Rodrigo Vélaz

Rodrigo Vélaz (died June 1144) was the "count of Galicia, who held Sarria" according to the near-contemporary Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris.

[2] Rodrigo first appears as witness to a charter of 31 July 1092, in which his mother donated the monastery of San Pedro de Teverga to the cathedral of Oviedo.

[6] In July 1114 Urraca went to Santiago de Compostela in an attempt to remove the bishop Diego Gelmírez from power legally.

She then opened negotiations with Diego, resulting in her swearing an oath to respect his person and his honor (the secular territory under the bishop's government).

[7] Rodrigo's loyalty to Urraca during the conflict-riddled part of her reign is demonstrated by the fact that he confirmed sixteen royal charters between 1112 and 1120, by far the most by any Galician magnate.

[8] Rodrigo recognised the accession of Alfonso VII at Zamora, with the other magnates of Galicia, after the new king had taken the capital city of León.

[9] On 18 July 1126 Alfonso VII granted land at a place called Seixon to Pedro Ovéquiz and his wife María Fernández through the intervention of Rodrigo.

The two were defeated in battle near Cernesa, an unidentified location, by the forces of Theresa's son and heir, Afonso Henriques, who had grown uncomfortable with his mother's power-sharing, and had invaded Galicia, camping near Limia.

Rodrigo was captured during the flight, but two of his armourbearers freed him by "some clever stratagem" and he managed to join the rest of the army in taking refuge in Galicia.

[14] The Chronica notes that "prior to this, the Portuguese monarch had come to Galicia several times, but always he had been driven back by Fernando Pérez and Rodrigo Vélaz and other Galician leaders.

On 27 May 1112 Queen Urraca donated some estates that had been illegally usurped by a certain Ermesinda Núñez and granted to the Diocese of Mondoñedo to Rodrigo and to the Benedictine monastery of Lorenzana.