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Pedro Manrique de Lara
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Pedro Manrique de Lara
Pedro Manrique de Lara (died January 1202), commonly called Pedro de Molina or Peter of Lara, was a Castilian nobleman and military leader of the House of Lara. Although he spent most of his career in the service of Alfonso VIII of Castile, he also served briefly Ferdinand II of León (1185–86) and was Viscount of Narbonne by hereditary right after 1192. He was one of the most powerful Castilian magnates of his time, and defended the Kingdom of Toledo and the Extremadura against the Almohads. He also fought the Reconquista in Cuenca, and was a "second founder" of the monasteries of Huerta and Arandilla.
Pedro was married three times. By his first marriage, to a Navarrese princess, he forged a connection with the lineage of the folk hero El Cid, and scholars have suggested that Lara patronage lies behind the epic Poema de mio Cid. Pedro's second wife was a relative of Henry II of England. Pedro's trans-Pyrenean connexions explain his adoption of seals for authenticating documents; he is the first Spanish aristocrat from whom an examples survives. He also adopted the style "by the grace of God" to indicate his independence in ruling the lordship of Molina, which he inherited from his father.
Pedro was the eldest son and heir of Manrique Pérez de Lara and Ermessinde, daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne. He regularly called himself "de Lara", a toponymic surname first employed by his grandfather and namesake Pedro González. Pedro's descendants adopted his own patronymic, Manrique, as part of their surname. Pedro's patrimony was extensive, but he is well known among historians for how much of it he mortgaged or sold for a small profit. This had led to the accusation that he was a poor administrator. He owned land at Cogolludo.
Pedro first appears in a public document on 18 December 1157. Pedro's father died at the Battle of Huete in the summer of 1164 and his semi-independent lordship of Molina was inherited by his widow, who promptly invested half of it in her eldest son. By November 1164 Pedro was governing the eastern fief of Atienza, which his father had held before his death. Dating to 1 March 1165 is the only document that cites Pedro as actually ruling Lara, from which his family took its name.
Pedro's first wife was the infanta Sancha Garcés, a daughter of King García Ramírez of Navarre and his second wife, Urraca, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his mistress Gontrodo Pérez. This was thus a highly auspicious match for the young nobleman. She first appears as his wife in a donation to the Praemonstratensian foundation at La Vid dated to 1165. This presents problems, however, as her first husband, Gaston V of Béarn, did not die until 1170. In May 1172, Pedro and his brother Manrique donated half of the saltworks (salinas) of Tercegüela to the abbey of Santa María de Huerta and Abbot Martín de Finojosa. In February 1173 Manrique along with Sancha donated the remaining half in exchange for a horse. This charter reads was "made in the month of February in the era 1211 in the year when King Sancho of Navarre gave his sister to count Pedro son of Manrique" (facta ... mense febrero in era M.CC.XI in anno quando rex Sancius Navarre dedit sororem suam comiti Petro filio comitis Almarica). This indicates that the marriage must have occurred sometime after February 1172, and as Sancha does not appear with her husband in the donation of May 1172, probably after that date as well.
Sancha and Pedro had three sons: García, Aimerico, and Nuño. Nuño, known as Nuño Pérez II to distinguish him from his great uncle, Nuño Pérez I, was still alive in 1228. He had received the tenencia of Bertabillo. Nuño Pérez I and Pedro Manrique shared the guardianship of the young Alfonso VIII before he attained his majority in 1169. British historian Richard A. Fletcher believed that Manrique, the Bishop of León from 1181 to 1205, was a son of Pedro and Sancha, although it is more likely that he was Pedro's brother.
Sancha was a great-granddaughter of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called the Cid. It has been argued that the author of the Poema de mio Cid, perhaps Per Abbat, was patronised by the Lara family and that the Poema can be read as a work of escarnho e mal dizer ("shaming and cursing") against the Laras' enemies, the Castros (represented in the epic by the Infantes de Carrión). The town of San Esteban de Gormaz, nearby where the daughters of the Cid were beaten and abandoned, was also the site where the Laras, led by Pedro's father, hid the young Alfonso VIII in 1163; and the favourable light shone on Avengalvón, the last Muslim ruler of Molina (which fell to the Christians shortly before 1138), may reflect his relationship with the later Lara rulers of the same.
By 1 September 1166 Pedro was a count (comes in Latin), the highest dignity to which a Castilian nobleman of his time could be appointed by the king. He regularly titled himself Dei gratia, "by the grace of God", a rare usage for a nobleman in twelfth-century Spain, perhaps borrowed from his Occitan or Catalan cousins. There is also an example of his use of the phrase munere divino ("by divine mercy"). In 1168 he was sent to govern the tenencias of Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz in eastern Castile. On 4 October that year he made a donation to the parish church of Molina.
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Pedro Manrique de Lara
Pedro Manrique de Lara (died January 1202), commonly called Pedro de Molina or Peter of Lara, was a Castilian nobleman and military leader of the House of Lara. Although he spent most of his career in the service of Alfonso VIII of Castile, he also served briefly Ferdinand II of León (1185–86) and was Viscount of Narbonne by hereditary right after 1192. He was one of the most powerful Castilian magnates of his time, and defended the Kingdom of Toledo and the Extremadura against the Almohads. He also fought the Reconquista in Cuenca, and was a "second founder" of the monasteries of Huerta and Arandilla.
Pedro was married three times. By his first marriage, to a Navarrese princess, he forged a connection with the lineage of the folk hero El Cid, and scholars have suggested that Lara patronage lies behind the epic Poema de mio Cid. Pedro's second wife was a relative of Henry II of England. Pedro's trans-Pyrenean connexions explain his adoption of seals for authenticating documents; he is the first Spanish aristocrat from whom an examples survives. He also adopted the style "by the grace of God" to indicate his independence in ruling the lordship of Molina, which he inherited from his father.
Pedro was the eldest son and heir of Manrique Pérez de Lara and Ermessinde, daughter of Aimery II of Narbonne. He regularly called himself "de Lara", a toponymic surname first employed by his grandfather and namesake Pedro González. Pedro's descendants adopted his own patronymic, Manrique, as part of their surname. Pedro's patrimony was extensive, but he is well known among historians for how much of it he mortgaged or sold for a small profit. This had led to the accusation that he was a poor administrator. He owned land at Cogolludo.
Pedro first appears in a public document on 18 December 1157. Pedro's father died at the Battle of Huete in the summer of 1164 and his semi-independent lordship of Molina was inherited by his widow, who promptly invested half of it in her eldest son. By November 1164 Pedro was governing the eastern fief of Atienza, which his father had held before his death. Dating to 1 March 1165 is the only document that cites Pedro as actually ruling Lara, from which his family took its name.
Pedro's first wife was the infanta Sancha Garcés, a daughter of King García Ramírez of Navarre and his second wife, Urraca, illegitimate daughter of Alfonso VII of León and Castile and his mistress Gontrodo Pérez. This was thus a highly auspicious match for the young nobleman. She first appears as his wife in a donation to the Praemonstratensian foundation at La Vid dated to 1165. This presents problems, however, as her first husband, Gaston V of Béarn, did not die until 1170. In May 1172, Pedro and his brother Manrique donated half of the saltworks (salinas) of Tercegüela to the abbey of Santa María de Huerta and Abbot Martín de Finojosa. In February 1173 Manrique along with Sancha donated the remaining half in exchange for a horse. This charter reads was "made in the month of February in the era 1211 in the year when King Sancho of Navarre gave his sister to count Pedro son of Manrique" (facta ... mense febrero in era M.CC.XI in anno quando rex Sancius Navarre dedit sororem suam comiti Petro filio comitis Almarica). This indicates that the marriage must have occurred sometime after February 1172, and as Sancha does not appear with her husband in the donation of May 1172, probably after that date as well.
Sancha and Pedro had three sons: García, Aimerico, and Nuño. Nuño, known as Nuño Pérez II to distinguish him from his great uncle, Nuño Pérez I, was still alive in 1228. He had received the tenencia of Bertabillo. Nuño Pérez I and Pedro Manrique shared the guardianship of the young Alfonso VIII before he attained his majority in 1169. British historian Richard A. Fletcher believed that Manrique, the Bishop of León from 1181 to 1205, was a son of Pedro and Sancha, although it is more likely that he was Pedro's brother.
Sancha was a great-granddaughter of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called the Cid. It has been argued that the author of the Poema de mio Cid, perhaps Per Abbat, was patronised by the Lara family and that the Poema can be read as a work of escarnho e mal dizer ("shaming and cursing") against the Laras' enemies, the Castros (represented in the epic by the Infantes de Carrión). The town of San Esteban de Gormaz, nearby where the daughters of the Cid were beaten and abandoned, was also the site where the Laras, led by Pedro's father, hid the young Alfonso VIII in 1163; and the favourable light shone on Avengalvón, the last Muslim ruler of Molina (which fell to the Christians shortly before 1138), may reflect his relationship with the later Lara rulers of the same.
By 1 September 1166 Pedro was a count (comes in Latin), the highest dignity to which a Castilian nobleman of his time could be appointed by the king. He regularly titled himself Dei gratia, "by the grace of God", a rare usage for a nobleman in twelfth-century Spain, perhaps borrowed from his Occitan or Catalan cousins. There is also an example of his use of the phrase munere divino ("by divine mercy"). In 1168 he was sent to govern the tenencias of Osma and San Esteban de Gormaz in eastern Castile. On 4 October that year he made a donation to the parish church of Molina.