Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera
Encyclopedia
Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera (floruit
1105–1162), called Ponç Guerau in Catalan
, was a Catalan nobleman who came to León in the entourage of Berenguela
, daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona
, when she married Alfonso VII of León and Castile at Saldaña
in November 1127. Immediately after his arrival, Ponce assumed a position of some importance in the kingdom. By 1143 he was numbered among the count
s, the highest grade of the Leonese nobility. By 1145 he had been appointed the king's majordomo, the highest-ranking official in the realm.
, and thus a great-grandson of Arnau Mir de Tost
. His mother was Guerau's second wife, Elvira, probably a daughter of the Leonese magnate Pedro Ansúrez
and Elo Alfonso. Ponce was born between 1098 and 1105, and from 1122 he shared the government of the Cabrera lands with his father, whom he succeeded in 1132. By 1145 a different man, Guerau III de Cabrera
, is found ruling Àger and Girona. It was once erroneously believed that another Ponce de Cabrera, perhaps a brother or cousin, ruled the family's Catalan lands from 1128 until his death 1145.
Pelayo Peláez [were] ruling the castle of Ulver", that is, modern Cornatel
on the southern edge of the Bierzo. This charter is preserved in the cartulary (tumbo) of the monastery of San Pedro de Montes, where Ponce seems to have been much esteemed—a charter of a later date refers to him as "the most noble Count Ponce". Ulver had been held by the powerful magnate Ramiro Fróilaz
as late as May earlier that year, and by July 1133 it was back in his hands. It is possible that it was returned to his hold much earlier and that Ponce's rule was very brief. It was certainly only at the behest of Alfonso VI that an important castle in the region of one of the most powerful men in the kingdom could be bestowed on a relative newcomer like Ponce. Ponce later acquired lands in the district of Senabria
, south of the Bierzo and across the Sierra de la Cabrera, where charters preserved in the cartulary of San Martín de Castañeda record two property exchanges he made in 1132 and 1135.
Some time earlier Ponce purchased some land at Covelo (an unidentified site) from one Pedro Bellido. On 31 March 1132 he sold the same land to García Pérez and his wife Velasquita for a breastplate
, a mule
and thirty rolls of linen
. In August 1135 he more land "in the territory of Senabria" beside the river Tera to the same couple for a mule valued at fifty morabetinos and a horse worth eighty. Both these donations indicate that at the time "Ponce [was] ruling Senabria." His control of Senabria and the surrounding territory lasted until shortly before his death.
Around the same time, between 1129 and 1138, Ponce also came into neighbouring districts of La Cabrera and Morales
, which had previously been under the lordship of Ramiro Fróilaz. Ponce later served closely with Ramiro on several military campaigns. The two even shared the tenancy of Astorga in 1154, and probably somewhat later that of Villafranca del Bierzo
.
and the king made a grant to the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela
, witnessed by Ponce among others. Although he was at court still, or again, on 8 July, that was the last time before 23 March 1131, making his an absence of almost three years. During the decade of the 1130s his attendance at court was sporadic, marked by another three-year absence (28 May 1132 – 29 May 1135) and one of two years (2 October 1136 – 14 September 1138).
The reasons for such prolonged absences cannot be ascertained with certainty today, but at least four possibilities are likely: poor health, the need to visit his Catalan territories, the demands of military campaigns elsewhere, or the loss of royal favour. In 1139 Ponce took part in the successful Siege of Oreja
, where Alfonso reconquered the city from the Muslims. On 22 February 1140, Ponce was at Carrión de los Condes
to witness the treaty between Alfonso VII and Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, which treaty is preserved in the Liber feudorum maior
. The next year (1141), Ponce joined the punitive expedition
Alfonso led against his cousin Afonso Henriques, who had proclaimed himself King of Portugal in contravention to a treaty he had signed with Alfonso. His presence in Portugal is attested in the Chronicon Lusitanum
, which reports that he was captured at the Tournament of Valdevez
, and in a charter given by Alfonso at Santiago de Compostela
on 23 September 1141. It is possible that the Catalan fought with distinction in these two wars in Andalusia and Portugal, which came on the eve of his rise to power at court. As a tenant (tenente) of the crown, he would have been expected to raise a contingent of knights (milites) and infantry (pedites) for the campaigns.
. The former he is not otherwise recorded as ruling; the latter he is known to have ruled only between 6 June 1142 and 6 November 1159. There is a charter slightly earlier, dated 5 April 1142, that refers to Ponce as "Ponce, count in Zamora" (Poncius comite in Zamora), but the use of the comital title is anachronistic, as there is no other evidence he held it before June. There is a more ambitious forgery in the purported fuero
of Castrotrafe, dated 2 February 1129, which cites Ponce as "ruling Zamora" (mandante Çamora) over a decade before he is otherwise known to have done so. There is no other evidence of Ponce holding Castrotorafe in lordship, but he is known to have had close contact with the town.
The earliest clear and unambiguous reference to Ponce ruling Zamora and its district is in the list of confirmants (confirmantes) ofAlfonso's grant of the village of Fradejas to the Diocese of Zamora on 6 June 1142. This document, which refers to Ponce as "at this time prince of Zamora" (princeps eo tempore Cemore), was drawn up while Alfonso was besieging Coria
and indicates that Ponce participated in that campaign. Zamora had previously been held by Osorio Martínez
, the brother of Rodrigo Martínez
, who had died at an earlier siege of Coria in 1138
. At around the time of the second siege, Osorio became estranged from the emperor and his fiefs, which had previously been held by Rodrigo, were confiscated. Ponce benefited from his fall, for not only Zamora, but Melgar de Abajo
in the Tierra de Campos
and Malgrat (modern Benavente
) between Zamora and León were transferred from Osorio's possession to his, by at the latest 27 April 1146 and 7 February 1148, respectively. Ponce was soon expanding his lordship in the Tierra de Campos: by 1146 he had the tenancy of Villalpando
and by 1151 he had received Villafáfila
.
It is possible that Ponce received two other large tenancies in southern León at this time, Salamanca
and Castrotorafe. The evidence that Ponce ever held the latter is inconclusive, but he had received that of Salamanca by 21 January 1144 at the latest and possibly at the same time as he was granted nearby Zamora. The Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, a contemporary account of Alfonso VII's reign, relates how the Salamancas were defeated four times in the years 1132–33 before "they offered tithes and their first fruits to God, and [were] favored [with] the gift of valor and prudence while waging war, [for which] reason, subsequent to their prayers, they were a constant threat to the Moors in their own land under the leadership of Count Poncio, [fighting] several battles and [winning] great victories which included great spoils, [t]he city of Salamanca [becoming] famous for its knights and infantry [and growing] very rich from the spoils of war."
Shortly after the reconquest of Coria, but no earlier than 29 June, Ponce parted from the royal court and probably headed for Zamora. He was there when Alfonso VII visited on 5 October 1143, and gratefully bestowed on him the deserted village of Moreruela de Frades, located about thirty kilometres north of Zamora. There Ponce founded an abbey dedicated to Santa María
for some Cistercian monks, probably the first of its kind in Spain. The original charter granting him the village stipulated that he should build a monastery there and "maintain and conserve" (manuteneat et conservet) it. On 28 July 1156, acting for the monks, he procured a "pact of friendship" (pactum amiciciarum) with the townsmen of Castrotorafe, and he endowed the Cistercians with more land, but there is no record of his favouring the monastery much beyond this. It was left to his kin and descendants to endow the monastery with lands throughout Spain and make it "one of the wealthiest houses in the peninsula" in the thirteenth century.
, where Alfonso made a donation to the great Abbey of Cluny on 29 October 1143. This document is the earliest surviving evidence of a promotion which Ponce must have received in during the previous three weeks: he was raised to the rank of count
(Latin comes, meaning originally "companion[-in-arms]"), which was then the highest rank in the empire. In the charter of donation to Cluny he appears as Poncius de Cabreria comes. Thereafter, Ponce was a constant member of the court, which on account of its wide membership and its itinerant nature, winding its way through all of Alfonso's dominions, may be called the curia imperatoris (imperial court). Ponce's own "vast lordship ... snaked its way some 200 km south along the border with Portugal from La Cabrera ... down as far as the river Tormes" and included the cities of Zamora, Salamanca and Malgrat.
Ponce only rarely left the court throughout 1144, and in early 1145 he was appointed imperial majordomo (maiordomus imperatoris), the most prestigious office in the empire, to replace Diego Muñoz. Except for a brief period in the spring of 1146, when he relinquished the post to Ermengol VI of Urgell
, Ponce remained majordomo down to the death of Alfonso, but it cannot be discerned from the sources that survive whether that post still included "overall responsibility for the organisation of the royal household" or was largely ceremonial by the mid-twelfth century. On one of Ponce's rare absences, Pelayo Curvo stood in his place as majordomo and confirmed an imperial charter (15 October 1146).
and raided its Great Mosque. He witnessed an imperial charter of 19 April, which was drawn up "after returning to the earthworks, where the above named emperor made the prince of the Moors, Abengania, his vassal, and a certain part of Córdoba was plundered with its great mosque." Later that year Ponce, along with Manrique Pérez
, Ermengol of Urgell and Martín Fernández, led the force that defeated and killed Sayf al-Dawla, a emir
and vassal of the emperor who had revolted. The Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, which narrates this campaign, names Ponce before the other Christian leaders.
In January 1147 Ponce was present at the conquest of Calatrava
, where he is attested on the ninth of the month. He was present with the imperial army at Baeza
both on the journey to (18 August) and from (25 November) the successful Siege of Almería on the Mediterranean coast
, and so his participation is certain. After the city was occupied, and a portion given to the Republic of Genoa
, as per an earlier agreement, Ponce was enfeoffed with the imperial portion. A contemporary Latin poem, the Prefatio de Almaria, probably by the same author as the Chronica Adefonsi, describes the preparations for the campaign against Almería with a roll-call of the major nobles participating. The section concerning Ponce is lengthy, with many allusions to classical mythology
and the Bible
:
In 1150 Ponce took part in the imperial siege of Córdoba, and in 1151 in that of Jaén
. In 1152 he was probably with the army that attacked Guadix
and Lorca
, because when on 5 September at Uclés
the emperor "returned from Lorca ... in the year in which he had Guadix surrounded", Ponce was with him.
On 18 November 1152 Alfonso VII rewarded Ponce "my faithful vassal, for the good and faithful [military] service which [he] rendered me at Almería and in many other places, naturally in the provinces of the Christians and also in those of the Saracens" by granting him the castle of Albuher (modern Villamanrique
on the Tagus
) in the extreme south of his dominions, between Oreja, in whose conquest Ponce had participated in 1139, and Almoguera
. In 1153 Ponce gained the tenancy of Toro
on the river Duero in the region of Zamora near the border with Portugal, an important defensive position. At this juncture his tenancies and personal estates were so geographically diverse and his power at court so great it has been said that he "bestrode the kingdom like a colossus". In 1155 Ponce fought at the conquest of Andújar
, where he can be traced on 15 June.
, who inherited Castile
and Toledo
, and Ferdinand II
, who inherited León and Galicia
, Count Ponce relinquished the castle of Albuher at Villamanrique, in the kingdom of Toledo, which also fell to Sancho III. After the death of the empror (1157) and the division of the realm, Ponce became a follower of Ferdinand II. He continued in his office of majordomo in the first year of Ferdinand's reign, and he attended the great gathering of all the highest nobility and clergy of the kingdom and the king of Portugal on 9 October 1157. Ponce continued with the court after it left Galicia, at least as far as Villalpando, his own tenancy, where on 13 October he confirmed a royal donation to Velasco Menéndez. This is the last record of Ponce with the Leonese royal court before he went into exile. He was almost certainly gone before the next surviving royal diploma was drawn up on 24 November. The reason for the exile is not clear, but according to the Historia Gothica of the thirteenth-century Navarrese historian Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
, Ferdinand II, generally "pious, merciful and generous", came to believe certain false rumours about Ponce spread by his enemies at court. In response, he confiscated Ponce's fiefs and those of some other noblemen, and sent them into exile. An even later source gives a different account. Ponce was exiled at the behest of the rebellious citizens of Zamora, who feared he would punish them for the riot which led to the death of Ponce's eldest son. This episode is known as the Mutiny of the Trout
and its historicity is debated.
On 12 November, at Sahagún
on the border between León and Castile, Ponce made over to the monastery his lands at Cisneros
, at Cordovilla
, and at a place called Villafilal, probably Villafalé. Four of his vassals—Rodrigo Pérez Pedro Martínez, Diego Pérez Almadrán, and his majordomo Martín Díaz—were witnesses to this donation and went into exile with him. Probably Ponce was preparing to leave the kingdom and wished to safeguard these estates from the royal grasp. His break with Ferdinand is evidenced in his diplomatic: his charter begnis "I, Ponce, count by the grace of God
", a formula generally used to indicate sovereignty or the rejection of vassallage. While visiting the monastery Ponce also settled a dispute over a certain estate at Melgar de Arriba
with the abbot, who also claimed it. After arranging affairs in León, Ponce crossed the border into Castile and took up service with the Castilian king, Sancho III. His tenancy of Senabria was confiscated and given to Menendo Braganza, Ferdinand's alférez
or standard-bearer (signifer).
, which brought the rebellious king Sancho VI
to submission. On 25 January 1158 the campaign was over and Ponce had rejoined the Castilian court at Almazán
on the Duero, where Sancho granted privileges to the abbey of Santa María de Valbuena and made sure that his scribe drawing up the charter noted that "king Sancho of Navarre [was reigning as] a vassal of the lord king".
In February, at Nágima, Ponce was present for the signing of a treaty between Sancho III and Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, also ruling Aragon
. He continued with the royal court as it moved through Soria
and Segovia
and by March was at Ávila. There he left it and went to Sahagún. Sometime during this period Ponce and the other magnates who had gone into exile at the same time convinced Sancho to defend their claims against his brother. At Sahagún on 13 March, Sancha Raimúndez, one of the most powerful women in the kingdom, made a grant to the monastery of Santervás de Campos
, and Ponce was among the signatories, along with Ramiro Fróilaz and Osorio Martínez and the bishops of León and Palencia, who may have been acting as intermediaries between Ferdinand and Sancho.
By 30 March Sancho III had joined Sancha and Ponce at Sahagún, in time to witness another donation of hers, this time to the church of Sigüenza
of a mill at Toledo. Ponce remained behind when the royal court moved on to Burgos
in early April, and thence took the Way of Saint James east to Carrión de los Condes in early May. Then the Castilian king decided finally to redress his magnates' grievances against his brother with military action and marched an army to the borders of León. There was apparently some fighting, but in order to prevent further bloodshed the two kings met at Sahagún, where, according to Rodrigo, Sancho said to his brother:
On 23 May the two kings signed a treaty of "peace and true friendship"
. This treaty stipulated that certain lands conquered by Sancho from his brother in the recent conflict were to be returned and held in fealty
(in fidelitate) from Ferdinand. The treaty named three vassals among whom these lands could be distributed: Ponce de Minerva, Ponce de Cabrera and Osorio Martínez. Among those listed by Sancho III to succeed in the conquered lands if any of the above three magnates should die, four were the same vassals of Ponce de Cabrera who had entered into exile with him at Sahagún six months earlier. Ponce confirmed the treaty on the side of Sancho III.
. On 31 August Sancho III died and the regency of his successor, Alfonso VIII
, was disputed. Ponce appears around this time to have returned to Leonese service, for he received back all his confiscated tenancies, including Senabria, and his former position as majordomo of the king's household. His second tenure as majordomo can be traced from at least 14 June 1159 until 4 July 1161, when he may have relinquished it due to old age.
Early in 1161 Ferdinand II began the resettlement of Ciudad Rodrigo
and Ledesma, and he granted the latter in fief to Ponce, who in turn, again perhaps because of old age, bestowed it on his eldest son by his first wife, "Fernando Ponce
[who was] ruling Ledesma under the hand of his father the count". While overseeing the resettlement of Ledesma, Ponce seized the church and gave it to the Knights Hospitaller
. They in turn farmed it out to a knight who was living there with his mistress when the Bishop of Salamanca, Pedro Suárez de Deza, complained to the Roman curia
that "by violence count Ponce had stolen" the church. Although Pope Alexander III
ordered the Hospitallers to return the church to the diocese, they refused and the knight did not move. The conflict long outlived Ponce.
, where "Don Giraldo, my beloved vassal, who in my service died, is buried." This was Count Ponce's son, named after Ponce's father. On 1 January 1162 at Zamora, Ponce himself made a donation to the abbey of Samos of certain properties he held in and around Sarria
in Galicia "for the sould of my most cherished son Geraldo Ponce, who in this monastery of Samos rests entombed."
Ponce died shortly after his final act, his donatio for his son's soul, and he was buried in the Cathedral of Zamora. On 25 May 1163 his surviving children made a joint donation to the canons
of Zamora of a parcel of land at Villarrín de Campos
for the sake of their father's soul. There is a seemingly authentic charter witnessed by Ponce de Cabrera as lord of Villafranca del Bierzo
dated 13 March 1165. The count was dead by this date, and it appears the date on this genuine charter is incorrect. Ponce's death has sometimes been mistakenly placed in 1169.
Núñez. She is an obscure woman whose family connexions are unknown. She gave Ponce two daughters, Beatriz and Sancha, and two sons, Fernando el Mayor
and Giraldo. His daughter Sancha married Vela Gutiérrez.
Ponce's second wife was María Fernández, daughter of Count Fernando Pérez de Traba and Sancha González. They were married sometime before 26 March 1142, date of their donation of property at Pobladura to the monastery of Tojos Outos. The high status of Ponce's second wife, compared to the obscurity of his first, corresponds to his own increased status by 1142. María bore Ponce another son, Fernando el Menor
. She outlived Ponce by at least six years, and on 13 January 1169, "detained by long and serious illness", she had her will drawn up.
on at least three occasions (5 October 1143, 18 November 1153 and 30 July 1156). He probably also received royal land from Ferdinand II in 1158. There is a surviving copy of royal charter dated 18 October 1152 at Guadalajara
, wherein Alfonso VII grants Ponce the village of Almonacid
on the Tagus, but it is probably a forgery. In December 1155, Ponce and Fernando Rodríguez de Castro
granted a charter to the settlers of their estates at Pulgar
in central Iberia. Ponce may have received his part of Pulgar as a reward from the emperor, since his other major rewards in land for military service came in 1153 and 1156.
On 30 July 1156 Ponce received from the emperor the village of San Pedro de Ceque
in Senabria. In Senabria, which he ruled until his shortly before his death, he also owned estates at Galende
and Trefacio
. He also owned land in his other tenancies, already mentioned: in Tierra de Campos at Villafalé on the river Esla
and at Cisneros on the road from Sahagún to Palencia
, near Zamora at Villarrín, and near Salamanca at Cordovilla. In Galicia, where he was less active, he owned property at Sarria.
As a leading magnate of two kingdoms, an important palatine official, and ruler of a large marcher barony, Ponce de Cabrera kept a had a large following of knights who helped him rule his territories and discharge his obligations as a vassal of the crown in time of war. One of the first vassals of knightly rank who can be glimpsed in the entourage of Ponce is Pedro Rodríguez de Sanabria, who was with him to witness the first donation of Ponce and María Fernández as husband and wife. At Toledo on 4 May 1145, "at the request of the Lord Count Ponce, whose knight he is", the emperor made over the deserted village of Calabor in Senabria to Pedro Rodríguez to resettle. On 14 May 1149 the emperor granted the village of Nogales
to the count's son-in-law Vela Gutiérrez "out of love for the service which you have done me many times and are doing for me daily." These grants suggest that Ponce's landed estates were meagre in comparison to native-born lords, requiring him to rely on his suzerain to sufficiently compensate his vassals for their service. When the count's daughter and Vela founded a Benedictine
monastery at Nogales in 1150, they thanked her father in their foundation charter for his "counsel and aid" (consilio vel auxilio) in obtaining the land.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1105–1162), called Ponç Guerau in Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
, was a Catalan nobleman who came to León in the entourage of Berenguela
Berenguela of Barcelona
Berenguela or Berengaria of Barcelona was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia She was the daughter of Raimon III of Barcelona and Dulce Aldonza Milhaud...
, daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona
Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona
Ramon Berenguer III the Great was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1082 , Besalú from 1111, Cerdanya from 1117, and Provence, in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1112, all until his death in Barcelona in 1131...
, when she married Alfonso VII of León and Castile at Saldaña
Saldaña
-Places:*Saldana Municipality*Saldaña, Palencia*Saldaña, Colombia*Saldaña de Burgos*Saldaña River...
in November 1127. Immediately after his arrival, Ponce assumed a position of some importance in the kingdom. By 1143 he was numbered among the 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...
s, the highest grade of the Leonese nobility. By 1145 he had been appointed the king's majordomo, the highest-ranking official in the realm.
Catalan origins
Ponce was a son of Guerau II de Cabrera, the first viscount of Àger and GironaGirona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
, and thus a great-grandson of Arnau Mir de Tost
Arnau Mir de Tost
Arnau Mir de Tost was a Catalan nobleman of Urgell, the lord of Llordà and viscount of Àger, a major figure in the eleventh-century Reconquista in Catalonia...
. His mother was Guerau's second wife, Elvira, probably a daughter of the Leonese magnate 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....
and Elo Alfonso. Ponce was born between 1098 and 1105, and from 1122 he shared the government of the Cabrera lands with his father, whom he succeeded in 1132. By 1145 a different man, Guerau III de Cabrera
Guerau III de Cabrera
Guerau III de Cabrera , also called Guiraut de Cabreira, was a Catalan nobleman and Occitan troubadour. He was the viscount of Àger and Cabrera from 1145....
, is found ruling Àger and Girona. It was once erroneously believed that another Ponce de Cabrera, perhaps a brother or cousin, ruled the family's Catalan lands from 1128 until his death 1145.
Establishing a base of power in western León
The first evidence of Ponce's presence in the kingdom of León is the dating clause of a private charter dated 27 October 1128, which states that it was drawn up while "Ponce Giraldo and his merinoMerindad
Merindad is a Mediaeval Spanish administrative term that refers to a country subdivision smaller than a province but larger than a municipality. It was roughly approximate to the English count or bailiff...
Pelayo Peláez [were] ruling the castle of Ulver", that is, modern Cornatel
Cornatel
Cornăţel may refer to several villages in Romania:* Cornăţel, a village in Buzoeşti Commune, Argeş County* Cornăţel, a village in Urecheşti Commune, Bacău County* Cornăţel, a village in Roşia Commune, Sibiu County...
on the southern edge of the Bierzo. This charter is preserved in the cartulary (tumbo) of the monastery of San Pedro de Montes, where Ponce seems to have been much esteemed—a charter of a later date refers to him as "the most noble Count Ponce". Ulver had been held by the powerful magnate Ramiro Fróilaz
Ramiro Fróilaz
Ramiro Fróilaz was a Leonese magnate, statesman, and military leader. He was a dominant figure in the kingdom during the reigns of Alfonso VII and Ferdinand II. He was primarily a territorial governor, but also a court figure, connected to royalty both by blood and by marriage...
as late as May earlier that year, and by July 1133 it was back in his hands. It is possible that it was returned to his hold much earlier and that Ponce's rule was very brief. It was certainly only at the behest of Alfonso VI that an important castle in the region of one of the most powerful men in the kingdom could be bestowed on a relative newcomer like Ponce. Ponce later acquired lands in the district of Senabria
Senabria
Sanabria is a comarca in the northeast of the province of Zamora, western Spain, situated between Galicia, Portugal and the province of León. It belongs to the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León...
, south of the Bierzo and across the Sierra de la Cabrera, where charters preserved in the cartulary of San Martín de Castañeda record two property exchanges he made in 1132 and 1135.
Some time earlier Ponce purchased some land at Covelo (an unidentified site) from one Pedro Bellido. On 31 March 1132 he sold the same land to García Pérez and his wife Velasquita for a breastplate
Breastplate
A breastplate is a device worn over the torso to protect it from injury, as an item of religious significance, or as an item of status. A breastplate is sometimes worn by mythological beings as a distinctive item of clothing.- Armour :...
, a mule
Mule
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes. Of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny...
and thirty rolls of linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
. In August 1135 he more land "in the territory of Senabria" beside the river Tera to the same couple for a mule valued at fifty morabetinos and a horse worth eighty. Both these donations indicate that at the time "Ponce [was] ruling Senabria." His control of Senabria and the surrounding territory lasted until shortly before his death.
Around the same time, between 1129 and 1138, Ponce also came into neighbouring districts of La Cabrera and Morales
Morales de Toro
Morales de Toro is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 1,078 inhabitants....
, which had previously been under the lordship of Ramiro Fróilaz. Ponce later served closely with Ramiro on several military campaigns. The two even shared the tenancy of Astorga in 1154, and probably somewhat later that of Villafranca del Bierzo
Villafranca del Bierzo
thumb|250px|Castle of Villafranca.Vilafranca del Bierzo is a village and municipality located in the comarca of El Bierzo, in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain.It is one of Galician speaking councils of Castilla y León....
.
Relationship with the royal court
Although Ponce benefited early in his career from royal patronage, he was at first "a fairly peripheral figure ... one among a large number of second-rate Leonese nobles who lacked the wealth and political clout of the great magnates of the realm." During the first half of Alfonso VII's reign, Ponce was rarely in attendance at the curia regis (royal court), where noble attendees "were expected to counsel the monarch in the day-to-day business of government." The first record of Ponce at court dates to 25 March 1129, when the court was staying at PalenciaPalencia
Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...
and the king made a grant to the archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela
Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela
The Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela , established by Pope Calixtus II in 1120, is one of the five districts in which the Catholic Church divides Galicia in North-western Spain....
, witnessed by Ponce among others. Although he was at court still, or again, on 8 July, that was the last time before 23 March 1131, making his an absence of almost three years. During the decade of the 1130s his attendance at court was sporadic, marked by another three-year absence (28 May 1132 – 29 May 1135) and one of two years (2 October 1136 – 14 September 1138).
The reasons for such prolonged absences cannot be ascertained with certainty today, but at least four possibilities are likely: poor health, the need to visit his Catalan territories, the demands of military campaigns elsewhere, or the loss of royal favour. In 1139 Ponce took part in the successful Siege of Oreja
Siege of Oreja
The Siege of Oreja by the forces of Alfonso VII, Emperor of Spain, lasted from April to October 1139, when the Almoravid garrison surrendered. It was the first major victory of the renewed Reconquista that characterised the last two decades of Alfonso's reign.-Principal sources:The main source for...
, where Alfonso reconquered the city from the Muslims. On 22 February 1140, Ponce was at Carrión de los Condes
Carrión de los Condes
Carrión de los Condes is a municipality in the province of Palencia, part of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León, Spain.It is 40 kilometers from Palencia, on the Way of Saint James.-History:...
to witness the treaty between Alfonso VII and Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, which treaty is preserved in the Liber feudorum maior
Liber feudorum maior
The Liber feudorum maior , originally called the Liber domini regis , is a late twelfth-century illuminated cartulary of the Crown of Aragon. It was compiled by the royal archivist Ramon de Caldes with the help of Guillem de Bassa for Alfonso II, beginning in 1192...
. The next year (1141), Ponce joined the punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
Alfonso led against his cousin Afonso Henriques, who had proclaimed himself King of Portugal in contravention to a treaty he had signed with Alfonso. His presence in Portugal is attested in 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...
, which reports that he was captured at the Tournament of Valdevez
Battle of Valdevez
The Battle of Valdevez took place at Arcos de Valdevez on the banks of the river Vez between the Kingdom of León and the Kingdom of Portugal in the summer of 1140 or 1141. It is one of only two pitched battles that Alfonso VII of León is known to have fought, and the only of the two not coincident...
, and in a charter given by Alfonso at Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
on 23 September 1141. It is possible that the Catalan fought with distinction in these two wars in Andalusia and Portugal, which came on the eve of his rise to power at court. As a tenant (tenente) of the crown, he would have been expected to raise a contingent of knights (milites) and infantry (pedites) for the campaigns.
Prince of Zamora
There is a dubious charter dated 12 February 1140 that refers to Ponce as lord of Castrotorafe and ZamoraZamora, 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 former he is not otherwise recorded as ruling; the latter he is known to have ruled only between 6 June 1142 and 6 November 1159. There is a charter slightly earlier, dated 5 April 1142, that refers to Ponce as "Ponce, count in Zamora" (Poncius comite in Zamora), but the use of the comital title is anachronistic, as there is no other evidence he held it before June. There is a more ambitious forgery in the purported fuero
Fuero
Fuero , Furs , Foro and Foru is a Spanish legal term and concept.The word comes from Latin forum, an open space used as market, tribunal and meeting place...
of Castrotrafe, dated 2 February 1129, which cites Ponce as "ruling Zamora" (mandante Çamora) over a decade before he is otherwise known to have done so. There is no other evidence of Ponce holding Castrotorafe in lordship, but he is known to have had close contact with the town.
The earliest clear and unambiguous reference to Ponce ruling Zamora and its district is in the list of confirmants (confirmantes) ofAlfonso's grant of the village of Fradejas to the Diocese of Zamora on 6 June 1142. This document, which refers to Ponce as "at this time prince of Zamora" (princeps eo tempore Cemore), was drawn up while Alfonso was besieging Coria
Siege of Coria (1142)
The second Siege of Coria by the Emperor Alfonso VII of León was begun in early May 1142 and ended with the taking of the town in June. Coria had previously been reconquered just after 1085 by Alfonso VI. It was lost to the Almoravids sometime not long after Alfonso's death in 1109. Alfonso VII had...
and indicates that Ponce participated in that campaign. Zamora had previously been held by Osorio Martínez
Osorio Martínez
Osorio Martínez was a magnate from the Province of León in the Empire of Alfonso VII. He served the emperor militarily throughout his long career, which peaked in 1138–41. Besides the documentary sources, which are somewhat meagre at times after his fall from royal favour, he is mentioned in two...
, the brother of Rodrigo Martínez
Rodrigo Martínez
Rodrigo Martínez was a Leonese nobleman, landowner, courtier, military leader, governor, and diplomat, "the most powerful lay figure in the region of the western Tierra de Campos," who "emerges as far and away the most regular visitor to the court of Alfonso VII between 1127 and 1138." He was a...
, who had died at an earlier siege of Coria in 1138
Siege of Coria (1138)
The short first Siege of Coria by Alfonso VII of León took place in July 1138, on the heels of a successful razzia deep into al-Andalus . The main source for the siege is the second book of the contemporary Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris.Coria had previously been reconquered just after 1085 by...
. At around the time of the second siege, Osorio became estranged from the emperor and his fiefs, which had previously been held by Rodrigo, were confiscated. Ponce benefited from his fall, for not only Zamora, but Melgar de Abajo
Melgar de Abajo
Melgar de Abajo is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2010 census , the municipality has a population of 145 inhabitants.- Demography :...
in the Tierra de Campos
Tierra de Campos
Tierra de Campos is a large historical region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain...
and Malgrat (modern Benavente
Benavente, Zamora
Benavente is a municipality in the north of the province of Zamora, in the autonomous community Castile and León of Spain. It has about 20,000 inhabitants....
) between Zamora and León were transferred from Osorio's possession to his, by at the latest 27 April 1146 and 7 February 1148, respectively. Ponce was soon expanding his lordship in the Tierra de Campos: by 1146 he had the tenancy of Villalpando
Villalpando
Villalpando is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 1,624 inhabitants. Formerly the town was reputed for its saltpans, the Salinas de Villapando....
and by 1151 he had received Villafáfila
Villafáfila
Villafáfila is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 628 inhabitants....
.
It is possible that Ponce received two other large tenancies in southern León at this time, 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 Castrotorafe. The evidence that Ponce ever held the latter is inconclusive, but he had received that of Salamanca by 21 January 1144 at the latest and possibly at the same time as he was granted nearby Zamora. The Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, a contemporary account of Alfonso VII's reign, relates how the Salamancas were defeated four times in the years 1132–33 before "they offered tithes and their first fruits to God, and [were] favored [with] the gift of valor and prudence while waging war, [for which] reason, subsequent to their prayers, they were a constant threat to the Moors in their own land under the leadership of Count Poncio, [fighting] several battles and [winning] great victories which included great spoils, [t]he city of Salamanca [becoming] famous for its knights and infantry [and growing] very rich from the spoils of war."
Shortly after the reconquest of Coria, but no earlier than 29 June, Ponce parted from the royal court and probably headed for Zamora. He was there when Alfonso VII visited on 5 October 1143, and gratefully bestowed on him the deserted village of Moreruela de Frades, located about thirty kilometres north of Zamora. There Ponce founded an abbey dedicated to Santa María
Moreruela Abbey
Moreruela Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in the province of Zamora in Castile and León, Spain.- Location :...
for some Cistercian monks, probably the first of its kind in Spain. The original charter granting him the village stipulated that he should build a monastery there and "maintain and conserve" (manuteneat et conservet) it. On 28 July 1156, acting for the monks, he procured a "pact of friendship" (pactum amiciciarum) with the townsmen of Castrotorafe, and he endowed the Cistercians with more land, but there is no record of his favouring the monastery much beyond this. It was left to his kin and descendants to endow the monastery with lands throughout Spain and make it "one of the wealthiest houses in the peninsula" in the thirteenth century.
Count and majordomo
After the Emperor's visit to Moreruela, Ponce continued with the court as it moved across the realm as far east as NájeraNájera
Nájera is a small town located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, Spain on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the Way of St James.-History:...
, where Alfonso made a donation to the great Abbey of Cluny on 29 October 1143. This document is the earliest surviving evidence of a promotion which Ponce must have received in during the previous three weeks: he was raised to the rank of 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...
(Latin comes, meaning originally "companion[-in-arms]"), which was then the highest rank in the empire. In the charter of donation to Cluny he appears as Poncius de Cabreria comes. Thereafter, Ponce was a constant member of the court, which on account of its wide membership and its itinerant nature, winding its way through all of Alfonso's dominions, may be called the curia imperatoris (imperial court). Ponce's own "vast lordship ... snaked its way some 200 km south along the border with Portugal from La Cabrera ... down as far as the river Tormes" and included the cities of Zamora, Salamanca and Malgrat.
Ponce only rarely left the court throughout 1144, and in early 1145 he was appointed imperial majordomo (maiordomus imperatoris), the most prestigious office in the empire, to replace Diego Muñoz. Except for a brief period in the spring of 1146, when he relinquished the post to Ermengol VI of Urgell
Ermengol VI of Urgell
Ermengol VI , called el de Castilla, was the Count of Urgell from 1102 to his death. He was the son and successor of Ermengol V and María Ansúrez.He was born in Valladolid, whence his nickname comes...
, Ponce remained majordomo down to the death of Alfonso, but it cannot be discerned from the sources that survive whether that post still included "overall responsibility for the organisation of the royal household" or was largely ceremonial by the mid-twelfth century. On one of Ponce's rare absences, Pelayo Curvo stood in his place as majordomo and confirmed an imperial charter (15 October 1146).
Military campaigns
Between 1146 and the emperor's death in 1157, Ponce participated in almost every military expedition waged by Alfonso. In April–May 1146 he was with the army that conquered CórdobaCórdoba, 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...
and raided its Great Mosque. He witnessed an imperial charter of 19 April, which was drawn up "after returning to the earthworks, where the above named emperor made the prince of the Moors, Abengania, his vassal, and a certain part of Córdoba was plundered with its great mosque." Later that year Ponce, along with Manrique Pérez
Manrique Pérez de Lara
Manrique Pérez de Lara was a magnate of the Kingdom of Castile and its regent from 1158 until his death. He was one of the most important counsellors and generals of three successive Castilian monarchs: Alfonso VII , Sancho III and Alfonso VIII...
, Ermengol of Urgell and Martín Fernández, led the force that defeated and killed Sayf al-Dawla, a emir
Emir
Emir , meaning "commander", "general", or "prince"; also transliterated as Amir, Aamir or Ameer) is a title of high office, used throughout the Muslim world...
and vassal of the emperor who had revolted. The Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris, which narrates this campaign, names Ponce before the other Christian leaders.
In January 1147 Ponce was present at the conquest of Calatrava
Calatrava la Vieja
Calatrava la Vieja is a medieval site and original nucleus of the Order of Calatrava. It is now part of the Archaeological Parks of the Community of Castile-La Mancha. Situated at Carrión de Calatrava, Calatrava during the High Middle Ages was the only important city in the Guadiana River valley...
, where he is attested on the ninth of the month. He was present with the imperial army at Baeza
Baeza
Baeza is a town of approximately 16,200 inhabitants in Andalusia, Spain, in the province of Jaén, perched on a cliff in the Loma de Baeza, a mountain range between the river Guadalquivir on the south and its tributary the Guadalimar on the north. It is chiefly known today as having many of the...
both on the journey to (18 August) and from (25 November) the successful Siege of Almería on the Mediterranean coast
Costa de Almería
The Costa de Almería consists of the coastal municipalities of the province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The coast extends and includes 13 municipalities, from Pulpí on the border with the province of Murcia to Adra on the border with the province of...
, and so his participation is certain. After the city was occupied, and a portion given to the Republic of Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
, as per an earlier agreement, Ponce was enfeoffed with the imperial portion. A contemporary Latin poem, the Prefatio de Almaria, probably by the same author as the Chronica Adefonsi, describes the preparations for the campaign against Almería with a roll-call of the major nobles participating. The section concerning Ponce is lengthy, with many allusions to classical mythology
Classical mythology
Classical mythology or Greco-Roman mythology is the cultural reception of myths from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Along with philosophy and political thought, mythology represents one of the major survivals of classical antiquity throughout later Western culture.Classical mythology has provided...
and the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
:
- Count Poncio, a noble lance, commands the group.
- He possessed the strength of SamsonSamsonSamson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....
and the sword of Gideon. - He was equal to JonasJonahJonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
, illustrious as a ship of the Lord. - He was the leader of the people as the strong HectorHectorIn Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
was, - As generous and true as the invincible AjaxAjax (mythology)Ajax or Aias was a mythological Greek hero, the son of Telamon and Periboea and king of Salamis. He plays an important role in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War. To distinguish him from Ajax, son of Oileus , he is called "Telamonian Ajax," "Greater...
. - He yielded to no one. Never retreating from combat,
- He did not turn aside his sword, nor did he flee to the rearguard.
- Count Poncio forgets his wife and love when he does battle.
- He rejects the table while war is waged.
- Feasts are declined, for he revels more in wounding the enemy.
- When he brandishes his lance, the evil race falls without strength.
- He never suffers from the ardors of battle.
- His strong arm wounds, his voice resounds, the enemy is brought to the ground.
- When Count Poncio gives counsel, he has the wisdom of SolomonSolomonSolomon , according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before...
. - He prefers the sword to the feast. He himself calculates the months
- And prepares the food. He distributes the wine
- To his weary knights while removing his heavy helmet.
- He is death to the Moors. Almería was later a witness to this.
- This consul Poncio would prefer to be exiled
- During the campaign rather than put aside his sword.
- He always pleases the Emperor with such merit.
- He is enriched by the favor of the king because of the wars which he has won.
- Count Poncio overcomes all kingdoms with his supreme courage.
In 1150 Ponce took part in the imperial siege of Córdoba, and in 1151 in that of Jaén
Jaén, Spain
Jaén is a city in south-central Spain, the name is derived from the Arabic word Jayyan, . It is the capital of the province of Jaén. It is located in the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. In 1152 he was probably with the army that attacked Guadix
Guadix
Guadix, a city of southern Spain, in the province of Granada; on the left bank of the river Guadix, a sub-tributary of the Guadiana Menor, and on the Madrid-Valdepeñas-Almería railway...
and Lorca
Lorca
Lorca is a municipality and town in the autonomous community of Murcia in southeastern Spain, 36 miles southwest of the city of Murcia. It had a population of 92,694 in 2010, up from the 2001 census total of 77,477. Lorca is the municipality with the second-largest surface area in Spain with...
, because when on 5 September at Uclés
Uclés
Uclés is a municipality located in the province of Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 287 inhabitants....
the emperor "returned from Lorca ... in the year in which he had Guadix surrounded", Ponce was with him.
On 18 November 1152 Alfonso VII rewarded Ponce "my faithful vassal, for the good and faithful [military] service which [he] rendered me at Almería and in many other places, naturally in the provinces of the Christians and also in those of the Saracens" by granting him the castle of Albuher (modern Villamanrique
Villamanrique de Tajo
Villamanrique de Tajo is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain....
on the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
) in the extreme south of his dominions, between Oreja, in whose conquest Ponce had participated in 1139, and Almoguera
Almoguera
Almoguera is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 1,418 inhabitants....
. In 1153 Ponce gained the tenancy 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....
on the river Duero in the region of Zamora near the border with Portugal, an important defensive position. At this juncture his tenancies and personal estates were so geographically diverse and his power at court so great it has been said that he "bestrode the kingdom like a colossus". In 1155 Ponce fought at the conquest of Andújar
Andújar
Andújar is a Spanish municipality of 38,539 people in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andújar is situated. To the south are agricultural fields and...
, where he can be traced on 15 June.
Exile from the court of Ferdinand II
Shortly before the death of Alfonso VII, perhaps aware of the impending division of his empire between his sons Sancho IIISancho III of Castile
Sancho III was King of Castile and Toledo for one year, from 1157 to 1158. During the Reconquista, in which he took an active part, he founded the Order of Calatrava...
, who inherited Castile
Kingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
and Toledo
Kingdom of Toledo
The Kingdom of Toledo was the juridical definition of a Christian medieval kingdom in what is now central Spain, created after Alfonso VI of León's capture of Toledo in 1085.-Background:...
, and Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II of Leon
Ferdinand II was King of León and Galicia from 1157 to his death.-Life:Born in Toledo, Castile, he was the son of King Alfonso VII of León and Castile and of Berenguela, of the House of Barcelona. At his father's death, he received León and Galicia, while his brother Sancho received Castile and...
, who inherited León and Galicia
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...
, Count Ponce relinquished the castle of Albuher at Villamanrique, in the kingdom of Toledo, which also fell to Sancho III. After the death of the empror (1157) and the division of the realm, Ponce became a follower of Ferdinand II. He continued in his office of majordomo in the first year of Ferdinand's reign, and he attended the great gathering of all the highest nobility and clergy of the kingdom and the king of Portugal on 9 October 1157. Ponce continued with the court after it left Galicia, at least as far as Villalpando, his own tenancy, where on 13 October he confirmed a royal donation to Velasco Menéndez. This is the last record of Ponce with the Leonese royal court before he went into exile. He was almost certainly gone before the next surviving royal diploma was drawn up on 24 November. The reason for the exile is not clear, but according to the Historia Gothica of the thirteenth-century Navarrese historian Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada
Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada was a Navarrese-born Castilian Roman Catholic bishop and historian....
, Ferdinand II, generally "pious, merciful and generous", came to believe certain false rumours about Ponce spread by his enemies at court. In response, he confiscated Ponce's fiefs and those of some other noblemen, and sent them into exile. An even later source gives a different account. Ponce was exiled at the behest of the rebellious citizens of Zamora, who feared he would punish them for the riot which led to the death of Ponce's eldest son. This episode is known as the Mutiny of the Trout
Mutiny of the Trout
The Mutiny of the Trout was a semi-legendary popular revolt in Zamora, Spain, in late 1157. The uprising is not mention before its appearance in a late 15th-century manuscript and several later manuscripts...
and its historicity is debated.
On 12 November, at Sahagún
Sahagún
Sahagún can refer to:*Sahagún, Spain, a town and monastery in Léon, Spain. Cradle of the Mudéjar architecture*Sahagún, Córdoba, the second town in population in Córdoba Department, Colombia, also called "The Cultural City of Cordoba"People...
on the border between León and Castile, Ponce made over to the monastery his lands at Cisneros
Cisneros, Palencia
Cisneros is a Spanish municipality belonging to the province of Palencia, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León....
, at Cordovilla
Cordovilla
Cordovilla is a village and municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located 25 kilometres from the provincial capital city of Salamanca and has a population of 137 people.-Geography:...
, and at a place called Villafilal, probably Villafalé. Four of his vassals—Rodrigo Pérez Pedro Martínez, Diego Pérez Almadrán, and his majordomo Martín Díaz—were witnesses to this donation and went into exile with him. Probably Ponce was preparing to leave the kingdom and wished to safeguard these estates from the royal grasp. His break with Ferdinand is evidenced in his diplomatic: his charter begnis "I, Ponce, count by the grace of God
By the Grace of God
By the Grace of God is an introductory part of the full styles of a monarch taken to be ruling by divine right, not a title in its own right....
", a formula generally used to indicate sovereignty or the rejection of vassallage. While visiting the monastery Ponce also settled a dispute over a certain estate at Melgar de Arriba
Melgar de Arriba
Melgar de Arriba is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 271 inhabitants....
with the abbot, who also claimed it. After arranging affairs in León, Ponce crossed the border into Castile and took up service with the Castilian king, Sancho III. His tenancy of Senabria was confiscated and given to Menendo Braganza, Ferdinand's 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...
or standard-bearer (signifer).
Service to Sancho III
Immediately after joining Sancho III, Ponce was set to work. He led a short campaign against NavarreKingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
, which brought the rebellious king Sancho VI
Sancho VI of Navarre
Sancho VI Garcés , called the Wise , was the king of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194....
to submission. On 25 January 1158 the campaign was over and Ponce had rejoined the Castilian court at Almazán
Almazán
Almazán is a municipality located in the province of Soria, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 5,755 inhabitants.- External links :*...
on the Duero, where Sancho granted privileges to the abbey of Santa María de Valbuena and made sure that his scribe drawing up the charter noted that "king Sancho of Navarre [was reigning as] a vassal of the lord king".
In February, at Nágima, Ponce was present for the signing of a treaty between Sancho III and Count Raymond Berengar IV of Barcelona, also ruling Aragon
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
. He continued with the royal court as it moved through Soria
Soria
Soria is a city in north-central Spain, the capital of the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile and León. , the municipality has a population of c. 39,500 inhabitants, nearly 40% of the population of the province...
and Segovia
Segovia
Segovia is a city in Spain, the capital of Segovia Province in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is situated north of Madrid, 30 minutes by high speed train. The municipality counts some 55,500 inhabitants.-Etymology:...
and by March was at Ávila. There he left it and went to Sahagún. Sometime during this period Ponce and the other magnates who had gone into exile at the same time convinced Sancho to defend their claims against his brother. At Sahagún on 13 March, Sancha Raimúndez, one of the most powerful women in the kingdom, made a grant to the monastery of Santervás de Campos
Santervás de Campos
Santervás de Campos is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. , the municipality has a population of 137 inhabitants....
, and Ponce was among the signatories, along with Ramiro Fróilaz and Osorio Martínez and the bishops of León and Palencia, who may have been acting as intermediaries between Ferdinand and Sancho.
By 30 March Sancho III had joined Sancha and Ponce at Sahagún, in time to witness another donation of hers, this time to the church of Sigüenza
Sigüenza
Sigüenza is a city in the province of Guadalajara in Spain.-History:The site of the ancient Segontia of the Celtiberian Arevaci, now called Villavieja , is half a league distant from the present Sigüenza...
of a mill at Toledo. Ponce remained behind when the royal court moved on to Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...
in early April, and thence took the Way of Saint James east to Carrión de los Condes in early May. Then the Castilian king decided finally to redress his magnates' grievances against his brother with military action and marched an army to the borders of León. There was apparently some fighting, but in order to prevent further bloodshed the two kings met at Sahagún, where, according to Rodrigo, Sancho said to his brother:
Since our father divided the kingdom between us, both you and I are held to share the land and its produce with our magnates, with whose help our forefathers possessed the lost land and repulsed the Arabs. Therefore, as you have returned their fiefs to count Ponce de Minerva [sic] and the other magnates, whom you deprived, and do not believe the rumours against them, I am returning behind my borders.
On 23 May the two kings signed a treaty of "peace and true friendship"
Treaty of Sahagún (1158)
The Treaty of Sahagún ended a state of war between the Castile and León, establishing pacem et ueram amiciciam between their respective monarchs, Sancho III and Ferdinand II, who called themselves boni fratres et boni amici...
. This treaty stipulated that certain lands conquered by Sancho from his brother in the recent conflict were to be returned and held in fealty
Fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...
(in fidelitate) from Ferdinand. The treaty named three vassals among whom these lands could be distributed: Ponce de Minerva, Ponce de Cabrera and Osorio Martínez. Among those listed by Sancho III to succeed in the conquered lands if any of the above three magnates should die, four were the same vassals of Ponce de Cabrera who had entered into exile with him at Sahagún six months earlier. Ponce confirmed the treaty on the side of Sancho III.
Restoration in León
On 1 July 1158 a reconciled Ponce de Cabrera confirmed Ferdinand's grant to Rodrigo Sebastiánez, a monk of OviedoOviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
. On 31 August Sancho III died and the regency of his successor, Alfonso VIII
Alfonso VIII of Castile
Alfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...
, was disputed. Ponce appears around this time to have returned to Leonese service, for he received back all his confiscated tenancies, including Senabria, and his former position as majordomo of the king's household. His second tenure as majordomo can be traced from at least 14 June 1159 until 4 July 1161, when he may have relinquished it due to old age.
Early in 1161 Ferdinand II began the resettlement of Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population of about 14,000. It is the seat of a judicial district as well....
and Ledesma, and he granted the latter in fief to Ponce, who in turn, again perhaps because of old age, bestowed it on his eldest son by his first wife, "Fernando Ponce
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Mayor
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera , called el Mayor , was an important nobleman of the Kingdom of León, the second son of three of Ponce de Cabrera, a Catalan baron who had emigrated to León, and his first wife, Sancha , who was deceased by 1142. He married Guiomar Rodríguez, daughter of Rodrigo Pérez de...
[who was] ruling Ledesma under the hand of his father the count". While overseeing the resettlement of Ledesma, Ponce seized the church and gave it to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
. They in turn farmed it out to a knight who was living there with his mistress when the Bishop of Salamanca, Pedro Suárez de Deza, complained to the Roman curia
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
that "by violence count Ponce had stolen" the church. Although Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
ordered the Hospitallers to return the church to the diocese, they refused and the knight did not move. The conflict long outlived Ponce.
Retirement, death and legacy
For the rest of the year 1161, possibly due to failing health, Ponce relinquished his tenancies and began moving into a retirement. His last known appearance at Ferdinand's court came on 6 July, although no royal charter have survived from between then and 24 February 1162. His final appearances as lord in Senabria, Melgar de Abajo, Salamanca and Villalpando all came in this year. On 5 May King Ferdinand granted privileges to the monks of San Julián de SamosMonasterio de San Julián de Samos
Monasterio de San Julián de Samos is a monastery in Galicia, Spain....
, where "Don Giraldo, my beloved vassal, who in my service died, is buried." This was Count Ponce's son, named after Ponce's father. On 1 January 1162 at Zamora, Ponce himself made a donation to the abbey of Samos of certain properties he held in and around Sarria
Sarria
Sarria is a municipality in the province of Lugo, northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Sarria is the most densely populate town on the French Way in Galicia, with 13 700 inhabitants...
in Galicia "for the sould of my most cherished son Geraldo Ponce, who in this monastery of Samos rests entombed."
Ponce died shortly after his final act, his donatio for his son's soul, and he was buried in the Cathedral of Zamora. On 25 May 1163 his surviving children made a joint donation to the canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Zamora of a parcel of land at Villarrín de Campos
Villarrín de Campos
Villarrín de Campos is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 583 inhabitants....
for the sake of their father's soul. There is a seemingly authentic charter witnessed by Ponce de Cabrera as lord of Villafranca del Bierzo
Villafranca del Bierzo
thumb|250px|Castle of Villafranca.Vilafranca del Bierzo is a village and municipality located in the comarca of El Bierzo, in the province of León, Castile and León, Spain.It is one of Galician speaking councils of Castilla y León....
dated 13 March 1165. The count was dead by this date, and it appears the date on this genuine charter is incorrect. Ponce's death has sometimes been mistakenly placed in 1169.
Marriages and issue
Ponce's first wife was Sancha, perhaps of the patronymicPatronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
Núñez. She is an obscure woman whose family connexions are unknown. She gave Ponce two daughters, Beatriz and Sancha, and two sons, Fernando el Mayor
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Mayor
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera , called el Mayor , was an important nobleman of the Kingdom of León, the second son of three of Ponce de Cabrera, a Catalan baron who had emigrated to León, and his first wife, Sancha , who was deceased by 1142. He married Guiomar Rodríguez, daughter of Rodrigo Pérez de...
and Giraldo. His daughter Sancha married Vela Gutiérrez.
Ponce's second wife was María Fernández, daughter of Count Fernando Pérez de Traba and Sancha González. They were married sometime before 26 March 1142, date of their donation of property at Pobladura to the monastery of Tojos Outos. The high status of Ponce's second wife, compared to the obscurity of his first, corresponds to his own increased status by 1142. María bore Ponce another son, Fernando el Menor
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera el Menor
Fernando Ponce de Cabrera , called el Menor , was an important nobleman of the Kingdom of León.Fernando was a younger son of Ponce de Cabrera, a Catalan baron who had emigrated to León, and María Fernández, daughter of Fernando Pérez de Traba and Sancha González...
. She outlived Ponce by at least six years, and on 13 January 1169, "detained by long and serious illness", she had her will drawn up.
Private estates
Ponce held extensive properties in the kingdoms of Alfonso, largely the product of royal patronage and support. He is known to have received direct grants from the royal fiscFisc
Under the Merovingians and Carolingians, the fisc applied to the royal demesne which paid taxes, entirely in kind, from which the royal household was meant to be supported, though it rarely was...
on at least three occasions (5 October 1143, 18 November 1153 and 30 July 1156). He probably also received royal land from Ferdinand II in 1158. There is a surviving copy of royal charter dated 18 October 1152 at Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Spain
Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...
, wherein Alfonso VII grants Ponce the village of Almonacid
Almonacid de Toledo
Almonacid de Toledo is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 813 inhabitants....
on the Tagus, but it is probably a forgery. In December 1155, Ponce and Fernando Rodríguez de Castro
Fernando Rodríguez de Castro
Fernando Rodríguez de Castro was a Castilian nobleman, statesman and military leader who made his career in León. He was the leader of the House of Castro during the civil wars that followed the death of Sancho III of Castile and the succession of the infant Alfonso VIII...
granted a charter to the settlers of their estates at Pulgar
Pulgar
-References:...
in central Iberia. Ponce may have received his part of Pulgar as a reward from the emperor, since his other major rewards in land for military service came in 1153 and 1156.
On 30 July 1156 Ponce received from the emperor the village of San Pedro de Ceque
San Pedro de Ceque
San Pedro de Ceque is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 651 inhabitants....
in Senabria. In Senabria, which he ruled until his shortly before his death, he also owned estates at Galende
Galende
Galende is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2009 census , the municipality has a population of 1,313 inhabitants....
and Trefacio
Trefacio
Trefacio is a municipality located in the province of Zamora, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 247 inhabitants....
. He also owned land in his other tenancies, already mentioned: in Tierra de Campos at Villafalé on the river Esla
Esla (river)
The Esla is a river in the provinces of León and Zamora in the northwest of Spain. It is a tributary of the Duero River which starts in the Cantabrian Mountains and has 286 km of length, crossing from north to south the provinces of León and Zamora...
and at Cisneros on the road from Sahagún to Palencia
Palencia
Palencia is a city south of Tierra de Campos, in north-northwest Spain, the capital of the province of Palencia in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon...
, near Zamora at Villarrín, and near Salamanca at Cordovilla. In Galicia, where he was less active, he owned property at Sarria.
As a leading magnate of two kingdoms, an important palatine official, and ruler of a large marcher barony, Ponce de Cabrera kept a had a large following of knights who helped him rule his territories and discharge his obligations as a vassal of the crown in time of war. One of the first vassals of knightly rank who can be glimpsed in the entourage of Ponce is Pedro Rodríguez de Sanabria, who was with him to witness the first donation of Ponce and María Fernández as husband and wife. At Toledo on 4 May 1145, "at the request of the Lord Count Ponce, whose knight he is", the emperor made over the deserted village of Calabor in Senabria to Pedro Rodríguez to resettle. On 14 May 1149 the emperor granted the village of Nogales
Nogales, Badajoz
Nogales is a Spanish municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura. It has a population of 692 and an area of 80.7 km².-External links:* *...
to the count's son-in-law Vela Gutiérrez "out of love for the service which you have done me many times and are doing for me daily." These grants suggest that Ponce's landed estates were meagre in comparison to native-born lords, requiring him to rely on his suzerain to sufficiently compensate his vassals for their service. When the count's daughter and Vela founded a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery at Nogales in 1150, they thanked her father in their foundation charter for his "counsel and aid" (consilio vel auxilio) in obtaining the land.