Islam makes no distinction between religious and secular domains, qadis traditionally have jurisdiction over all legal matters involving Muslims...
of the Mozarabic community of Córdoba, Asbag bin Abd Allah bin Nabil, found in favour of Menendo. According to some sources this took place in Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
with the two disputant counts in attendance, but according to others it took place in León.
In 1000, as regent, Menendo confirmed the testament of Hilal, called Salvatus, the Mozarabic abbot of San Cipriano de Valdesalce, after the queen-regent Elvira and the young king and before five bishops of the realm. A charter dated 23 December 1001 records the settlement of a dispute concerning the monastery of Celanova
Celanova
Celanova is a village and municipality located in the province of Orense, Galicia, Northern Spain. Situated near the border with Portugal, the village is bordered by Ramirás, Cartelle, A Merca, A Bola, Verea and Quintela de Leirado....
by Alfonso V and "his elder, the lord Menendo, son of Gonzalo" (“senatus sui domni Ermenagildi Gundisaluiz prolis”). Another charter dated 11 January 1002 records the donation of San Andrés de Congostro to the monastery of Celanova and was confirmed by "duke Menendo, son of Gonzalo" (“Menendus dux prolis Gundisaluiz”).
Relations with Córdoba
Menendo did not initially collaborate with the Córdobans, but after contingents were sent from Córdoba to reinforce CoimbraCoimbra
Coimbra is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the...
and the frontier with Portugal, Menendo entered into a pact with al-Muzaffar, which included a clause calling for military collaboration in 1003. That year Leonese and Castilian troops assisted the Córdobans in their attack on Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
. This pact seems to have been broken when, in 1005, a Córdoban army marched with the intent of taking Zamora
Zamora, Spain
Zamora is a city in Castile and León, Spain, the capital of the province of Zamora. It lies on a rocky hill in the northwest, near the frontier with Portugal and crossed by the Duero river, which is some 50 km downstream as it reaches the Portuguese frontier...
. The city was not captured, but much territory was seized. For the remainder of Menendo's regency there was no peace with the Córdobans.
There is an ivory pyxis
Pyxis
Pyxis is a small and faint constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for a mariner's compass...
containing a contemporary chalice
Chalice
A chalice is a goblet or footed cup intended to hold a drink. This can also refer to;* Holy Chalice, the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine* Chalice , a type of smoking pipe...
and paten
Paten
A paten, or diskos, is a small plate, usually made of silver or gold, used to hold Eucharistic bread which is to be consecrated. It is generally used during the service itself, while the reserved hosts are stored in the Tabernacle in a ciborium....
in the treasury of the Cathedral of Braga. The pyxis has an inscription on the rim of its lid which allows it to be dated rather precisely to between 1004, when the hajib Abd al-Malik received the title he bears in the inscription, Sayf al-Dawla, and 1007, when he received the higher title of al-Muzaffar. The pyxis had found its way into the hands of Menendo González sometime before his death, since an added inscription on the bottom of it relates its donation to the church by him and his wife, Toda. It reads: IN N[omi]NE D[omi]NI MENENDUS GUNDISALVI ET TUDAD[o]MNA SUM. It has been suggested that the chalice and paten, which appear to be made to fit the pyxis, were possibly commissioned by Menendo for the pyxis he obtained during a campaign against Córdoba, so to be donated to Braga. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the pyxis was originally a gift from the court of Córdoba to the Leonese regent during diplomatic negotiations. Historian Serafin Moralejo sees it presented to Menendo by Asbagh the qadi as "a good-will gift ... a bitter one indeed and a warning oo, since the title of Sayf al-Dawla carved on its lid commemorated the raid the hajib had launched on León one year earlier." The iconography of the pyxis is peaceful, and its original function could have been at a "marriage, or an occasion of a calendrical observance such as a summer of fall harvest festival". The carvings of birds eating fruit may imitate a well-used Christian eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic motif dating back to Visigothic times
Visigothic art
The Visigoths entered Hispania in 415, and they rose to be the dominant people there until the Moorish invasion of 711 brought their kingdom to an end.This period in Iberian art is dominated by their style...
. If so, the piece may have been designed to serve as a diplomatic gift to a Christian ruler, perhaps Menendo.
Death
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology and economics...
, dating it by the anno Hegirae, places Menendo's death between 17 September 1007 and 4 September 1008. The Chronicon Lusitanum
Chronicon Lusitanum
The Chronicon Lusitanum or Lusitano is a chronicle of the history of Portugal from the earliest migrations of the Visigoths through the reign of Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques...
records Menendo's death under the year 1008 as taking place on 6 October (Æra
Spanish era
The Spanish era, Hispanic era or Caesar era refers to the dating system used in Hispania until the 14th century, when the Anno Domini system was adopted. It began with year one in what is 38 BC, probably the date of a new tax imposed by the Roman Republic on the subdued population of Iberia....
1046. II. Non. Octobris occisus fuit Comes Menendus). The wording suggests that Menendo was assassinated. He was succeeded as regent by the queen-mother Elvira and the count of Castile. Towards 1013 Alfonso V, by then of age, married Elvira Menéndez, Gonzalo's daughter. She gave him a son, Vermudo III, his successor, and a daughter, Sancha
Sancha of León
Sancha of León was a daughter of Alfonso V of León by Elvira Mendes and Queen consort of León and Castile. In 1029, a political marriage was arranged between her and count García Sánchez of Castile. However, having traveled to León for the marriage, García was assassinated by a group of...
, who married Ferdinand of Castile and passed the Leonese throne on to him. She died on 2 December 1022. In 1014 Alfonso confirmed all the possessions of the monastery of Guimarães
Guimarães
Guimarães Municipality is located in northwestern Portugal in the province of Minho and in the Braga District. It contains the city of Guimarães.The present Mayor is António Magalhães Silva, elected by the Socialist Party.-Parishes:-Economy:...
, founded by Menendo's grandmother, Mumadona Díaz.
It has been suggested that Menendo was perhaps killed defending Portugal from a Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raid. According to the later Icelandic saga Heimskringla
Heimskringla
Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, the Vikings under Olaf Haraldsson
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
attacked Gunnvaldsborg (from hypothetical Latin *Gundisalvus-burgus), probably to be identified as a descriptive toponym meaning "city of González" (Portuguese: cidade de Gonçalves) and indicating Tui
Tui, Galicia
Tui , in Spanish Tuy, is a town in Galicia , in the province of Pontevedra. It is located on the left bank of the Minho River, facing the Portuguese town of Valença....
, which was in Menendo's lordship and is independently known to have been destroyed by Vikings about this time. In the words of the Heimskringla:
Here [Olaf] conquered the city of González, which was large and ancient, and here he made a prisoner the count who was lord of the city and who was called Geirfinn. Here King Olaf spoke with the inhabitants of the city; he made the city and the count pay twelve thousand coins of gold and he carried away all that he could. Sigvat said this:
There is a Latin document of 1024 titled “Tudensis sedes post Normannorum vastationem Ecclesiae Divi Jacobi attributa”: the see of Tui was assigned to the church of Santiago after being laid waste by the Northmen.