Ponç II (Cabrera)

Ponç II. Guerau de Cabrera ( Spanish Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera , German  Pontius Geraldus von Cabrera ; † between January 1, 1162 and May 25, 1163) was a Catalan nobleman from the House of Cabrera who lived in the 12th century at the court of Spanish Emperor Alfonso VII of León-Castile reached high offices. He was a son of Guerau II Ponç († 1131/32), from whom he inherited the vice-county of Girona and the rule on Cabrera and Àger. His mother was believed to be his father's second wife, Elvira, who came from the Leonese nobility.

Life

Depiction of Emperors Alfonso VII and Ponc II de Cabrera (Poncius comes) in the Privilegium imperatoris , 12th century. It contains the oldest representation of the coat of arms of the Cabrera family.

In a deed of gift from his father from 1124, Ponç is first guaranteed in writing as a witness. In a document dated October 27, 1128, he is mentioned for the first time as lord of the imperial castle of Ulver (today Cornatel ) in the Kingdom of León . Apparently he came to the court of King Alfonso VII of León-Castile in the wake of the Berenguela of Barcelona, on the occasion of their wedding in November 1127. In the following years, Ponç owned various other goods in the border region between León and Galicia and Portugal occupied. All in all, he had acquired a closed territory here, which included the Sierra de La Cabrera , which just happened to be named after him. For the first time he is directly titled as lord of this region on May 13, 1138. Since the royal court day on March 25, 1129 in Palencia , Ponç was regularly to be found in the personal environment of Alfonso VII, to whose confidante he became. In 1135 the king had himself crowned “Emperor of all Spain”.

In 1139 Ponç was involved in the conquest of Colmenar de Oreja and in the spring of 1142 in the conquest of Coria , where he is mentioned for the first time as "Prince of Zamora " in a document issued on June 6th by Alfonso VII . At the same time he must have been given the goods in Salamanca and Castrotorafe , in whose possession he is attested a little later. In the same year he took part in an attack on Portugal. On October 5, 1143, Alfonso VII held a court day in Zamora, where he gave the village of Moreruela de Frades to Ponç, who in turn passed it on to a group of Cistercian monks who founded a monastery there. In the same month Ponç in Nájera signed a deed of donation from the emperor to the Abbey of Cluny, where he dubbed himself for the first time as comes , which indicates his admission to the highest circle of the Leonese-Castilian nobility. On May 4, 1145, he was named for the first time in Toledo in the office of the "imperial house merchant" (maiordomus imperatoris) , which he held until the death of Alfonso VII in August 1157. During these years Ponç was involved in all major campaigns of the emperor against the Almoravids of al-Andalus , such as in 1147 with the capture of Calatrava , Baeza and Almería , and in 1150/51 with the conquest of Córdoba and Jaén . In the rhyming poem Prefatio de Almaria , which lyrically describes the conquest of Almería, he is praised for his knightly valor. For his services he was given various land donations by the emperor.

After the death of Alfonso VII, his empire was under his sons Sancho III. and Ferdinand II. divided. Although most of his possessions were in the territory of the latter, Ponç joined the retinue of the former, which earned him the enmity of Ferdinand II. During his absence, there was a popular uprising in Zamora, the "Motín de la trucha" (Trout Uprising), in which, among other things, his son was killed in the church of Santa María, which was set on fire by the rioters. King Ferdinand II pardoned the rebels and effectively withdrew Ponç his rule over Zamora. Only after Sancho III. In the Treaty of Sahagún on May 23, 1158 had reconciled with his brother, Ponç was able to take over his Leonese possessions again. As Sancho III. died in the same year, Ponç was finally transferred to the camp of Ferdinand II and has since been regularly named in his court entourage. From June 14, 1159, he was even held in the office of maiordomus for Ferdinand II, which he held until his death. The last time Ponç was recorded in writing was January 1, 1162, when he made a donation to the Abbey of Samos in Zamora. He died before May 25, 1163 and was buried in the Cathedral of Zamora, since on that day his children made a donation of land to the canons of Zamora for the salvation of their father's soul.

family

The first wife of Ponç II. Guerau de Cabrera was called Sancha († after 1165), from whom he must have separated in the 1120s. They had two sons:

• NN († 1157 in Zamora).
• Guerau III. Ponç († after 1165).

His second wife was María Fernández, who was first mentioned as such on March 26, 1142. She was the daughter of the powerful Galician Count Fernando Pérez von Traba, who had been the tutor of the young King Ferdinand II. She was buried in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela after her death. The children from this marriage inherited the Leonese property.

• Fernando Ponce de Cabrera, named as Lord of Sanabria in 1162.
• Sancha de Cabrera; ∞ with Vela Gutiérrez, named before 1149 after his father-in-law's successor as Lord of La Cabrera.

literature

• Ernesto Fernández-Xesta y Vázquez: Un magnate catalán en la corte de Alfonso VII: Comes Poncius de Cabreira, Princeps Çemore. Madrid, 1991.
• Ernesto Fernández-Xesta y Vázquez: El motín de la trucha y sus consecuencias sobre don Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera, “Príncipe de Zamora” , in: Primer Congreso de Historia de Zamora , Vol. 3 (1991), pp. 261-283.
• Simon Barton: Two catalan magnates in the court of the King of León-Castile: the careers of Ponce de Cabrera and Ponce de Minerva re-examined , in: Journal of Medieval History , Vol. 18 (1992), pp. 232-266 .

Remarks

1. ↑ Collecció diplomàtica de Sant Pere d'Àger fins 1198 , Vol. 1, ed. by R. Chesé ​​Lapeña (2011), No. 253, p. 536.
2. ↑ "Pontius Quiral imperante Castello de Ulver". A copy of the document is preserved in the cartular of the Abbey of San Pedro de Montes. See: Tumbo Viejo de San Pedro de Montes , ed. by A. Quintana Prieto (1971), pp. 239-240.
3. ↑ Tumbo Viejo de San Pedro de Montes , ed. by A. Quintana Prieto (1971), pp. 240-241, 252-253.
4. ↑ "Princeps eo tempore Cemore", see: Archivo de la Catedral Zamora, Tumbo Negro , fol. 12v – 13r.
5. ↑ Recueil des chartes de L'Abbaye de Cluny , Vol. 5, ed. by A. Bruel (1894), pp. 428-430.
6. ↑ El tumbo del monasterio de San Martín de Castañeda , ed. by A. Rodríguez González (1973), pp. 231-232.
7. ↑ Regesta de Fernando II , ed. by J. González (1943), pp. 357-367.
8. ↑ El Tumbo de San Julián de Samos (siglos VIII-XII) , ed. by M. Lucas Alvarez (1986), pp. 186-187.
9. ↑ Archivo de la Catedral Zamora, Tumbo Negro , fol. 7v – 8r.
10. ↑ El tumbo del monasterio de San Martín de Castañeda , ed. by A. Rodríguez González (1973), pp. 91-92.
11. ↑ Tumbo Viejo de San Pedro de Montes , ed. by A. Quintana Prieto (1971), pp. 269-270.

predecessor	Office	successor
Guerau II Ponç	Vice Count of Girona Herr auf Cabrera and Àger 1131 / 32–1162 / 63	Guerau III. Ponç