[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/ponce-de-minerva-wikipedia\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/ponce-de-minerva-wikipedia\/","headline":"Ponce de Minerva – Wikipedia","name":"Ponce de Minerva – Wikipedia","description":"The monastery of Sandoval, founded by Ponce and his kin in 1167. Ponce de Minerva (1114\/1115 \u2013 27 July 1175)","datePublished":"2021-10-08","dateModified":"2021-10-08","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/author\/lordneo\/#Person","name":"lordneo","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/author\/lordneo\/","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9645c498c9701c88b89b8537773dd7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/wiki4\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/download.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/96\/VsS001_fulgacian.jpg\/220px-VsS001_fulgacian.jpg","url":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/9\/96\/VsS001_fulgacian.jpg\/220px-VsS001_fulgacian.jpg","height":"165","width":"220"},"url":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/ponce-de-minerva-wikipedia\/","about":["Wiki"],"wordCount":13260,"articleBody":"  The monastery of Sandoval, founded by Ponce and his kin in 1167.Ponce de Minerva (1114\/1115 \u2013 27 July 1175) was a nobleman, courtier, governor, and general serving, at different times, the kingdoms of Le\u00f3n and Castile. Originally from Occitania, he came as a young man to Le\u00f3n (1127), where he was raised probably in close connexion to the royal family. His public career, first as a courtier and knight in the military retinue of Alfonso VII of Le\u00f3n and Castile, began in 1140. By later historians he was implicated in the strife between Alfonso’s successors, Sancho III of Castile and Ferdinand II of Le\u00f3n, but he was generally loyal to the latter, although from 1168 to 1173 he was in voluntary exile serving Alfonso VIII of Castile.Ponce had a long and distinguished military career. He participated in at least twelve campaigns, more than half of them campaigns of Reconquista fought against the Moors, but also campaigns against Navarre (1140), Portugal (1141), and Castile (1162 and 1163), as well as one famous campaign against some Castilian rebels, in which he was captured. He acquired landed wealth largely through royal preferment\u2014even in the major cities of the realm, such as Le\u00f3n and Toledo\u2014and an advantageous marriage\u2014his wife was a descendant of Garc\u00eda S\u00e1nchez III of Navarre\u2014and he rose to hold the highest rank in the kingdom, count, and the highest civil post, majordomo, in both Castile and Le\u00f3n. In 1167 he founded a monastery, Santa Mar\u00eda de Sandoval, and he was also a donor to the Order of Calatrava. In 1173 he re-populated half of the village of Aza\u00f1a and granted it a fuero (charter of privileges).Table of ContentsMove from Occitania to Le\u00f3n[edit]Marriage to Estefan\u00eda Ram\u00edrez[edit]Alf\u00e9rez of Alfonso VII[edit]Acquisition of governorships[edit]Controversies of 1157\u201358[edit]Counsellor of Ferdinand II[edit]Fall from favour and exile[edit]Service to the Crown in Castile[edit]Fuero of Aza\u00f1a[edit]Itinerancy in Castile and Le\u00f3n[edit]Death and legacy[edit]Children[edit]Bibliography[edit]Move from Occitania to Le\u00f3n[edit]  Minerve, in southern FranceAs his toponymic surname indicates, Ponce was from the Minervois (“de Minerva” is Latin for “from Minerve”) in southern France, then a part of the County of Carcassonne, one of the possessions of Raymond Berengar III, Count of Barcelona.[1][2] He may have been related to the Counts of Toulouse, but his genealogy has been disputed since the seventeenth century.[3] The name of either of his parents is unknown.[4] He arrived in Le\u00f3n in November 1127 in the entourage of Berenguela of Barcelona, daughter of Raymond Berengar III, who wed Alfonso VII that month at Salda\u00f1a.[5] He was probably a young man of about twelve years at the time.[6] He may have been related to Raymond II, Bishop of Palencia (1148\u201383), who also hailed from Minerve and was also a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and perhaps a relative of Berenguela.[7] It is likely that he was raised and educated for a time at the court of Alfonso VII’s sister, the infanta Sancha Raim\u00fandez.[8]Ponce does not appear in contemporary records until 1140, but his presence in the following of the Catalan princess is established by a charter in the archives of the convent of Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo. This document, dated 13 March 1207, records a pesquisa (inquest) carried out by orders of Alfonso IX to determine what was owed by the village of Quintanilla to the convent in light of a donation made by Ponce.[9] It mentions how Ponce had come to Le\u00f3n with Berenguela:When the lord emperor [Alfonso VII] brought [to Le\u00f3n] his wife the empress, he also brought along the count Ponce de Minerva and married him to the countess Do\u00f1a Estefan\u00eda, daughter of Count Ramiro, and gave him half of Carrizo, which was royal fiscal land (realengo), and he [Ponce] gave it to her as bridewealth. . . And the other half of Carrizo belonged to Count Ramiro, and he gave it to him [Ponce] with his daughter in marriage. . .[10]Because he hailed from an Occitan-speaking region ruled by the counts of Barcelona, he is often considered a Catalan. His name, in contemporary Latin, was Pontius or Poncius, transformed in Castilian to Ponce, the form used here, or Poncio, and also transformed into Pon\u00e7 (Catalan) or Pons (Occitan).[11]Marriage to Estefan\u00eda Ram\u00edrez[edit]The record of the royal pesquisa of 1207 also notes how Ponce was subsequently betrothed to Estefan\u00eda Ram\u00edrez, daughter of Ramiro Fr\u00f3ilaz,[2][12][13] and endowed by Alfonso VII with fiscal lands: half of the village of Carrizo de la Ribera and an estate at a place called Quiro, between Carrizo and Quintanilla. To this his future father-in-law added the other half of Carrizo, which had been a part of his patrimony.[1][14] Carrizo included a palace (palacio), which was later given to the monastery there, and stood to the right of the “old gate” (porter\u00eda vieja).[9][15]The charter provides no date for Ponce’s betrothal or marriage, but a document dated 30 May 1140 records a grant given by the king’s sister, Sancha Raim\u00fandez, to Ponce on the occasion of his marriage: the village of Argavallones “at your marriage, because I nourished [i.e., raised] you”.[16] This document survives only in a copy from 1716 that has clearly been altered.[9] For instance, it anachronistically cites Martin  as Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela even though he was not consecrated until 1156. Of Ponce de Minerva it says:The Count exchanged this mortal life in order to enjoy the prize of his heroic works, as was said, in the year 1212 of the Era, leaving finished the monastery of Sandoval and the greater chapel of the church, with the rest being finished after his days by Don Diego Mart\u00ednez de Villamayor, his son-in-law and a benefactor of that house, where he was buried.[17]The charter is accepted as genuine by some,[8] and as having some basis in fact by others.[1][14] Ponce was very young at the time of his arrival in Le\u00f3n is probable in light of the contours of his subsequent career. His first appearance in a court document dates to 9 September 1140, when he witnessed an act of Alfonso VII’s as alf\u00e9rez, that is, armiger and standard-bearer of the royal mesnada (military retinue). This office was usually reserved for the scions of noble houses and other young and aspiring aristocrats.[18] At the time of his advent in Le\u00f3n in 1127 he would therefore have been placed in an aristocratic household capable of raising him, and the king’s sister is known to have raised at least one other young nobleperson in her court: Urraca Rodr\u00edguez, daughter of Rodrigo Gonz\u00e1lez de Lara, whom she remembered in her (undated) will as “Urraca, daughter of Count Rodrigo, whom I raised”.[19] Likewise, the village of Argavallones must have been acquired by Ponce sometime before his marriage, since he gave it to his bride as her arras (bridewealth), along with all his lands at Carrizo, San Pedro del P\u00e1ramo (modern San Pedro de las Due\u00f1as), and Grulleros (Grulerius). According to a document in the Tumbo Antiguo cartulary of Carrizo, Argavallones was located near Grulleros, just west of Villaverde de Sandoval (Sot noval). It may be supposed that the forged eighteenth-century charter was designed to replace an authentic lost charter. This document aside, the earliest reference to Ponce’s marriage to Estefan\u00eda is from 13 February 1146, when Alfonso VII rewarded them with a grant of land at Villamoros de Mansilla “for the service to me which you [plural] have done and are doing”.[20]Alf\u00e9rez of Alfonso VII[edit]From the time of his appointment as alf\u00e9rez sometime between 26 June and 9 September 1140 until his replacement sometime after 19 December 1144 and before March 1145,[21] Ponce de Minerva was a constant presence at the royal court and on all of Alfonso VII’s military campaigns.[18] He took part in the expedition against Garc\u00eda Ram\u00edrez of Navarre in 1140 and that against Portugal in 1141.[22] He definitely participated in the Siege of Coria in 1142, as recorded in the Tumbo Negro, cartulary of the Cathedral of Zamora, and he probably also accompanied the royal forces on a razzia of the environs of C\u00f3rdoba and Granada in 1144. This last (obscure) campaign is mentioned in a charter issued at Toledo in November 1144 “as the emperor arrived from the fortification that he had made against C\u00f3rdoba and Granada”.[23]Ponce’s rewards for these various services were extensive. There are two false documents dated to 25 January and 14 June 1141 which purport to record royal donations to Ponce. The first is the donation of Quiro, which occurred on the occasion of his betrothal according to the account of the pesquisa of 1207.[1] The second is the donation of San Pedro del P\u00e1ramo, which it is known that Ponce gave to his wife as part of her bridewealth. The above charters are classified as spurious because they name Alfonso VII as ruling in Baeza and Almer\u00eda, places he did not conquer until 1147, and they list Martin, Archbishop of Santiago, as confirming. They nevertheless contain a kernel of truth.[1] More securely datable is Alfonso’s grant to Ponce the village of Villaverde de Sandoval, on the bank of the Porma near the possessions which he had given his wife at their marriage, in 1142.[1]Acquisition of governorships[edit]  Ponce’s zone of influence was in the immediate vicinity of Le\u00f3n, which he held from the crown between 1148 and 1168. He also governed Mayorga (by 1144), Villal\u00eds (by 1150), Castrotierra (by 1152), and Melgar de Arriba (by 1161). He had properties at Astorga, Cifuentes, and Toro.A change in Ponce’s career began with his long absences from court in 1145, after he had left the post of alf\u00e9rez. He only attended the court on a few occasions in 1144, and by that year he had received the tenancy (tenencia) of Mayorga to govern. There is no reference in any surviving royal charter to Ponce’s rule in Mayorga, rather it is cited in no less than fifteen private charters dated between 23 January 1144 and 3 May 1157.[24][25] By 1148 he had also received the government of the royal city (urbs regia) of Le\u00f3n.[1] Specifically this tenancy, called the “towers of Le\u00f3n” (turres Legionis), consisted in the fortified royal citadel (“fotress-palace”) that guarded the northern gate of the city.[24][26] There are ten royal documents from the reign of Alfonso VII that show Ponce holding this “most sensitive post”.[24] Both of these tenancies had previously been held by Osorio Mart\u00ednez, who had been disgraced sometime in the first half of 1142. Despite his greater responsibility in the kingdom that kept him away from court, Ponce continued to take part in all of Alfonso VII’s major military actions.[1]In 1147, which has been described as an annus mirabilis for the Iberian Christians because of Alfonso VII’s summer campaign, Ponce was with the royal army at Calatrava the week of 4\u20139 June.[27] He was still with the royal forces at And\u00fajar, witnessing a royal charter issued on 17 July, but it is not clear if he participated in the successful sieges of Baeza and Almer\u00eda later that summer. There is no contemporary record of his presence with the royal army after And\u00fajar,[1][28] On 18 November 1153, Alfonso VII granted “to my faithful vassal [Ponce,] for the good and faithful service which you did me in Almer\u00eda and in many other places in both the Christian and Muslim regions”, the castle of Albuher near Villamanrique de Tajo.[29] According to Manuel Recuero Astray, the recipient was Ponce de Minerva, but more likely it was his namesake Count Ponce de Cabrera.[30] Another twentieth-century historian mistakenly believed that the “Count Ponce” of the Prefatio de Almaria, a poetic retelling of the conquest of Almer\u00eda in 1147, was Ponce de Minerva.[31][32]In 1150, Ponce probably took part in the failed siege of C\u00f3rdoba, since he was with the king at Ja\u00e9n immediately after the siege was lifted.[33] By that year he had received the tenancy of Villal\u00eds. The following year, on 30 January 1151, at Calahorra, Alfonso awarded Ponce, called “our faithful vassal”, with the village of Grulleros, which he later gave to his wife.[34] Later that year, according to documents in the cathedral archives of Santa Mar\u00eda de Le\u00f3n, he was at the siege of Ja\u00e9n and the second siege of Baeza, which had been lost again. In 1152, he took part in the assault on Guadix.[1] On 18 December that year he was one of the select magnates whom Alfonso took counsel with before modifying the fueros of Sahag\u00fan.[35]During this time he was rewarded further, first with a castle on the Tagus. The original document recording this grant, issued at Soria on 18 November 1153, has survived, and is one of possibly ten charters of Alfonso VII to have been authenticated with a seal.[36] At the same time, Ponce was rewarded with further governorships: Cea by 1152, Castrotierra by 1153, and Gat\u00f3n de Campos by 1155.[37] His territorial lordships, however, were generally scattered, although they were all in the province of Le\u00f3n and relatively near to the city itself, whose government he continued to hold throughout the period.[1] The lordship of Cea was shared with Ermengol VI of Urgell, according to a private charter of 23 June 1152. Another charter of 27 March 1150 shows Ermengol sharing it with Lope L\u00f3pez, suggesting that Ponce was Lope’s replacement.[38] In 1155, Ponce was with Alfonso for the capture of And\u00fajar.[1] The last reference to Ponce holding Cea, site of a royal castle, dates from 28 June 1156.[39]Controversies of 1157\u201358[edit]Under Alfonso VII Ponce was “a curial personage of stature” who “enjoyed the fullest confidence of the crown”, yet despite his residence at court “he was of secondary rank” and generally his confirmation of royal acts was not sought.[24] Of the six hundred royal charters surviving from Alfonso’s reign after 1140, Ponce confirmed only 141 of them. After the death of Alfonso VII on 21 August 1157, the kingdoms of Le\u00f3n and Castile were separated. The former, where Ponce’s tenancies were located, went to Alfonso’s second son, Ferdinand II. The latter, where Ponce possessed some lands on the river Tagus in the regnum of Toledo, passed to his eldest son, Sancho III. Ponce initially gravitated to the court of Ferdinand II, where he was present from at least 9 October 1157. On this date, Ferdinand issued the earliest of his surviving charters, by which he granted some estates to Rodrigo P\u00e9rez de Traba, who in turn donated the village of Gomariz to the monastery of Toxosoutos in Galicia. This charter shows that Ferdinand had brought together most of the leading magnates of Le\u00f3n in the first months of his reign; even the King of Portugal, Afonso I Henriques, was present. On 13 October the court had moved to Villalpando, where the king rewarded his follower Velasco Men\u00e9ndez. Ponce was still in attendance.[40] Villalpando was at one time governed by Ponce.[8]According to the thirteenth-century Toledan historian Rodrigo Jim\u00e9nez de Rada, in his De rebus Hispaniae, Ferdinand came to believe certain false rumours about Ponce de Minerva spread by his enemies at court.[40] In response he confiscated Ponce’s fiefs, and those of some other noblemen, and sent them into exile. They went to the court of Sancho III seeking redress, whereupon Sancho marched an army into Le\u00f3n. The two kings met at Sahag\u00fan, 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 the other magnates, whom you deprived, have returned their fiefs to count Ponce de Minerva, and you would not believe the rumours against them, I am returning behind my borders.[41]This account, however, is based on a confusion between Ponce de Minerva and Ponce de Cabrera.[40] There is some confusion even among modern historians between these two Ponces.[31][32][42] Derek Lomax notes that “the personalities, relationships and activities of these minor Catalan nobles are difficult to disentangle, but it is clear that they were extremely active in the politics of central Spain throughout the twelfth century, and that they built up their lordships primarily in the region of Salamanca and Valladolid.”[43] The first modern historian to differentiate the two Ponces was the Marqu\u00e9s de Mond\u00e9jar (died 1708), who believed them to be closely related.[44]There is abundant contemporary documentary evidence of Ponce de Cabrera’s exile to Castile, while Ponce de Minerva clearly remained on good terms with Ferdinand II throughout 1158. He was with the court at Faro in Galicia on 15 February.[40] In March, the court was at Malgrado, where Ferdinand II rewarded Ponce with some lands between Siero and Carande.[8] On 23 May Ponce was present for the ratification of the Treaty of Sahag\u00fan, for which he stood as a surety for Ferdinand II, along with his father-in-law, a certain Abril, and Pedro Alfonso.[40] The 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 Mart\u00ednez.[45] To the end of the surviving record of the treaty is appended a list of those who “swore on the side of King Ferdinand”, and Ponce is listed among them.[46] Contrary to the Toledan historian’s confused account, Ponce de Minerva was unswervingly loyal to Ferdinand II during the lifetime of Sancho III, although the presence of his name alongside the grieved Ponce de Cabrera and Osorio has raised suspicions. On 1 July he and the newly reconciled Ponce de Cabrera confirmed Ferdinand’s grant to Rodrigo Sebasti\u00e1nez, a monk of Oviedo.[40]Counsellor of Ferdinand II[edit]Ponce de Minerva was throughout this period one of Ferdinand’s most trusted advisors and a major recipient of his largesse.[47] In 1159, he was among those who accompanied Ferdinand II into Galicia when he made peace with the Portuguese. On 14 June, while the court was staying at Sahag\u00fan, he and his wife were rewarded “for good service” (pro bono servitio) with a grant of land at Santa Mar\u00eda del P\u00e1ramo in the vicinity of Le\u00f3n.[47] By this month he had also been trusted with the lordship of Valderas, and by 1161 he was governing Melgar de Arriba (or de Suso) as well. On 15 March 1161, while the court was at Malgrado, Ferdinand again rewarded Ponce with an estate at Ferreras near Le\u00f3n, but this time also with lands at Salio in the Picos de Europa.[47] On 28 March, Ponce de Cabrera was ruling “under his imperium [i.e. Ferdinand’s regalian rights] in Melgar [i.e. Melgar de Abajo (or de Yuso)] and Ponce de Minerva in the other Melgar”.[48] In 1162, Ponce de Minerva took part in Ferdinand’s expedition into Castile, where he captured Toledo. In 1163, he was again with the royal Leonese army that invaded Castile.[47]Ponce’s frequent presence at court necessitated the devolution of government in his tenancies to subordinates. Thus, in 1162, one “Juan Mart\u00ednez, under the hand of the lord Ponce de Minerva, [was] holding the towers of Le\u00f3n”.[49] By 1164 Juan was holding Le\u00f3n without any indication of Ponce’s superiority. In 1164, Ponce was granted an estate at Villama\u00f1\u00e1n, according to the Tumbo Antiguo (old cartulary) of Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo. In September of the latter year, during the court’s sojourn at Villaquejida, Ferdinand also awarded him property at Villamandos in the valley of the Esla, where he possessed other estates.[47] Also in 1164, Ponce’s governorship was extended over Ria\u00f1o and two places called Ce\u00f3n and Buraun. By 23 October he had been promoted to the rank of count (comes or consul in Latin), the highest title in the kingdom after the king’s.[4] This promotion constituted a recognition that Ponce was one of the leading magnates of the kingdom, and one of the most powerful.[47] This promotion did not take place until after the death of Count Ponce de Cabrera (1162\/63).[50] By 27 October 1164 Ponce de Minerva had been deprived of the government of the city of Le\u00f3n. He was still without it on 6 May 1166, but by 11 November he had regained control of it.[4][47]In 1165, for a second time Ponce was with Ferdinand in Galicia to make peace with Portugal, and he was given the tenancy of Coyanza, modern Valencia de Don Juan.[51] In 1167, he was rewarded with the tenancy of Castroverde de Campos, as recorded in the archives of the hospital of San Marcos de Le\u00f3n. On 16 February he and his family founded the monastery of Santa Mar\u00eda de Sandoval at Villaverde, which had been granted him by Alfonso VII in 1142. Sometime before 15 July 1167, Ferdinand II appointed him majordomo (maiordomus), the highest office associated with the royal court and the pre-eminent position in the realm: he had reached “the zenith of his power in Le\u00f3n”[52] and was “one of the most powerful lay figures of the realm”.[53] His eldest son, Ramiro Ponce, also served Ferdinand II as alf\u00e9rez in the 1160s.Fall from favour and exile[edit]At some point in 1168, for reasons unknown, Ponce went into exile in Castile. In the summer of 1167, Count Ermengol VII of Urgell and his mesnada (knightly retinue) had arrived in the service of Ferdinand II, whom he had assisted in the capture of the fortress of Alc\u00e1ntara from the Almohads, which fortress Ferdinand granted to him as a fief on 21 November, as recorded in the archives of the Order of Santiago that Ferdinand had founded. By that date, Ferdinand had already removed Ponce from his post as majordomo and replaced him with Ermengol. The arrival of Ermengol thus appears to have marked a shift in the king’s favour from the one Catalan to the other.[47] Ponce continued with the Leonese court from sometime after his dismissal as majordomo: he was present at Le\u00f3n, still his tenancy, on 11 December, and in 1168 he was present at Castro Mazamud on 10 January and at Lugo on 4 March.[47]Ponce’s last appearance in any surviving document from Le\u00f3n for this period is dated 9 April 1168, which is also the last royal document confirmed by his son Ramiro, who appears to have entered an exile from court at the same time as his father.[47] By 20 September the tenancies of Le\u00f3n and Mayorga had passed to Fernando Rodr\u00edguez de Castro, an exile from Castile.[47] Owing to ignorance of the exact chronology of Ponce’s defection, it is unclear whether his replacement as majordomo by Ermengol and his replacement in the fiefs of Le\u00f3n and Mayorga by Fernando were a consequence or an incitement.[54]Service to the Crown in Castile[edit]Ponce, following his fall from favour, went to the court of Alfonso VIII of Castile, son of Sancho III, which had moved to the fortress of Abia possibly to receive the defecting count.[54] The court was at Sahag\u00fan on 29 August when Ponce first makes an appearance there in the surviving records.[47] In April 1169 he played a leading role in the siege of the town of Zorita de los Canes, which was being held by the relatives and supporters of Fernando Rodr\u00edguez de Castro against Alfonso VIII. He joined with Nu\u00f1o P\u00e9rez de Lara in the initial attack, which was a failure. Later, Ponce and Nu\u00f1o went to negotiate with the castellan, Lope de Arenas, but were betrayed and arrested. There is a private document from 25 April by which these events are dated, for it was redacted “at the time when Count Nu\u00f1o and Count Ponce were defeated at Zorita”.[55] Alfonso VIII continued to besiege the town in which his two generals were being held until at least 14 May, when a royal charter of donation was drawn up “about (i.e., around) Zorita, at that time when Count Nu\u00f1o and Count Ponce were being held captive there by the most evil Lope de Arenas”.[56] The donation was made to the military Order of Calatrava founded by his father. By 19 May, Zorita had surrendered and the two captives been freed. A royal charter issued that day “was made in Zorita, at the time when Count Nu\u00f1o and Count Ponce were liberated from captivity there”.[57] These last two charters indicate the part likely played by the knights of Calatrava in the capture of Zorita and the liberation of Ponce de Minerva, and it is probably therefore in gratefulness that Ponce soon after gaining his freedom made over to the Order some mills he owned in Toledo.[58]Ponce’s service to the Crown in the Castile lasted five years. At the time of his arrival, and even during the siege of Zorita, Alfonso VIII was a minor whose regency was held by Nu\u00f1o P\u00e9rez. By the fall, however, he had come of age and begun to rule in his own right. Shortly after, on 11 November, Ponce was with his court at Burgos.[47] In September 1170, Ponce attended the wedding festivities of Alfonso VIII and Eleanor, daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.[47] According to a document in the church archives, on 23 June 1171 Ponce divided the village of Aza\u00f1a (modern Numancia de la Sagra) between himself and the canons of the cathedral of Santa Mar\u00eda de Toledo.[47][59]Ponce’s support for the young king was rewarded with several lordships in western Castile, along the border with Le\u00f3n.[47] From 1170 he was ruling Salda\u00f1a, the town to which he had first come for the marriage of Berenguela and Alfonso VII some forty-three years prior. From 1171 he ruled Carri\u00f3n, a town associated with his allies of the Lara family, also mutual rivals of the Castros. By 1172 he was governing the tenancy of Boadilla de Rioseco, and by 10 May that year he had been raised to the post of majordomo of the royal household. This was probably in an effort by the king to relieve himself of some of the influence of the overbearing former regent Nu\u00f1o.[60] The last record of Ponce in that office dates to 28 June 1173, and shortly thereafter he was reconciled to Ferdinand II.[47]Fuero of Aza\u00f1a[edit]In September 1173 Ponce was still in Castile when he granted some land at Aza\u00f1a to some settlers: “In the name of God and his grace, I, Count Ponce, give to the settlers that half of Aza\u00f1a that fell to me”.[61] The “charter of rights and obligations” (called a fuero) that he gave to the settlers exists as a thirteenth-century copy in a cartulary of the cathedral of Toledo.[47][61] Ponce kept a few fields\u2014two sernas and two prados\u2014for himself (demesne), but the rest of the land he rented out to twenty-five settlers.[59] Each received a field (yugada), some additional land for planting vines and orchards, and eight cahices of seed for wheat. The fuero requires that any settler who wished to sell his property and leave the area had to give Ponce the first option to buy, even if he was away on campaign in the south, in which case the would-be seller had to await his return. Another clause gives an indication of his reconciliation with the King of Le\u00f3n, for it states that if Ponce was away in the north, either “in the kingdom of Alfonso or in the kingdom of Ferdinand”, then the would-be seller had to notify Ponce’s majordomo of his intention to sell and wait forty days for Ponce to exercise his option to buy, after which the settler could sell the land to anyone.[62]The majordomo referred to in the surviving fuero may have been “a local estate manager rather than the count’s household official”.[61] This person was also in charge of organising the annual boon work of the settlers and was responsible for supplying them with food and drink during that period.[61] This boon work consisted in three operationes, as they are called in the surviving charter: two for sowing and one for either threshing or ploughing in Ponce’s fields.[63][64] The tenants also owed Ponce tribute or rent in the form of one cahiz each of wheat and barley per field and portions of the produce of their vineyards and orchards. They also owed yantar (hospitality). The fuero of Aza\u00f1a contains one of the best surviving descriptions of this practice from the twelfth century, and it also indicates Ponce’s expectation of continued itinerancy between his various properties and tenancies.[63] The settlers were required each year to prepare a feast for him or his wife and their retinues, although their sons, daughters, or grandchildren could be sent in their place. The amount of produce to be used for these feasts is specified: three rams, one pig, twelve hens, 160 loaves of bread, and large quantities of barley and wine. If none of Ponce’s kin attended in a given year, the settlers were exempted from the tribute, which is what the meal was taken to be.[63] Ponce has been described as an “absentee landlord with a vengeance”, although no different from his fellow twelfth-century European aristocrats.[65]Itinerancy in Castile and Le\u00f3n[edit]Sometime in the first half of 1173, Ermengol VII left the service of Ferdinand II, for reasons unknown. His absence may have opened up the possibility of reconciliation to Ponce de Minerva, who had returned to the city of Le\u00f3n by October, when he rejoined the court after five years of voluntary exile.[47] The remainder of his life was characterised by intinerancy between the courts of Le\u00f3n and Castile and between his possessions and governorships in the two kingdoms.In February 1174, Ponce was with the court of Alfonso VIII at Toledo for a major gathering the kingdom’s leading men. In June, he and Estefan\u00eda visited the Benedictine monastery at Sahag\u00fan, in Castile near the border with Le\u00f3n, where they donated an estate at Villalba de la Loma (part of the tenancy of Mayorga) in exchange for the Hospital de Don Garc\u00eda.[37][47] By October he had joined the court of Ferdinand II at Ciudad Rodrigo, where the king officially declared their reconciliation by granting “to you, my beloved Count Ponce, and your wife, the countess Do\u00f1a Estefan\u00eda” a privilege exempting the couple from taxes on all their lands and exempting all their vassals from taxes also.[66][67] On 18 November, Ponce met Alfonso VIII at Fuentedue\u00f1a, perhaps remaining with the court until 9 May 1175, when he was definitely in attendance at Medina del Campo. The last records of Ponce alive date from June, when he was in Le\u00f3n.[47]Death and legacy[edit]Ponce died on 27 July, according to the tablas de aniversarios (a calendar of annual commemorations) of the nunnery of Carrizo.[47] That the year was 1175 is obvious from his sudden disappearance from contemporary documentation after June of that year.[47] He was buried in Sandoval.[68] In the archives of the monastery of Benev\u00edvere are two charters both dated 30 July, only a few days after Count Ponce’s death, which record the donation received from his widow and children of lands at Quintanilla and Mayorga (in the first transaction) and lands at Santamarina and Lerones with the Hospital de Don Garc\u00eda (in the second transaction) for the redemption of Ponce’s soul.[69]On 17 February 1176, Countess Estefan\u00eda granted her land at Benavides to the monastery of Sobrado dos Monxes in Galicia “for the soul of the count Don Ponce” and that a monastery might be built there.[70] On 10 September 1176, she founded a convent “for the soul of my husband, the lord count Ponce”, at Carrizo, including in her donation the palace they had owned there.[15][71] She dedicated it to the Virgin and placed it under the Cistercian Order. The archives of this convent, Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo, are an important source for the lives and careers of Ponce and his wife. They contain the authentic charter of foundation of Estefan\u00eda, wherein she describes her gift to the monastery of the lands comprising her bridewealth from Ponce:I give and concede the village that is called Carrizo, with all its environs and attached territories, integral; and the village of San Pedro del P\u00e1ramo, whole and integral, and the village of Grulleros and Argavallones, and its environs and attached territories that belong to me; which villages I have from my acquisitions and my bridewealth and my scattered estates, which my husband gave to me.[72]Estefan\u00eda died in 1183 or 1184 and was buried beside her husband.[4][68]Ponce acquired a vast wealth in lands after his migration to Le\u00f3n. His principal estates all lay within fifty kilometres of the urbs regia of Le\u00f3n, which he himself governed from 1148 to 1165 and again from 1167 to 1168. He had many estates in the valleys of the rivers Esla, Porma, \u00d3rbigo, and Bernesga.[47] Besides properties he received from Alfonso VII and Ferdinand II, which was a total of ten donations between 1148 and 1174, Ponce and Estefan\u00eda acquired lands at Mayorga on the Esla, and at Quintanilla and Villalba de Loma on the Porma.[73]Children[edit]  Family tree showing Ponce’s relationship, through his wife, to the royal house of Navarre, and the marriages and descendants of his children.Of Ponce’s children, Ramiro was his primary heir, even claiming, without any apparent royal approval, his father’s title of count, but he never returned to favour in Le\u00f3n. Ponce’s daughters, Sancha and Mar\u00eda, usually surnamed Ponce as a patronymic (from the Latin Poncii or Pontii), married Pedro Garc\u00e9s de Lerma, a Castilian, and Rodrigo \u00c1lvarez, a Galician, respectively; both were wealthy and powerful men. Sancha, by Pedro, had a son, Gonzalo P\u00e9rez, who became the abbot of Husillos in Castile.[47]Ponce’s younger daughter, Mar\u00eda, separated from her husband by mutual agreement since late 1173 or early 1174, when he founded the Order of Mountjoy, was installed as the first abbess of her mother’s foundation at Carrizo in 1184, a position she held until her death in 1191.[74] She inherited an estate at Astorga, and there is preserved a conuenientia (pact) between her and the tenants of her estate there in the archives of Carrizo. The pact stipulates that annually on Martinmas (11 November) the inhabitants should pay a rent of two solidi and a portion of produce for every parcel of land they owned. The document lists twenty-three peasant farmers and their land tenures, totalling eighty-eight solidi in cash per annum for the abbess.[75]On 26 February 1189, according to a document of Santa Mar\u00eda de Sandoval, Ponce’s daughters, Sancha and Mar\u00eda, got together to divide their inheritance, which included properties in the city of Le\u00f3n and at Oret, Ferreras, Corbillos, Molina Seca, Villarroa\u00f1e, Villanueva, Matade\u00f3n, Cifuentes, and Mara\u00f1a, all in the region around the city. They had also received lands in Toledo and Aza\u00f1a in Castile, and at Toro on the river Duero in Le\u00f3n’s far west.[47][76] They accomplished the division by drawing lots to avoid sharp disagreements.[77]^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 248\u201354.^ a b Montenegro Valent\u00edn, “Merinos y tenentes”, 164\u201365.^ The two sides of the debate are represented by P. Salazar de Mendoza, Cronico de la excelentissima casa de los Ponces de Le\u00f3n (Toledo: 1620), and the Marqu\u00e9s de Mond\u00e9jar, “Memorias hist\u00f3ricas i geneal\u00f3gicas de la casa de los Ponce de Le\u00f3n”, Real Academia de la Historia, Colecci\u00f3n Salazar, B-3, f. 1r\u201329r.^ a b c d Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 286\u201387, contains a curriculum vitae listing Ponce’s relations, titles, offices, tenancies, religious and economic transactions, with dates and primary sources.^ This is based on a later tradition, but is plausible, cf. Reilly, King Alfonso VII, 185\u201386, and Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 248\u201354.^ The age given in P. Salazar de Mendoza, Origen de las dignidades seglares de Castilla y Le\u00f3n (Toledo: 1618), f. 39v.^ Fern\u00e1ndez, “Santa Mar\u00eda de Benev\u00edvere”, 34.^ a b c d Serrano, Cartulario del Monasterio de Vega, 94 n. 2.^ a b c Luengo, “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo”, 171.^ Luengo, “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo”, 171: quando domino imperatore adduxit suam coniugem imperatricem adduxit cum ea comite Poncio de Menerva et desponsauit eum cum comitissa domna Stephania, filia comite Ramiro et dedit ei medietatem de karrizo, que erat rengalengo, ut dedisset sponsam suam pro arras. . . Et alian medietaten de karrizo erat de comite Ramiro et dedit eam ad illum cum filia in casamento.^ Reilly, King Alfonso VII, passim, uses the form Pons de Minerva.^ Luengo, “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo”, 171, calls her the “Condesa de Armi\u00f1aque”.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 50\u201351.^ a b Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 54.^ a b Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 65.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 249: in tuo cassamento propter quod te alui. Barton, 250, says that the document is dated 30 January 1140.^ Luengo, “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo”, 171\u201372: troc\u00f3 el Conde esta mortal vida, para go\u00e7ar el premio de sus heroycas obras, como queda dicho, era de mil doscientos y doce, dejando acabado el monasterio de S. doval y la Capella mayor de la yglesia, porque lo demas, despues de sus dias lo acabo D. Diego Martinez de Villamayor, su hierno, y bien hechor de aquella casa, donde est\u00e1 sepultado.^ a b Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 142\u201344.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 249: Urrace, filie comitis Roderici, quam ego creaui.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 250: propter seruicium quod mihi fecistis et facitis. This charter is edited on pp. 265\u201366.^ Reilly, King Alfonso VII, 164. Though once thought to be an original, a private charter of 22 March 1145 is not reliable.^ Recorded in the archives of Fitero and San Paio de Antealtares, respectively (cf. Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 250 n91).^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 251: quando imperator venit de fossata quam fecit contra Corduvam et Granatam.^ a b c d Reilly, King Alfonso VII, 185.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 118.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 171.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 178.^ Fletcher, “Diplomatic and the Cid”, 319.^ Recuero Astray, “Donaciones de Alfonso VII”, 904\u201305: meo fideli vasallo … pro bono et fideli servicio quod mihi fecistis in Almaria et in aliis locis multis in partibus scilicet christanorum atque sarracenorum.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 247.^ a b Pascua Echegaray, “Hacia la formaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica”, 424.^ a b Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 245\u201346.^ The document is found in J. Guallart and M. P. Laguzzi, “Algunos documentos reales leoneses”, Cuadernos de Historia de Espa\u00f1a, 2 (1944), 368\u201369.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 251: nostri fideli vassallo.^ Barton, 138\u201339.^ Fletcher, “Diplomatic and the Cid”, 313.^ a b Reilly, King Alfonso VII, 185\u201386. He is cited in three private charters as ruling Villalba on 8 January 1150 and Gat\u00f3n 20 November 1155 and 1 February 1156.^ Barton, “The Count, the Bishop and the Abbot”, 92 n2.^ Reilly, King Alfonso VII, 186.^ a b c d e f Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 255\u201358.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 255: Cum pater noster regnum nobis diuiserit, et uos uestris et ego meis et prouentus et terram tenemur magnatibus impartiri, quorum auxilio patres nostri et terram perditam habuerunt et Arabes repulerunt. Reddatis ergo pheuda sua comiti Poncio de Minerba et aliis magnatibus, quos priuastis, et non credatis susurronibus contra eos, et ego in continenti recedo.^ Lomax, “Catalans in the Leonese Empire”, 194\u201395, completely intertwines their respective careers.^ Lomax, “Catalans in the Leonese Empire”, 195.^ Fern\u00e1ndez-Xesta y V\u00e1zquez, Un magnate catalan, 17.^ S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 131.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 258: ex parte regis Fernandi iurauerunt.^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 260\u201365.^ S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 447 n73: sub eius imperio comes Pontius in Melgar, Pontius de Minerva in alio Melgar.^ Montenegro Valent\u00edn, “Merinos y tenentes”, 154: Iohanne Martini, sub manu domni Poncii de Minerua, turres Legionis tenente.^ Fern\u00e1ndez-Xesta y V\u00e1zquez, Un magnate catalan, 117.^ The earliest records of the acquisitions of the fiefs of Valderas, Melgar, Ce\u00f3n, Ria\u00f1o, Buraun, and Coyanza under Ferdinand are generally found in the cartularies of monasteries such as Vega, Gradefes, and Eslonza (cf. Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 261 n151).^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 261.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 110\u201311.^ a b S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 171.^ Quoted in both Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 262, and S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 171: in tempore quando uincti erant comite Nuno et comite Poncio in Zorita.^ Quoted in Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 262\u201363, and S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 171: super Zoritam, tunc temporis quo [quando] comes Nunio [Nunnio] et comes Pontius a nequissimo illo Lupo de Arenas [Arenis] ibi tenebantur [detinebantur] captiui.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 263 and S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 171 n236: Facta carta in Zorita, tunc temporis quando comes Nunio et comes Pontius a captiuitate inde fuerunt liberati.^ The unpublished donation is referred to in F. Rades y Andrada, Cr\u00f3nica de las tres \u00d3rdenes y caballer\u00edas de Santiago, Calatrava y Alc\u00e1ntara (Toledo: 1572), f. 14v.^ a b Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 102\u20133.^ S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 176.^ a b c d Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 59. The fuero is edited in Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, Appendix 3, no. XV, 325\u201327. The translated excerpt in Latin is (p. 325): In Dei nomine et eius gratia. Ego Poncius Comes dono populatoribus illam medietatem de Fa\u00e7ania que me contigit.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 263\u201364: in regno regis Aldefonsi uel in regno regis Fernandi.^ a b c Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 98\u201399.^ For a different interpretation of the fuero, cf. S\u00e1nchez de Mora, El linaje de Lara, 703\u20134.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 100.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 264: vobis dilecto meo comiti Poncio, et uxori vestrae comitissae domnae Stephaniae.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 106.^ a b Luengo, “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo”, 173.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 234.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 286 n3: pro anima comitis domni Poncii.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 249: pro anima mariti mei comitis domni Poncii.^ Barton, “Two Catalan Magnates”, 250: Do et concedo uillam que dicitur Karrizu, cum omnibus directuris et pertinentiis suis, integre; et uillam Sancti Petri de Paramis, totam et integram, et uillam de Groleros et de Argaualones, et de meis directuris et pertinentiis suis; quas uillas ego habeo de mea ganantia et de meis arris et de meis directuris, quas dedit mihi maritus meus.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 78.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 159, 192\u201393. For Rodrigo’s decision, cf. Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Canal S\u00e1nchez-Pag\u00edn, “El conde don Rodrigo \u00c1lvarez de Sarria, fundador de la orden militar de Monte Gaudio”, Compostellanum, 28 (1983), 373\u201397.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 96\u201397.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 70, 80.^ Barton, Aristocracy in Le\u00f3n and Castile, 42.Bibliography[edit]Barton, Simon F. (1992). “Two Catalan Magnates in the Courts of the Kings of Le\u00f3n-Castile: The Careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva Re-Examined”. Journal of Medieval History. 18 (3): 233\u201366. doi:10.1016\/0304-4181(92)90022-q.Barton, Simon F. (1996). “The Count, the Bishop and the Abbot: Armengol VI of Urgel and the Abbey of Valladolid”. English Historical Review. 111 (440): 85\u2013103. doi:10.1093\/ehr\/cxi.440.85.Barton, Simon F. (1997). The Aristocracy in Twelfth-century Le\u00f3n and Castile. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Canal S\u00e1nchez-Pag\u00edn, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda (1984). “Don Pedro Fern\u00e1ndez, primer maestre de la Orden Militar de Santiago: su familia, su vida”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales. 14: 33\u201371.Canal S\u00e1nchez-Pag\u00edn, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda (1989). “Casamientos de los condes de Urgel en Castilla”. Anuario de Estudios Medievales. 19: 119\u201335.Fern\u00e1ndez, Luis (1962). “La abad\u00eda de Santa Mar\u00eda de Benev\u00edvere en la Edad Media: su historia, la regla”. Miscel\u00e1nea Comillas: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales. 20 (37): 5\u2013254.Fern\u00e1ndez-Xesta y V\u00e1zquez, Ernesto (1991). Un magnate catal\u00e1n en la corte de Alfonso VII: Comes Poncius de Cabreira, princeps \u00c7emore. Madrid: Iberoamericanas.Fletcher, Richard A. (1976). “Diplomatic and the Cid Revisited: The Seals and Mandates of Alfonso VII”. Journal of Medieval History. 2 (4): 305\u2013438. doi:10.1016\/0304-4181(76)90028-2.Lomax, Derek W. (1982). “Catalans in the Leonese Empire”. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies. 59 (3): 191\u201397. doi:10.1080\/1475382822000359191.Luengo, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda (1944). “Monasterio de Santa Mar\u00eda de Carrizo (Le\u00f3n)”. Archivo espa\u00f1ol de arte. 17 (63): 171\u201378.Montenegro Valent\u00edn, Julia (1999). “Merinos y tenentes en el territorivm legionense: una aportaci\u00f3n al estudio de la organizaci\u00f3n territorial de los reinos occidentales” (PDF). Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval. 12 (12): 153\u201369. doi:10.14198\/medieval.1999.12.07.Pascua Echegaray, Esther (1989). “Hacia la formaci\u00f3n pol\u00edtica de la monarqu\u00eda medieval: las relaciones entre la monarqu\u00eda y la Iglesia castellanoleonesa en el reinado de Alfonso VII”. Hispania. 49 (172): 397\u2013441.Recuero Astray, Manuel (1986). “Donaciones de Alfonso VII a sus fieles y servidores”. En la Espa\u00f1a Medieval. 9: 897\u2013914.Reilly, Bernard F. (1998). The Kingdom of Le\u00f3n-Castilla under King Alfonso VII, 1126\u20131157. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.S\u00e1nchez de Mora, Antonio (2003). La nobleza castellana en la plena Edad Media: el linaje de Lara (SS. XI\u2013XIII) (Doctoral). University of Seville.Serrano, Luciano (1927). Cartulario del Monasterio de Vega, con documentos de San Pelayo y Vega de Oviedo. Madrid: Junta para la Ampliaci\u00f3n de Estudios e Investigaciones Cient\u00edficas, Centro de Estudios Hist\u00f3ricos."},{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Enzyklop\u00e4die"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https:\/\/wiki.edu.vn\/en\/wiki24\/ponce-de-minerva-wikipedia\/#breadcrumbitem","name":"Ponce de Minerva – Wikipedia"}}]}]