Rodrigo Velázquez

He has been implicated in factional fighting over the succession to the Leonese throne, but the major battle of his career was part of a private aristocratic feud.

There is a notice in the monastery of Celanova, dated 8 October 950, of the delimitation of the village of Santa María de Verín, which was owned at that time by the widowed Trudilde.

On 13 June 950, by which time his father had probably died, Rodrigo confirmed an accord between Rosendo, bishop of Iria (later Compostela), and the inhabitants of Villaza, defining the boundary between the bishopric and the village.

Rodrigo is usually credited as one of the leaders of the party that supported Sancho I and his son Ramiro III in the wars over the Leonese succession that began in the late 950s and continued into the 980s.

[5] The chief rival clan was led by Gonzalo Menéndez, who supported first Ordoño III and later his son Vermudo II.

On 17 January 977, Rodrigo confirmed a charter by which Rosendo, then bishop of Iria, conceded the monastery of Celanova to Pelayo and recognised him as his successor.

According to the early twelfth-century Historia Compostelana: "Rodrigo Velázquez, father of the expelled bishop, united with other counts of this region [Galicia] introduced there the Saracens led by al-Manṣūr; who, entering in Compostela, destroyed to the foundations the greater part of the walls of the Church of the Holy Apostle, save his most holy altar.

"[e][14] Thus, according to the Historia, the expulsion of Pelayo incited Rodrigo to call in his Saracen allies to wreak havoc on Galicia, even sacking Iria itself.

On the other hand, the Chronicon Iriense, written about the same time, makes the cause of Pelayo's expulsion the hatred of the Galician nobles for Rodrigo Velázquez, as a result of his destructive alliance with the Córdoban ruler al-Manṣūr.

Mudarra, the bastard son of Gonzalo Gustios and the Muslim sister of al-Manṣūr, then takes revenge for his brothers by killing Ruy and Lambra.