Ancestral Trails 2016 » MENENDO GONZALEZ (± 970-1008)

Persoonlijke gegevens MENENDO GONZALEZ 

• Hij is geboren rond 970 in Galicia, Spain.
• Titel: Armiger Regis (King's Armour-Bearer, Commander of the Royal Armies
• Titel: Duke of Galicia, Count of Portugal
• Hij is overleden op 6 oktober 1008 in Galicia, Spain.

  Probably Assassinated

• Een kind van GONZALO MENENDEZ en ILDUARA PELAEZ

Gezin van MENENDO GONZALEZ

Hij had een relatie met TUTADOMNA MONIZ.

Kind(eren):

1. Munio MENENDEZ  ± 995-????
2. Ildoncia MENENDEZ  ± 998-????
3. Ilduara MENENDEZ  ± 997-> 1058 
4. Pelayo MENENDEZ  ± 992-????
5. Gonzalo MENENDEZ  ± 991-????
6. Rodrigo MENENDEZ  ± 990-????
7. Ramiro MENENDEZ  ± 993-????
8. Egas MENENDEZ  ± 994-????
9. ELVIRA MENENDEZ  ± 996-1022 

Notities over MENENDO GONZALEZ

Menendo González (Portuguese and Galician: Mendo Gonçalves; died 6 October 1008) was a semi-autonomous Duke of Galicia and Count of Portugal (997-1008) and a dominant figure in the Kingdom of León around the turn of the second millennium. He was the armiger regis, or royal alférez, the king's armour-bearer and commander of the royal armies, under Vermudo II, and he continued to hold the position until his death. He became the tutor (1003) and ultimately father-in-law of Vermudo's successor, King Alfonso V. He maintained peaceful diplomatic relations with the Caliphate of Córdoba until 1004, after which there was a state of war.

Regency of Alfonso V
Before 999 King Vermudo II placed his heir, Alfonso V, under the tutorship of his alférez Menendo. Alfonso was only five at his father's death (September 999) and he spent the early years of his reign in the care of Menendo and his wife. The earliest act of Alfonso as king dates to 13 October 999, and it lists as confirmants first Count Menendo González ("Menendus Gundisaluiz, comes") and then "Duke" (count) Sancho García of Castile ("Santius, dux, Garsea prolis"). Menendo also appears in contemporary documents with the ducal title, as in dux domnus Menendus proles Gundisalvi.

The young Alfonso always appears in his early charters beside his mother, Elvira García, a sister of the count of Castile and possibly exercising the regency under his influence. After 1003 Elvira no longer appears in royal charters; perhaps she was removed in a palace coup by Menendo. In subscribing one royal act Menendo went so far as to call himself "he who under the authority of the aforementioned king ordains and guides all things" ("qui sub imperio iam dicti regis hec omnia ordinavit et docuit"). In 1004 Sancho challenged the regency of Menendo. Both counts petitioned the Córdoban hajib al-Muzaffar to arbitrate the dispute. According to Ibn Khaldun, a hearing took place and al-Muzaffar's deputy, the qadi of the Mozarabic community of Córdoba, Asbag bin Abd Allah bin Nabil, found in favour of Menendo. According to some sources this took place in Córdoba with the two disputant counts in attendance, but according to others it took place in León.

In 1000, as regent, Menendo confirmed the testament of Hilal, called Salvatus, the Mozarabic abbot of San Cipriano de Valdesalce, after the queen-regent Elvira and the young king and before five bishops of the realm. A charter dated 23 December 1001 records the settlement of a dispute concerning the Monastery of Celanova by Alfonso V and "his elder, the lord Menendo, son of Gonzalo" ("senatus sui domni Ermenagildi Gundisaluiz prolis"). Another charter dated 11 January 1002 records the donation of San Andrés de Congostro to the monastery of Celanova and was confirmed by "duke Menendo, son of Gonzalo" ("Menendus dux prolis Gundisaluiz"). A royal charter of 1007 recognises Menendo as "the great count who holds all the land of Galicia" (comes magnus ... omnem terram Gallecie ... obtinebat).

Relations with Córdoba
Menendo did not initially collaborate with the Córdobans, but after contingents were sent from Córdoba to reinforce Coimbra and the frontier with Portugal, Menendo entered into a pact with al-Muzaffar, which included a clause calling for military collaboration in 1003. That year Leonese and Castilian troops assisted the Córdobans in their attack on Catalonia. This pact seems to have been broken when, in 1005, a Córdoban army marched with the intent of taking Zamora. The city was not captured, but much territory was seized. For the remainder of Menendo's regency there was no peace with the Córdobans.

Violent death
The last recorded act of Menendo was to confirm a charter of the monstery of San Pedro de Rocas in 1007. He was mentioned in a lawsuit settled in favour of Count Munio Fernández in early 1008, but as he did not confirm the result it is probable that he was in Galicia. Eight months later, on 6 October 1008, he died a violent death in unclear circumstances. The Islamic historian Ibn Khaldun, dating his death by the anno Hegirae, places it between 17 September 1007 and 4 September 1008, but the date provided by the Chronicon Lusitanum is more reliable. It records that "in the year 1046 of the Spanish era, on the day preceding the nones of October, Count Menendo was killed."

The wording of both Ibn Khaldun and the Chronicon suggests that Menendo died violently, probably assassinated. Munio has been suspected of arranging his assassination in order to usurp the regency. He was foiled by the queen-mother, Elvira García, who proclaimed the fourteen-year-old Alfonso to be of age. Around 1013 Alfonso married Elvira Menéndez, Gonzalo's daughter. She gave him a son, Vermudo III, who succeeded him on the throne, and a daughter, Sancha, who married Count Ferdinand of Castile and passed the Leonese throne on to him. Elvira died on 2 December 1022. In 1014 Alfonso V confirmed all the possessions of the monastery of Guimarães, which had been founded by Menendo's grandmother, Mumadona Díaz.

It has been suggested that Menendo was perhaps killed defending Portugal from a Viking raid. According to the later Icelandic saga Heimskringla, the Vikings under Olaf Haraldsson attacked Gunnvaldsborg, possibly to be identified as a descriptive toponym meaning "city of González" (in Latin *Gundisalvus-burgus) and indicating Tui, which was within Menendo's dukedom and is independently known to have been destroyed by Vikings about this time. There is a Latin document of 1024 that bears the rubric Tudensis sedes post Normannorum vastationem Ecclesiae Divi Jacobi attributa: the see of Tui was assigned to the church of Santiago after being laid waste by the Northmen.

All the details of this theory-Menendo's death in battle, the identity of Gunnvaldsborg and the timing and place of Olaf's raid-have been recently dismissed as unfounded.

Family relations
Menendo González was probably the eldest son and successor of Gonzalo Menéndez and his wife Ilduara Peláez. Menendo's wife is variously known in contemporary sources as Toda, Tota, Todadomna, Tutadomna, Tutadonna, etc. One twelfth-century source calls her Mayor.

Menendo had at least six sons and three daughters:

Rodrigo Menéndez, a direct ancestor in the maternal line of Urraca Fróilaz, wife of Pedro Fróilaz de Traba
Gonzalo Menéndez (attested 983-1008), is cited with the title of count during his father's lifetime
Pelayo Menéndez, served as armiger regis in 1012-14
Ramiro Menéndez (attested 1005-15), served as armiger regis in 1015
Egas Menéndez (attested 1007-14)
Munio Menéndez (attested 1007-14)
Elvira Menéndez, queen of Alfonso V
Ilduara Menéndez (attested 1025-58), married Nuño Alóitiz, a count in Portugal
Ildoncia (Eldonza) Menéndez (attested 1014)
SOURCE: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menendo_Gonz%C3%A1lez

Heeft u aanvullingen, correcties of vragen met betrekking tot MENENDO GONZALEZ?
De auteur van deze publicatie hoort het graag van u!

Tijdbalk MENENDO GONZALEZ

Klik op de namen voor meer informatie. Gebruikte symbolen:  grootouders    ouders    broers/zussen    kinderen