Fernando (orFernán)Pérez de Traba (Spanish:[feɾˈnandoˈpeɾeθðeˈtɾaβa,feɾˈnam-];c. 1090 – 1 November 1155), orFernão Peres de Trava (Portuguese:[fɨɾˈnɐ̃wˈpeɾɨʒðɨˈtɾavɐ]), was a nobleman and count of theKingdom of León who for a time held power over allGalicia. He became the lover ofCountess Teresa of Portugal, through whom he attained great influence in that domain, and was thede facto ruler of theCounty of Portugal between 1121 and 1128.[2][3] ThePoema de Almería, aLatin poem celebrating one ofAlfonso VII's major victories of theReconquista, records that "if one were to see him [Fernán], one would judge him already a king."[4]
Fernán was the second son ofPedro Fróilaz de Traba, founder of theHouse of Traba, and his first wife, Urraca Fróilaz.[5] His family was the most powerful in Galicia at the time, and he himself held properties in the most important Galician cities:Lugo andSantiago de Compostela.[6][7] Fernán's first appearance in the surviving documentation dates from September 1107, just after the death ofRaymond of Galicia, when his father confirmed a privilege ofAlfonso VI for themonastery of Caaveiro, along with his sons.[a]
Early in the twelfth century (before 1125), Pedro gave his son aMoorish cook, probably a slave, with the Christian name Martin.[10] Sometime early in the century Fernán took a wife, but they were separated when he became the lover ofTheresa Alfónsez, Countess of Portugal. With Teresa he had two daughters: Sancha (bornc. 1121), who marriedÁlvaro Rodríguez, andTeresa, who first marriedNuño Pérez de Lara and, when widowed, became the second wife of KingFerdinand II of León. Fernán's only attested wife, Sancha González, daughter of Gonzalo Ansúrez and Urraca Vermúdez, was therefore possibly his second wife. The earliest record of their marriage is from 1134.[2] With her the count had three children:Gonzalo, María (marriedPonce de Cabrera), and Urraca, the wife of Juan Arias. Sancha was still living on 24 July 1161, when she signed a document, noting that she was a widow.[11][12] Probably in that same year she drew up her will. It is preserved, albeit with an incorrect date, in thecartularyTumbo C of Santiago de Compostela, since the archbishop-elect of Santiago,Fernando Curialis, was a beneficiary.[13]
In Galicia, Fernán rivalled for influence the archbishopDiego Gelmirez, with whom he kept an uneasy truce. Originally, the archbishop and Fernán had been on good terms. At the time of the Galician revolt (1116) he was acting as Diego'sconstable (municeps).[3] In 1121, however, he had constructed a fortress atRaneta south of Santiago, a position threatening to the apostolic see. The archbishop promptly had it destroyed.[b]He may have been incited by the queen, who was trying to separate Diego from the Trabas to prevent an alliance of regional powers in Galicia from defying the crown.[15] Fernán also mediated between his elder brotherBermudo and the archbishop in 1121, resulting in Diego bestowing gifts on the Vermudo in return for the fortress ofFaro, which he claimed belonged to the diocese.[16] In 1134 the dispute with Diego flared up once more after Fernán imprisoned one of his knights and the archdeacon ofNendos, Pedro Crescónez, whose jurisdiction covered large parts of the Traba patrimony.[17][18]
During the reign ofQueen Urraca, Fernán's family was generally allied with her son, the youngAlfonso Raimúndez, who had been raised for a time alongside Fernán in the household of Pedro Fróilaz. The Trabas, allied with Diego, tried to make Alfonso king in Galicia in opposition to his mother. With the death of queen Urraca in 1126 and the accession of Alfonso, Fernán became the leading figure in Galicia and used the opportunity to increase his power throughout the kingdom. Together with Teresa he signed a truce with the new king (shortly after March 1126) atRicobayo nearZamora.[19] In 1149 Alfonso entrusted to him the mentoring of his second son, the futureFerdinand II.[c] Long after Fernán's own death, in 1178, his daughter Teresa married Ferdinand II as his second wife and her second husband. According to theChronica latina regum Castellae and theDe rebus Hispaniae, Fernán's influence was so decisive during the reign of Alfonso VII, that by the king's testament Galicia and León were separated from the kingdoms ofCastile andToledo. The anonymousChronica claims that Fernán andManrique Pérez de Lara "aimed to sow the seed of discord" when they proposed the division of Alfonso VII's "empire".[21]
In 1116 Fernán participated in a Galician revolt against Queen Urraca. The revolt was led by his father on behalf of Teresa, the widow ofHenry of Burgundy,Count of Portugal. The victories in battle atVilasobroso andLanhoso sealed the alliance between the Traba family and Teresa. Fernán became her governor inPorto andCoimbra (bearing the title "lord of Coimbra and Portugal").[d] By 1 February 1121 he was using the titlecomes (Latin for "count"), the highest in the kingdom, even though his father was still alive and his brother Vermudo had not yet received it, a sure indication of the influence of Teresa.[22] In 1122 Fernán received a further two castles from her and had probably already become her lover. It has been suggested that they may have married, but Fernán was publicly rebuked by the future saintTheotonius for this affair.[e] In that same year (1122) Fernán was able to arrange the advantageous marriage of Vermudo to Urraca Enríquez, daughter of Teresa and Henry.[2]
Teresa of Portugal had assumed the regency of the county of Portugal during the minority of her sonAfonso Henriques. In 1122, after turning fourteen, Afonso knighted himself in theCathedral of Zamora, raised an army, and proceeded to take control of his lands. Gathering the Portuguese knights to his cause against his mother and Fernán, he defeated them both at theBattle of São Mamede in 1128.[3] From this year—which was also that of his father's death—Fernán concentrated his influence in Galicia, signing himselfcomes Fernandus de Gallecie ("Count Ferdinand of Galicia"), a title his father had used. He does soon reappear in Portuguese documents, indicating a normalising of relations between him and Afonso.[3][5]
But now no more in tented fields oppos'd,The firsttenencia Fernán received from the king was theLimia in 1131.[2] He soon receivedTrastámara (ruled 1132–45), which was long to be associated with the patrimonies of the Traba. In 1137 he was given the rule ofTrasancos and in 1140 that ofMonterroso, which he held as late as 1153.[2] In 1140 Fernán signed Alfonso VII's charter ordering that he and his queen be buried in theCathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Fernán signed as "count Don Fernando of Traba" (comes dominus Fernandus de Traua), the only time he is ever referred to in contemporary a document with thetoponym "de Traba" by which he is now universally known.[5]
In June 1137 Fernán probably participated in the recapture ofTúy, although theHistoria compostellana alleges that the Galician magnates responsible for the defence of the frontier with Portugal were too slow in answering the royal summons and had to be bribed by Diego Gelmírez to join the royal army.[23] Fernán appears to have been the only Galician to follow the king to the Navarrese frontier later that year. He was with the royal army atLogroño on 3 October, though by 20 OctoberRodrigo Vélaz had also joined the army on theEbro.[23]
Fernán defended with difficulty the valley of theMinho against the onslaughts of Afonso Henriques, as recorded by theChronica Adefonsi imperatoris:
Prior to [1140], 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. Often he was forced to return to Portugal dishonored.[g]
In 1139 or 1140, atCerneja (Cernesa) in Galicia, he and Rodrigo Vélaz were defeated by Teresa's son Afonso Henriques, who by that time had proclaimed himself king of Portugal. TheBattle of Cerneja is recorded in theChronica Adefonsi:
Once more Alfonso, King of Portugal, gathered his army and went to Limia. When this news reached Galicia, Fernando Pérez and Rodrigo Vélaz and other of the Emperor's Galician nobles were summoned immediately. They marched out with their troops against the Portuguese King and met him at Cernesa. After the battle lines were drawn up, they began to fight. Because of their sins the Counts fled and were defeated.[24]
The record of Fernán's rule inDeza consists of an original royal charter of July 1144. In 1146 he held thetenenciasMonforte de Lemos andSarria.[2] Between 1144 and 1155 Fernán was frequently at court, and he participated in almost all of Alfonso VII's major campaigns of theReconquista, commanding the Galician contingents on numerous occasions against theAlmohads.[19] The major exception was the conquest ofCalatrava in January 1147.[19] The chronicles do record his valour in the conquest ofCórdoba in 1146,[3] and in theconquest of Almería in 1147. At Almería he led the Galician contingent, and his presence can be traced with Alfonso's army on 19 August during its departure fromBaeza and again on 25 November during its triumphant return.[25][26] ThePoema de Almería describes Fernán's role:
The valiant (strenuus)[h] Count Fernando Pérez follows this armed troop [of Galicians] administering the Galician laws with royal care. His position had been strengthened by his tutoring of the Emperor's son. If one were to see him, one would judge him already a king. He is famed for his royal nobility, and because he bears a count's lineage.[i]
Fernán actively supported theCistercians, and patronised their monastery atSobrado dos Monxes, which he and his brother Vermudo had first received from Queen Urraca on 29 July 1118, although it was deserted at the time and required its recipients to re-found a religious community there.[j] On the occasion of this gift, the Traba brothers responded in kind by giving a hound named Ulgar and a hunting spear to the queen's son.[28] The gift of Sobrado was confirmed by Alfonso VII on 29 May 1135, but it was not until 14 February 1142 that the Trabas installed a Cistercian abbot, Peter, and some monks, referred to as "all the holy men of God andSaint Benedict, living according to the custom of the Cistercians".[k] It was one of the earliest Cistercian foundations in Spain and a daughter house ofClairvaux[27] Fernán and Vermudo may have desired that the monks contribute to settling and cultivating the surrounding zone.[30] Fernán also made a donation to the Cistercian foundation ofMonfero Abbey in 1145.[l]
There are three donations by Fernán to thecanons regular of Caaveiro dated 1 April 1104, 26 February 1135, and 4 December 1154, all forgeries. The cartulary of Caaveiro retains an unusually high number of forged documents and few authentic twelfth-century specimens. This may indicate that at some point in time the abbey's archives were lost or destroyed and the monks felt it necessary to forge deeds for properties that had really been granted.[32] There is the possibility, therefore, that Fernán or his family was a regular donor to Caaveiro.
Fernán twice visitedJerusalem after theSecond Crusade, the second time in 1153.[2] He gave lands to theTemplars on the coast nearA Coruña, introducing this military order into the Galicia as early as 1128, before they had received official ecclesiastical approbation.[2] In 1152 he made a donation to theBenedictine monastery ofXuvia.[2] It is from this late period of his life that a certain document originates that records a donation of his to the favoured monastery of Sobrado, dated 1 May 1153. It is written in afrancesa script, while Fernán's signature appears in a completely different script that resemblesVisigothic. It may have been written by Fernán himself, in which case it represents the only evidence that he received any education besides the standard military one for young noblemen. He was brought up at a time when thefrancesa script had not yet crowded out the Visigothic, and the document of 1153 may indicate that he was taught in his youth how to write his name.[28]
In 1151 Fernán was holding thetenencia ofBúbal in Galicia and in 1152 that ofSolís in westernAsturias.[33] The date of Fernán's death is very uncertain. He was last at court inToledo on 8 November 1154[m] and he never reappears in court records.[2] By 4 February 1155, atValladolid, his son Gonzalo was signing royal charters ascomes Gundisaluus (Count Gonzalo), implying a succession in the comital title. There is a forged donation by Fernán to the monastery of Caaveiro dated 4 December 1154, in which the count refers to himself asgraui infirmitate detemptus, "detained by a grave illness". The charter may have a basis in fact.[34] There are also two charters of uncertain authenticity recording a donation dated 1 July 1155 by Fernán and his brother Vermudo to the monastery Fernán had founded at Sobrado dos Monxes.[5]
There are two documents in the archives of Sobrado dated to June 1160 and 1161, confirmed by acomes dompnus Fernandus senior in Monteroso et in Traua ("count Don Fernando, lord in Monterroso and in Traba") and acomes dompnus Fernandus in Traua et in Aranga et in Monteroso ("count Don Fernando in Traba and in Aranga and in Monterroso"), respectively. These are probably copyists' errors forGundesaluus Fernandi, the name of his son.[5] Fernán died on 1 November 1155.[11][12] Fernán was buried in the cloister of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.[n]
Fernán raised the scion of at least one other aristocratic family in his household. CountFroila Ramírez was raised at his court and in 1170, whether before their marriage or after is not known, he granted the monastery ofMorás to his wife, Fernán's granddaughter, Urraca González, "out of love for your grandfather, Count Don Fernando, who raised me, and because of faithful service when I was accepted by your father, Count Don Gonzalo".[o]
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