Rodrigo González de Lara (floruit 1078–1143) was a Castilian nobleman of the House of Lara. Early in his career he ruled that half of Asturias allocated to Castile. He was faithful to the crown throughout the reign of Queen Urraca (1109–26), during which time he was married to the queen's half-sister and ruled a large part of the old County of Castile. He and his elder brother, Pedro González, led the opposition to Alfonso VII early in his reign (1126–57). He led a revolt in 1130 and was exiled in 1137. He was a leader in the Reconquista—about which the contemporary Chronica Adefonsi imperatoris has much to say—and also took part in the military activities of the Crusader states on two occasions. He travelled widely throughout Spain, but ended his days in Palestine.
Youth under Alfonso VI (1078–1112) Rodrigo was a son of Gonzalo Núñez de Lara and Godo Núñez, and kinsman of Gonzalo Salvadórez.Barton (1997), 292–93. Rodrigo's inheritance was modest.For a map of his patrimony, cf. Doubleday (2001), 24.
A certain Rodrigo González who was alférez (standard-bearer) of Alfonso VI between 29 January 1078 and 9 June 1081 may have been Rodrigo González de Lara.Reilly (1988), 138, but Barton (1997), 292 n1, is sceptical. If so, he was a very old man when he died. The alférez did sign the carta de arras (charter of bridewealth) of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador, in 1080/1.Reilly (1988), 83, uses his signature to disprove the thesis of Ramón Menéndez Pidal that the surviving copy of this charter is an original. Its purported date, 10 July 1074, is definitely in error. A Rodrigo González who signed eight royal diplomas between 1092 and 1099 has also been identified with the alférez, the son of Gonzalo Núñez, and the later Crusader.Reilly (1988), 278.
Governing the Asturias (1112–1130) Rodrigo González de Lara first appears holding a fief (tenencia) from the crown on 29 February 1112, when he was governing all the Cantabrian region south of the river Miera, the valley of Mena, and Asturias de Santillana, formerly held by his cousin Rodrigo Muñoz.Potestate [power holder] in Mera et in Asturias Rodrigo Gonsalvez, cf. Barton (1982), 283. By 1119 he was ruling the Trasmiera, the region north of the Miera, which up until then had also been held by Rodrigo Muñoz. He is not recorded there after 1120, by which time his rule had extended westward over Aguilar de Campoo.Barton (1997), 292–93; Reilly (1982), 283, does not know about his rule in Aguilar before 26 March and 1 November 1125. At the same time he first appeared as governing "in Castile" (in castella), probably a reference to Old Castile; certainly he was not governing all of Castile. There are references to a "Count Rodrigo" governing Castile as early as 9 May 1112, but this may be Rodrigo Muñoz.Barton (1982), 283.
By 13 April 1121 Rodrigo was a count. In 1122 he made a donation to the Benedictine monastery of Santa María de Piasca. Sometime before 1122 Rodrigo married Sancha (born c.1101), a daughter of Alfonso VI and his fourth wife Isabel.Barton (1997), 292; Reilly (1982), 216–17. Luisa García Calles dated the marriage to 1118 at the latest, but without citing evidence. They had three daughters: Elvira, Sancha, and Urraca.
Rodrigo confirmed a total of fifteen royal charters during Urraca's reign.Reilly (1982), 216. It was during the final six years of Urraca's reign, a period of general peace, that Rodrigo held power in the Kingdom of León. As early as 1120 he was governing Liébana, and by 1122 he was also governing Nángulo, Piedras Negras, and the Tierra de Campos. By 1125 he was ruling Pernía as well. A private document dated 17 June 1126 refers to both Rodrigo and Pedro as holding Lara, Campos, and Asturias de Santillana, seemingly jointly.Reilly (1998), 18 n13. Their rule in none of these places can be traced after Urraca's death.The last record from Liébana dates to 1125 and from Campos to 1126, cf. Barton, 292–93. On 10 May 1125 at Sahagún, Rodrigo and the queen made a joint donation of the monastery at Vega to the Order of Fontevraud.Reilly (1982), 196–97. His wife Sancha was dead by that time, and Urraca, their youngest daughter, was put in the custody of Sancha Raimúndez, the king's sister.Barton (1997), 48–49, says that this happened when she was orphaned.
Rebellion against Alfonso VII (1130–1131) There is a false document dated 18 April 1125 that names Rodrigo González as villicus imperatoris, that is, imperial majordomo.Reilly (1982), 199 n69. Among the errors in this document are the early use of the imperial title and the name of the Bishop of Astorga, then Alo, given as Pedro. After the queen's death on 8 March 1126, the "towers of León", that is, the royal fortress in the city of León, refused to submit to her son, Alfonso VII, preferring the rule of Pedro González, who had been the queen's lover, and his brother Rodrigo, whom the author of the Chronica Adefonsi (I, §3) says "preferred war rather than peace with the King".Reilly (1982), 201. Eventually the brothers were forced to make submission to Alfonso VII and did not do so willingly, as the other magnates: Other counts saw that the King's power was increasing daily. They were the Castilians, Pedro de Lara and his brother, Rodrigo González, who lived in Asturias de Santillana. Gimeno Íñiguez was also present. He governed Coyanza in the territory of León. They were indeed frightened; and, as such, they directed their attention toward arranging a peace conference. However, their treaty with the King was made in a most insincere manner. Actually they preferred to follow the King of Aragón.Chronica Adefonsi (I, §6), quoted in Barton (1997), 127 n135: At Castellani consules Petrus de Lara et frater eius Rodericus Gunsalui, qui morabantur in terra quam dicunt Asturias de Sancta Iuliana, et Semenus Enequi, qui tenebat Coyancam in partibus Legionis, uires regis de die in diem excrescere uidentes ualde timuerunt et nolentes et uolentes ad regem, ut secum de pace conloquerentur, attendentes ficto animo propter regem Aragonensem, quem dilegebant, tamen cum eo pacificauerunt. In 1127 he sold an estate at Arce to the parish of Santillana del Mar. There is evidence, in the former of a thirteenth-century copy of a private charter, that Alfonso tried to lure Rodrigo to his side by making him alférez in the winter of 1127–28.Reilly (1998), 25. Despite their earlier submission, Pedro, Rodrigo, and their allies refused to join the army Alfonso assembled at Atienza in 1129 to fight Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre.Chronica Adefonsi, I, §14 and II, §114. The king then relieved Rodrigo of his post as alférez, replacing him with Pedro Alfónsez.Reilly (1998), 31. Early in 1130 he rebelled against the king. The rebellion seems to have been designed to place on the throne Fernando Pérez de Lara, Rodrigo's nephew, an illegitimate son of Pedro González and Queen Urraca. It had the support of Alfonso of Aragon and of his agent in Castile, Bertrán de Risnel, son-in-law of Pedro. While Pedro and Bertrán took the city of Palencia, and another relative of Rodrigo's, Jimeno Íñiguez, rebelled at Valencia de Don Juan, Rodrigo took up arms in Asturias de Santillana, the northwestern part of Castile. A minor noble, Pedro Díaz, rebelled from his castle of Valle. He was put down by the brothers Osorio and Rodrigo Martínez. By June the king had retaken Palencia and captured Pedro and Bertrán.For the revolt of 1130, cf. Barton (1997), 113–14 and the Chronica Adefonsi, I, §§18–23.
Having dealt with the other rebels, Alfonso turned to Asturias, where "he captured their fortified castles, set fire to their fields and hacked down their trees and vineyards."Chronica Adefonsi, I, §22. Forced to sue for peace, Rodrigo sent envoys requesting a meeting with the king on the banks of the Pisuerga. Per the agreement Rodrigo and Alfonso would each be accompanied by only six of their knights. During the meeting the king became so enraged by Rodrigo's "disrespectful remarks" that he seized him by the throat and they both fell from their horses. At this Rodrigo's retinue fled and the count was taken "as if he were a common prisoner." Rodrigo found his castles and tenencias confiscated, with Asturias placed in the hands of Rodrigo Gómez. There is a record of a comitem Rodericum Gundisalui de Asturias ("count Rodrigo González of Asturias") present on 3 November 1140 at the hearing of a dispute between the Bishop of Burgos, Ramiro, and the Bishop of Calahorra, Sancho, in the presence of the king, but it is probably unreliable. It is unlikely that Rodrigo ever regained his place in eastern Asturias. Within a few days of his being released (only after all his castles and fiefs had been received by the king), Rodrigo returned to acknowledge his crimes and seek mercy, which he received by the end of 1131, when he was appointed alcaide of Toledo in place of Gutierre Armíldez, who had died.Fletcher (1984), 269–70.
Frontier rule (1131–1137)
Rodrigo "waged numerous wars against the Moors. He killed many and took many prisoners. He also carried away large quantities of booty from their lands."Chronica Adefonsi, I, §23. The author of the Chronica twice states that only a fraction of his military actions are recorded: "He had fought many battles in Moorish territory. The military experiences of Rodrigo González and Rodrigo Fernández against the Moors were indeed great, but they have not been described in this book."Chronica Adefonsi, I, §47. And "The other battles which the Consul Rodrigo fought with the king of the Almoravides are not recorded in this book."Chronica Adefonsi, II, §125.