Gonzalo Peláez

Gonzalo Peláez (died March 1138)[1] was the ruler of the Asturias from 1110 to 1132, during the reigns of Queen Urraca (1109–26) and her son, Alfonso VII (1126–57).

The only link is a charter of 1097 by which a certain Mummadonna cognomento domna Maiore Gundesaluiz ("Mumadonna called lady Mayor González") made a donation to the Diocese of Oviedo for the good of her soul and that of her husband, Pelayo Peláez, making reference to their son named Gonzalo.

[3] On 18 November 1118 a Gonzalo Peláez, perhaps not the same man, received lands in the Araduey valley in the province of León from Queen Urraca along with his wife Mayor Muñoz.

Between 1120 and 1125 Suero Vermúdez appears as count in Tineo, and he also held Luna to the south, in León, thus controlling the passes of the Cordillera Cantábrica connecting the two provinces.

[12] The Chronica Adefonsi accuses him of not sufficiently or wholeheartedly aiding the king in the defence of the frontier against Alfonso of Aragon,[13] and of openly defying Queen Urraca "after she had honored him.

"[14] One modern historian, however, attributes Gonzalo's rise from obscurity to "almost total power in Asturias" to his faithfulness to Urraca during the civil wars of the first half of her reign.

When Gonzalo realised how many of his knights had been captured he negotiated a year-long truce (a "mutual covenant of peace" in the words of the Chronica).

Tudela was handed over, but Gonzalo retained his hold on the castles of Proaza, Buanga, and Alba de Quirós, "all very strong fortresses" according to the Chronica.

[14] The uprising, still ongoing, is mentioned in a royal charter of May 1134 (Gundinsalvo comite in rebellione posito in castro buanga samna).

According to the Chronica Adefonsi, Gonzalo threw himself at Alfonso's feet, admitted his guilt, and begged for forgiveness, which he received.

All this was undoubtedly the public ceremony, designed to safeguard the king's reputation, but in the negotiations Gonzalo had agreed to relinquish his three castles only on the condition that he receive the tenencia of Luna, which had formerly belonged to Suero Vermúdez.

The Chronica records that he intended to "wage war by sea" against both Galicia and the Asturias, which had the support of Afonso, who treated him with honour and promised to reward him with high office.

The author of the Chronica, an obvious partisan of Alfonso VII, notes caustically that he "caught a fever and died an exile in a foreign land.

[22] In 1143 his surviving sister, Cristina Peláez, and her husband, Gonzalo Vermúdez, made a grant to the church of Oviedo for the sake of his soul.