García Fernández de Villamayor

[2] His name first appears on a document of 1194 in which the grandchildren of Ordoño Pérez and Urraca Fernández granted to the Bishop of Burgos properties their grandparents held in the town of Las Hormazas.

[7] His father was likely the same Fernando García who appears as a signatory to royal privileges during the reign of Alfonso VIII and who took part in 1212 in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, although again there is no explicit confirmation in the documentary record.

[12] The post of Mayordomo mayor (maiordomus curie regis or royal high steward) was an important honor reserved for the foremost figures of the nobility.

In contrast with those of the alférez, the obligations of the high steward touched upon the private sphere of the sovereign: his home, his table, the administration of the treasury, and the control of revenues and expenses, functions which conferred political influence and opportunities for personal enrichment.

It is possible that this indicates a close relationship with the Girón family, already attested in other sources, and that García Fernández served as steward to Gonzalo as well as to Queen Berengaria.

It seems that Alfonso recalled this period with nostalgia and gratitude; years later he justified some exemptions granted to the village of Celada del Camino with the following words: (...) because Don García Ferrandez [sic] and his wife Doña Mayor Arias raised me and did me many services and especially because they raised me in Villaldemiro and in Celada.It was in these years that Alfonso X encountered the Galician-Portuguese language, which he later would use in the composition of the Cantigas de Santa Maria.

[20] Once his tutelage of Alfonso had come to an end, he became more involved in the military campaigns in Andalusia: he held the post of alcaide (commander of the fortress) of Úbeda in 1233 immediately after the city was taken,[21] and took part, along with Ferdinand, in the conquest of Córdoba in 1236.

[27] In any event, García Fernández had already died by 1242 when his wife, Mayor Arias, made donations in his memory to Juan de Soria, Bishop of Burgos and to the Cathedral of Toledo.

[31] Between 1212 and 1216 the purchases halted, probably due to the repercussions of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, in which he may have taken part, the death of Alfonso VIII, and the consequent political agitation.

[32] The period of greatest expansion of his landed holdings corresponds to the years between 1219 and 1234, when his position at court as royal high steward under Berengaria and Ferdinand III allowed him to amass riches sufficient for the enlargement of his legacy.

[33] At the end of this period, in 1232 when he acceded to the position of royal high steward, we find the only case in which he held sole lordship over a village when the king granted him Manzaneda, in the Galician comarca of A Limia, in compensation, according to the donation document, for his support in attaining the crown of León.

The unusual location could be related to the family origins of Mayor Arias,[34] to whom in 1255 Alfonso X made another donation with the same conditions, that of Cevico de la Torre due to the "many services he had done for him".

Eventually his expansive domains were split up, due especially to the great number of his descendants, and by the middle of the 14th century the family held scant feudal rights even in the area of Villamayor.