Estefanía Ramírez

Estefanía was named after her paternal grandmother, Countess Estefanía Sánchez, a member of the royal house of Navarre, who was the wife of Count Fruela Díaz, a descendant of Count Flaín Muñoz and a member of the House of Cea.

Her marriage with Count Ponce de Minerva probably took place in 1140 when infanta Sancha Raimúndez, who was responsible for the education of the young Ponce when he arrived in the Kingdom of León,[3] on 30 January of that year gave the couple Argavallones, a villa which was part of the infantado [es] of León, as a wedding gift.

On 15 February 1167, the countess and her husband, accompanied by their children Ramiro, María and Sancha, founded the Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria de Sandoval.

King Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1176 donated an estate in Benavides where the monks, previously living in Valverde, settled.

[9] On 10 September 1176, Estefanía donated the places she owned in Carrizo, San Pedro del Páramo, Grulleros, Argavallones, her property in Astorga, Riegos (Villaviciosa de la Ribera) and Tapia for the foundation of the new monastery called Santa María de Carrizo, a donation made pro anima mariti mei comitis domni Poncii (for the soul of my husband, Don Ponce).