Pedro López de Monforte
Encyclopedia
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1103–35) was an Iberian nobleman and castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
. Probably originally from the Rioja
La Rioja (Spain)
La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...
, he was most active 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...
. He was appointed a count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
, the highest rank in the kingdom, by Alfonso VII sometime before 1 July 1131.
The identity of his family is unclear. His brothers were Jimeno and Lope López, both majordomos under Queen Urraca. He may have been a son of Lope Íñiguez
Lope Íñiguez
Lope Íñiguez succeeded his father Íñigo López to become the second Lord of Biscay in 1076.Íñigo died shortly after the assassination of his overlord Sancho IV of Navarre and the subsequent takeover of Biscay, Álava, part of Guipúzcoa and La Rioja by Alfonso VI of Castile...
and thus kinsmen of the house of Haro that held the Lordship of Biscay
Lord of Biscay
Lord of Biscay is a historical title of the head of state of the autonomous territory of Biscay, Basque Country.- History :The first known Lord of Biscay , Íñigo López "Ezkerra" was a lieutenant of the Kingdom of Pamplona , and this was until the Castilian conquest of Gipuzkoa in 1200...
. The family of Pedro's wife, Sancha Gómez, is also unclear. She is known by name only from a charter of their daughter Countess Urraca, in which the latter granted some lands she had inherited from both parents to the Diocese of Burgos in 1173. A certain "countess Sancha" (Santia comitissa) made a donation to the monastery of San Salvador de Oña
San Salvador de Oña
San Salvador de Oña is a monastery in Oña, in the province of Burgos, central Spain.It was founded in 1011 by Sancho García, count of Castile, for his daughter Tigridia. In 1033 it was assigned to the Cistercian Order. In 1506 it went to the Benedictines of Valladolid. It was damaged during the...
on 19 December 1135 along with her sister Estefanía and brother Rodrigo Gómez
Rodrigo Gómez
Rodrigo Gómez was a Castilian nobleman and military leader under Alfonso VII. He governed large parts of Asturias and northern Castile, was involved in the politics with neighbouring Navarre, to whose royal family he was related by marriage, and took part in the Reconquista...
. This may be the widow of Pedro López.
Pedro was a courtier during the latter half of the reign of Queen Urraca. He witnessed nineteen royal diplomas between 1114 and 1125. On the death of Pedro Ansúrez
Pedro Ansúrez
Pedro Ansúrez was a Castilian count of Liébana, 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....
in 1117 Pedro López received the strategically important tenencia (lit. "holding") of Saldaña
Saldaña, Palencia
Saldaña is the principal town of the fertile Palencia plains in Spain, and may be the town of "Eldana" mentioned by the historian Ptolemy as being conquered by the Roman Empire....
, which he ruled until 1126. He may also have received Pedro Ansúrez's other holdings on the Río Carrión. The influence of Pedro and his brothers at court and their likely background in the Rioja has led some scholars to conclude that they were either exiled by Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre or had first come to León with Alfonso in the early 1110s.
In 1119 Pedro was handed the government of Monforte
Monforte de la Sierra
Monforte de la Sierra is a village and small municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located 90 kilometres from the provincial capital city of Salamanca and has a population of 110 people.-Geography:The municipality covers...
, which he continued to rule until 1132. After the accession of Alfonso VII, Pedro joined his brother and the rest of the Leonese nobility in greeting the king and paying him homage in the capital city of León, after the king had taken it from the rebellious supporters of the Lara
House of Lara
The House of Lara or Casa de Lara are a noble family, known from the medieval Kingdom of Castile.Two of its branches, those from the Duke of Nájera and from the Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain...
brothers Pedro
Pedro González de Lara
Pedro González de Lara was a Castilian magnate. He served Alfonso VI as a young man, and later became the lover of Alfonso's heiress, Queen Urraca. He may have joined the First Crusade in the following of Raymond IV of Toulouse, earning the nickname el Romero...
and Rodrigo González
Rodrigo González de Lara
Rodrigo González de Lara was a Castilian nobleman of the House of Lara. Early in his career he ruled that half of Asturias allocated to Castile. He was faithful to the crown throughout the reign of Queen Urraca , during which time he was married to the queen's half-sister and ruled a large part of...
. Between 1129 and 1133 Pedro sporadically held other tenencias from the crown, such as: Ferrino, Mayorga, Río Seco
Rioseco de Tapia
Rioseco de Tapia is a municipality located in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 504 inhabitants....
, Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
, and Gatón. Pedro was atop the list of confirmants in at least three royal charters in these years, indicating his high status at the court of Alfonso VII. In 1130, before 14 March, Pedro was given the fief of Toro
Toro, Zamora
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 meters....
and held it consistently down to at least his final appearance in the records, and probably until his death in or after September 1135.
Sometime while he was "ruling Salamanca" (mandante Salamancha), although the duration of this rule cannot be precisely dated, Pedro attempted but failed to install his own cadidate in the vacant Diocese of Salamanca. In 1133 the bishop, Nuño, disappears from the records, probably deceased. A synod held at León in 1134 appointed Berengar of Toledo to succeed him, although Berengar did not take the title bishop-elect until the summer of 1135 and he was not consecrated by his archbishop, Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez
Diego Gelmírez was the second bishop and first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. He is a prominent figure in the history of Galicia and an important historiographer of the Spain of his day...
, until March 1136. The name of Pedro López's candidate was also Pedro, and was said to enjoy the support of the "clergy and people of Salamanca" (clerici Salmanticenses et populus). The Archbishop of Toledo, Raymond de Sauvetât
Raymond de Sauvetât
Francis Raymond de Sauvetât, or Raymond of Toledo, was the Archbishop of Toledo from 1125 to 1152. He was a French Benedictine monk, born in Gascony....
, accused him of being "altogether unsuitable" (absolute simplex) and having granted church benefices to his supporters. Raymond suggested that Diego Gelmírez at first supported the uncanonical bishop, who was only removed after lengthy negotiations. It has been speculated that the fall of the bishop Pedro, the disappearance of Pedro López from the records, and his brother Lope's loss of the office of majordomo all in 1135 may have all resulted from a military failure on the part of the count, and his consequent loss of the support of the king. The military defeats of the Salamancan militia in 1132–34 are recorded in the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, but without mentioning Pedro López.
Works cited
- S. Barton. 1997. The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century León and Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- R. A. Fletcher. 1984. Saint James's Catapult: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- G. E. Lipskey. 1972. The Chronicle of Alfonso the Emperor: A Translation of the Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris. PhD thesis, Northwestern University.
- B. F. Reilly. 1982. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under Queen Urraca, 1109–1126. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Further reading
- R. A. Fletcher. 1978. The Episcopate in the Kingdom of León in the Twelfth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- B. F. Reilly. 1998. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126–1157. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.